Mussolini’s great-grandson signs for Lazio
February 4 – The great-grandson of Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini has signed for Lazio – a section of whose supporters are notorious for salutes and racist chants at matches.
Europe
UK politicians line up against oligarchs to exclude Chelsea and Everton from trade missions
February 3 – The British government is coming under even more pressure to ban two English top-flight clubs from official projects promoting Britain overseas because of their links to Russian billionaire oligarchs.
Marseille suspend Villas Boas after claim he never wanted Celtic’s Ntcham
February 3 – It isn’t every day that the manager of a top-flight club openly and publicly criticises the way it operates and offers his resignation.
UEFA brings in single-leg knockout rule as Liverpool’s trip to Leipzig in doubt
February 3 – European knock-out ties hit by travel restrictions caused by the impact of Covid-19 could be played as one-off matches at neutral venues under new rules issued by UEFA.
Tebas calls out Infantino, agent WO1, as party to European Super League plot
By Andrew Warshaw
February 2 – La Liga chief Javier Tebas has accused Gianni Infantino of privately supporting the launch of a breakaway European Super League despite FIFA steadfastly opposing the project.
‘Bankrupt’ Barca bleat over leak of Messi’s €138m salary
February 1 – Reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy with massive debts, Barcelona say they will take “appropriate legal action” against Spanish newspaper El Mundo after it published details of Lionel Messi’s eye-watering contract.
Marseilles chaos as ultras storm training ground
February 1 – Marseille officials have denounced a “frenzy of violence” after their game against Rennes in France’s Ligue 1 on Saturday was postponed when hundreds of protesting supporters broke into the club’s training ground and caused widespread damage.
Chelsea and Everton assets of Abramovich and Usmanov targeted by British politicos
January 29 – The British government has been challenged by a group of lawmakers to impose sanctions on two billionaire oligarchs linked to English top-flight clubs following the detention of Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny that has caused outcry among western democracies.
Agnelli scorns breakaway Super League plan in favour of UEFA’s ‘Swiss system’ reform
January 29 – Andrea Agnelli, the highly influential Juventus boss and head of the European Clubs Association, has dealt a potential blow to closed-shop European super league talks by instead backing UEFA’s Champions League reforms.
Azerbaijan’s Qarabağ FK loses UEFA appeal over racist sanctions
January 29 – UEFA’s appeals body has upheld a €100,000 fine imposed last November on Qarabağ FK and rejected the club’s appeal.
UEFA extends decision deadline on 12-city Euros in hope it can get fans into stadia
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says he remains committed to staging next summer’s delayed Euros in the current format of 12 cities despite recent surges of the coronavirus pandemic across the continent.
Getting Messi: Barca threaten to go legal with PSG over claims they will sign him
January 28 – An unsavoury row has broken out between Barcelona and Paris St Germain over the future of Lionel Messi with the Catalan giants threatening to report the Middle East-owned Ligue 1 champions to FIFA and UEFA.
Fans hate agents, prefer domestic leagues and feel it all costs too much, finds survey
January 28 – A survey of football fans has found that generally they think agents are overpaid, that leagues are too weighted towards so-called big teams, that there are too many national team matches but not too many club games, and that it costs too much to watch whether via pay TV or in stadia.
Turkish delight: Ozil leaves Arsenal on a free for cash-strapped Fenerbahce
By Andrew Warshaw
January 25 – He cost almost £42 million when he moved to Arsenal over seven years ago, then a club record, helped Germany win the World Cup, earned an eye-watering weekly fortune but has now been transferred for precisely nothing.
Serie B’s Pisa is latest Italian club to move into foreign ownership
January 25 – Alexander Knaster, an Anglo-American tycoon of Russian origin, has acquired a 75% stake in Italian Serie B side Pisa Sporting Club.