January 17 – French football icon Karim Benzema has filed a defamation lawsuit against the country’s interior minister for accusing him last year of having “notorious” links with the Muslim Brotherhood.
January 16 – In a rare move, France’s main football union is launching legal action to protect professional players from the mental pressure their clubs put on them when they are cold-shouldered until they sign a new contract or agree to just leave.
January 15 – A Turkish-based Israeli player faces prosecution for showing solidarity during a goal celebration with the hostages taken in the October 7 Hamas attacks.
January 10 – The former president of Turkish top flight club Ankaragucu, Faruk Koca, told a court on Tuesday that he regretted attacking the referee at the end of a league game but denied threatening to kill him.
January 8 – Italy’s highest court has cleared the late Argentine legend Diego Maradona of tax evasion charges, ending a 30-year-long legal battle.
January 4 – Nice’s Algerian international Youcef Atal (pictured), already having served a seven-match ban dished out by French football authorities, has now been handed an eight-month suspended jail term for sharing an anti-Semitic message on social media relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
January 3 – Spanish World Cup-winning star Jenni Hermoso told a judge on Tuesday that the kiss forced on her by disgraced former Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales was “at no point consensual” and that she had come under pressure to defend his actions.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 21 – In a bombshell decision that could have significant ramifications, the European Court of Justice ruled today that UEFA and FIFA broke EU competition rules by attempting to block the seemingly doomed breakaway Super League.
December 21 – Brazil and Barcelona star Dani Alves’ trial for alleged sexual assault will start February 5.
December 15 – In a rare case of seeking justice for a wrong VAR decision, a Spanish judge has ruled in favour of Espanyol whose relegation in May was partly precipitated by a ‘ghost’ goal scored by opponents Atletico Madrid.
December 6 – The British Government has stopped short of introducing a so-called ‘Hillsborough Law’ called for by campaigners in its response to a report into the experiences of the bereaved families.
November 30 – Cristiano Ronaldo is in the news again, this time named in a $1billion class action lawsuit in the United States over his involvement with Binance , the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
November 24 – Prosecutors are seeking a nine-year prison sentence for Brazilian star Dani Alves, one of the most decorated players in world football, for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman last year.
November 21 – Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has launched a “multi-million-pound” claim against the club over unpaid wages.
November 17 – AC Milan’s international defender Alessandro Florenzi has reportedly become the latest Italian player to be investigated by authorities over alleged illegal gambling activities.