By Andrew Warshaw and Mark Baber
April 27 – Croatia’s anti-corruption authorities say they have charged three current and former officials from 17-time champions Dinamo Zagreb with tax evasion and siphoning off profits from player transfers – including a senior Croatian FA official who Insideworldfootball has discovered is a member of a leading FIFA trouble-shooting body.
April 27 – Spain-based ISDE (Institute of Higher Learning in Law and Economics) has launched a masters course in sports management and legal skills that will be run from its Barcelona offices but also linking with the city’s football club FCB Barcelona.
April 26 – The best goalkeeper in Europe’s Big-5 leagues this year is Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer and the worst is, not surprisingly, American Brad Guzan who has had a miserable season at a miserable Aston Villa.
By Samindra Kunti
April 25 – Anderlecht’s Belgian title campaign turned into chaos in the playoffs at the weekend as players argued on the pitch and a farcical 4-2 defeat at KV Oostende led to fans rioting.
By Mark Baber
April 22 – FC Barcelona have unveiled the designs for their revamped home – the Nou Camp Nou – at a ceremony attended by Barca board members, the first-team squad and media representatives. Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the new stadium will become “an icon for the city,” though most would argue it already is in global opinion.
April 22 – With scores of their players repeatedly unpaid, Romanian football authorities have eased contract restrictions that will now allow them to move on and not be retained by clubs against their will.
April 21 – Not many clubs sack their coach with the domestic league title about to be won. But in Scotland, where Celtic are by far the biggest fish in a relatively small pool of winners, expectations go much further than perennial success in the top flight.
April 19 – The European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) has spoken out against the idea of a European Super League and backed the current UEFA-based system.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 18 – Michel Platini is facing a race against time to be able to resume his role as UEFA president before the 54-nation confederation’s annual congress in Budapest at the start of next month.
By Paul Nicholson
April 18 – Wonderful as the Premier League Leicester City story is, are we seeing an English return to long ball football? Could we soon be crying out for more of the same and a demand for the likes of the old Wimbledon to return to the top flight? Could Sam Allardyce be right after all?
April 18 – Lionel Messi chalked up his 500th career goal on Sunday, his 319th in La Liga, in Barcelona’s 2-1 home defeat to Valencia.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 18 – Reinhard Grindel, the only candidate for a job that has become something of a poisoned chalice, has officially taken over as head of the German football association (DFB), the sport’s biggest single federation.
By Paul Nicholson
April 18 – Both Milan clubs could come under Chinese ownership if reports are correct that AC Milan could be sold within eight weeks and if Suning Commerce Group complete on a proposed acquisition of a stake in Internazionale.
April 15 – Will Pep Guardiola’s final game in charge of Bayern Munich be against the team he is leaving them for at the end of the season?
April 15 – Manchester City have been charged by UEFA after fireworks were set off during their 1-0 Champions League quarter-final, second-leg win over Paris St Germain on Tuesday night.