By Andrew Warshaw
September 7 – And then there were two. Angel Maria Villar, whose UEFA presidential candidacy always seemed destined to fail, has pulled out of the election next week to save face, leaving Michael van Praag and Alexander Ceferin to battle it out to fill the vacancy left by Michel Platini.
By Paul Nicholson
August 7- Yesterday the European Club Association (ECA) triumphantly claimed the new UEFA Champions League qualification format a big success for the future of (big) club football in Europe, today the first voices of dissent declare the decision to automatically qualify the top four clubs from the top four European leagues a “detrimental” decision for European football.
September 5 – With focus generally on Europe’s Big 5 leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, Football Benchmark have turned their analytical attention to life outside of these leagues and the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.
September 7 – British-based anti-racism body Kick it Out has warned of the increase of hate incidents surrounding football, saying it received 402 reports of discrimination last season, up from 393 in 2014-15. Of those, 135 were in the professional game.
By Paul Nicholson
September 6 – Aleksander Čeferin has dismissed as “insulting” reports that he has made a series of promises to the Nordic federations in support for their votes in the election for the successor to Michel Platini to the UEFA presidency on September 14 in Athens, Greece.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 6 – Europe’s leading clubs say the new Champions League format being introduced by UEFA in two years’ time has ended the threat of a breakaway league but reject the suggestion that the essential romance and nostalgia of football will evaporate in the process.
September 6 – Bundesliga side SV Darmstadt 98 have taken the unusual and laudable step of renaming their stadium in memory of a supporter who died in March from cancer at the age of 26.
September 6 – Valon Berisha became an overnight hero as he carved his name in footballing history by equalising for Kosovo in their first ever competitive international fixture on Monday.
September 6 – German legend Franz Beckenbauer is recovering in hospital after undergoing open heart bypass surgery – arranged before the FIFA ethics investigation surrounding the 2006 World Cup was announced.
September 5 – With only hours to go before their historic first ever World Cup qualifying game, Kosovo were still waiting to discover whether six of their squad could switch nationality and play for them against Finland tonight.
September 5 – UEFA’s decision to amend the Champions League format from the 2018/19 season in favour of the most powerful clubs has, not surprisingly, been widely welcomed by Europe’s leading clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 2 – Michael van Praag says European football’s landscape has changed significantly as a result of Brexit and that he is the only candidate for UEFA president with the knowledge and contacts to tackle the problems that lie ahead.
September 2 – The crisis at the Dutch FA, the KNVB, has been exacerbated following the Netherlands’s 1-2 home defeat to Greece and the resignation of director of football Bert Van Oostveen. The KNVB was already struggling to complete its coaching staff.
September 2 – With the focus of UEFA’s men Champions League turning to clubs naming their squads for the last group qualifying stages, the Women’s Champions league round of 32 draw was held throwing up a rematch of Wolfsburg vs Chelsea clash from last season.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 1 – Of all the countries taking part in the forthcoming World Cup qualifying programme, none is surely anticipating the occasion with more relish than Kosovo who make their competitive international debut on Monday. Yet the Balkan state, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, still needs confirmation from FIFA whether a raft of players can switch nationality to join them.