By Bernd Fisa
July 9 – Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese superstar and captain of his national squad, has invited the widow of the former Italian striker Stefano Borgonovo to attend Sunday’s Final of the European Championship, which will see Portugal go head to head with tournament hosts France.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 7 – Lionel Messi has vowed to appeal and clear his name after being sensationally sentenced to 21 months in prison on three counts of tax fraud. Both Barcelona’s Argentine superstar and his father were handed the same jail term though it is unlikely they will serve time since custodial sentences are regularly suspended in Spain for first offences for non-violent crimes carrying a term of less than two years.
July 7 – Two Russian players have been punished by their clubs after video evidence showed them partying in Monaco following the national team’s humiliating Euro 2016 exit.
July 6 – The Homeless World Cup kicks off this Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland, with 52 teams and 500 players competing in mens and womens competitions. It concludes July 16.
July 6 – Real Madrid say they will appeal an European Commission ruling that they must reimburse €18.4 million to city authorities because they benefitted from unfair subsidies.
July 6 – The Bundesliga and Premier League will continue to dominate the business of football with their big and modern stadia; France, thanks to new stadia for Euro 2016 are getting better but need to do more, Spain and Italy are off the pace.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 5 – In a ruling that will send alarm bells ringing across the Continent, seven Spanish clubs including Barcelona and Real Madrid have been ordered to repay millions of euros of unlawful subsidies after being found guilty of breaking EU state aid rules.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – Fourteen countries have signed a potentially ground-breaking convention between the 47-member Council of Europe and UEFA designed to prevent any repetition of hooliganism at future European Championship finals.
July 4 – Arguably the two most powerful confederations in world football, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and UEFA, have taken steps to improve their collaboration across a range of areas.
July 1 – The Romanian public prosecutor has charged an emergency doctor with the manslaughter of former Cameroon midfielder Patrick Ekeng who collapsed during a league match for Dinamo Bucharest in May and died of heart failure.
June 30 – As English football searches for a new manager after the humiliation of Euro 2016, the chairman of the country’s national federation, Greg Dyke (pictured), has questioned whether anyone at the top of the sport would actually want the job.
June 29 – Iceland’s fairytale progress to the quarterfinals of the European Championship proves it was a good idea to expand the tournament to 24 teams and has provided just the boost required, according to UEFA’s interim secretary general Theodore Theodoridis.
June 28 – England were not the only team to incur the wrath of their national press after exiting Euro 2016. Spanish media blasted their own side and called on coach Vicente del Bosque to resign after the defending champions were knocked out by Italy.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – Embarrassing, disbelieving, shameful. And that’s just for starters after the most woeful performance in a major finals for half a century by an England team.
June 28 – Laurent Blanc and Paris Saint-Germain have parted ways as the Parisian club seeks a new direction. Blanc has agreed to a €22 million (£17 million) severance deal. The club have moved quickly to appoint Unai Emery, who left serial Europa League winners Sevilla earlier this summer, as the new manager.