Coronavirus: Serie A considers options if time runs out to complete league season
March 11 – What happens if the Serie A season in Italy can’t be completed as a result of Covid-19?
Europe
Coronavirus: LaLiga to be played behind closed doors for ‘at least’ the next two weeks
March 10 – LaLiga has issued a statement saying that all matches will be played behind closed doors for at least the next two weeks.
Serie A suspended until April 3 as Covid-19 grips Italy
March 10 – Italian top-flight football has finally bowed to pressure from the government with the whole of Serie A called off until April 3 because of Covid-19.
Better for who? Ceferin says England would be better off without League Cup
March 10 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has advised English football authorities to scrap the League Cup competition, which has been in existence since 1960, to avoid fixture congestion.
Coronavirus: Italian sports minister fury at ‘irresponsible’ Serie A for playing on
March 9 – Italy’s sports minister has accused Serie A of being “irresponsible” for ignoring his calls for matches to be permanently called off because of coronavirus.
AC Milan fire Boban after he describes ownership as ‘disrespectful’
March 9 – Less than a year after quitting FIFA, where he had served as personal adviser to Gianni Infantino in his role as deputy general secretary, to join AC Milan, Zvonimir Boban has been sacked as the club’s chief football officer following an unsavoury spat with CEO Ivan Gazidis.
Agnelli puts money and privilege above sporting integrity in call for CL protections
By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – After a relatively quiet few months in the delicate debate over how European club football should be organised in the future, Juventus president Andrea Agnelli has re-stoked the flames of controversy by again making the case for the most prestigious clubs to be commercially prioritised.
LaLiga loses court appeal over staging league match in US match, but vows to fight on
By Paul Nicholson
March 6 – LaLiga has responded swiftly to a Madrid court ruling today that dismissed the league’s appeal against the RFEF’s decision not to authorise the Miami match between Girona and Barcelona that was going to be played January 26.
Coronavirus: Premier League bans handshakes, closed doors contingency in discussion
March 6 – The English Premier League has taken the radical step of banning traditional pre-match handshakes by players in order to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, starting this weekend and until further notice.
OM back in front of UEFA’s financial police over suspected FFP rule breaks
March 6 – Marseille are the latest high-profile European club to potentially face UEFA sanctions after being suspected of breaking Financial Fair Play rules.
Coronavirus: Inter’s Zhang says public health more important than fan cash
May 6 – Inter Milan’s Chinese president Steven Zhang says he stands by his attack on Serie A president Paolo Dal Pino whom he branded a “clown” over the league’s rescheduling of fixtures as a result of Covid-19.
UEFA’s Foundation for Children celebrates 5 years and more than 1 million lives impacted
March 6 – It may not carry the same clout as the Champions League or be as newsworthy as financial fair play or VAR but UEFA is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its Foundation for Children, using football as a tool to aid vulnerable kids, particularly in less-privileged parts of the world.
Portuguese police raid clubs and agents in nationwide financial fraud probe
By Samindra Kunti
March 5 – Portuguese police have raided 76 addresses, including the home of super-agent Jorge Mendes, as part of a nationwide investigation into money laundering and tax evasion in 2015.
Swiss AG Lauber sanctioned for lying. Doubt cast over impartiality of FIFA indictment
By Paul Nicholson
March 5 – Controversial Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber (pictured), who led the Swiss investigations into FIFA but mysteriously failed to remember or document meetings he held with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, has been sanctioned for disloyalty, lying and breaching his office’s code of conduct.
Juve and ECA chief Agnelli warns FIFA’s CWC is still a major calendar challenge
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – The head of the umbrella body representing Europe’s clubs repeated his concerns today about an increasingly congested international calendar, specifically targeting FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup which is due to get under way in 2021.