December 7 – Mexico’s Liga MX is to start an 18-team women’s league in 2017. President Enrique Bonilla (pictured) said the league will begin with a cup competition in the spring before the formal season begins in September.
December 1 – USL team Arizona United SC are renaming themselves Phoenix Rising FC and preparing to play the 2017 season in a brand new stadium, part of a 15.8 acre soccer complex being developed in the Valley of the Sun.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
November 22 – A report by Deloitte’s sports business consultancy into ending the closed shop league system in the United States and introducing promotion and relegation in the MLS says that there would be substantial long term gains for the sport and professional game in the country.
By Paul Nicholson
November 22 – Bottom of their 2018 final qualifying group after two matches with no points, Sunil Gulati, the president of the US Soccer Federation, has axed US national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 16 – US Soccer president Sunil Gulati says a Donald Trump presidency will not affect the decision on whether or not to bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup but his federation has more immediate worries after a second successive 2018 qualifying defeat for Jurgen Klinsmann’s team.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 10 – If newly elected US President Donald Trump carries out his threat to build a wall along the border with Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants, what impact, if any, would it have on the bid to the stage the 2026 World Cup?
By Paul Nicholson
November 10 – This weekend the North American Soccer League (NASL), the second tier of US professional football, completes its 2016 season with the Championship Final between New York Cosmos and Indy Eleven at the Belson Stadium at St John’s University in Queens, New York.
November 1 – Mexico, the first country to host the World Cup twice, now wants to be the first to stage it three times and is prepared to do so alone rather than jointly with the United States.
By Paul Nicholson
August 28 – The United Soccer League (USL) the third tier of the US professional game has won over two teams from the second tier of US soccer, the NASL, for the 2017 season. Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Ottawa Fury will join Reno 1868 as expansion sides.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – American marketing executive Aaron Davidson has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in the US-led probe into football corruption and has had his trial set for April 24 next year.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 19 – Yet another of those arrested in the US-led corruption probe into football corruption has agreed to plead guilty. Agency reports citing court papers say Aaron Davidson, who headed Traffic Sports USA, the Miami-based business of Brazilian sports marketing group Traffic, is due to enter his plea on Thursday.
October 17 – Bahamas, host of the 2017 Beach Soccer World Cup, will also host the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship. That competition will qualify two teams to the World Cup finals, alongside hosts Bahamas.
By Paul Nicholson
October 10 – For the regular season just finished, the USL, the third tier of the US professional leagues, hit record aggregate attendances of 1.5 million for the season, a 40% increase on previous years. But it is not just attendances that are growing for this challenger league in the US.
By Paul Nicholson
October 5 – One of the leaders of football’s brave new world, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani, has suggested that Russia and Qatar hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups could be the best thing to have happened to football in that it provided an accelerant for the clean-up of the game globally, and particularly in his region.
September 30 – The third tier of US professional football is reporting an increase in attendances of 33% for the 2016. The figures show the boom in interest in the game is filtering through the whole football pyramid and is not confined to MLS teams or high-profile international friendlies between the world’s giant clubs.