January 25 – Bitcoin’s value may have crashed from its stunning high before Christmas, but cryptocurrency is alive and kicking and Arsenal are the first Premier League club to take advantage of this announcing a partnership with CashBet ahead of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of its new cryptocurrency, CashBet Coin designed specifically for iGaming.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – It may look fiendishly unwieldly and complicated on paper but UEFA are convinced that their much-trumpeted Nations League competition, the draw for which was made today, will very quickly catch on and become an integral part of the European football landscape.
January 24 – After a long wait the Scottish Premier League (SPFL) has officially announced Labrokes will stay as title sponsors for a further two years taking them to at least 2020.
January 24 – UEFA is considering imposing a cap on agents’ fees following a meeting of its Professional Football Strategy Group.
January 24 – Russia’s Federal Agency for Tourism has named and shamed a list of hotels that have jacked up their prices by massive amounts for the World Cup.
January 24 – Sports broadcaster Eleven Sports secured exclusive TV rights in Belgium for a host of major international matches, reasserting its market position in the Belgian TV landscape.
By Paul Nicholson
January 23 – The United 2026 World Cup bid heavyweights are on the road, locked and loaded with persuasive arguments and reasoning for why they are the only choice for hosting 2026. Absent were expensive gifts, brown paper bags of cash or even watches (not even Mickey Mouse ones) to shower their voting constituency with. For the faithful, FIFA 2.0 is a serious commitment.
January 23 – Marco Polo del Nero has maintained his total innocence of bribery and corruption laid against him by the United States Justice Department’s FIFAGate inquiry in a cross examination by FIFA’s ethics investigation.
January 23 – Liberia’s George Weah, the former world footballer of the year who made the remarkable step of switching to politics and going all the way to becoming president of his country, was officially sworn into power on Monday and promised a crackdown on systematic corruption.
January 23 – A ground-breaking agreement between Spanish football and authorities in Saudi Arabia has received a furious rebuke from Spain’s football union which says the arrival of nine Saudi players in La Liga will harm local development and is purely a money-earning exercise.
January 23 – The global leg of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour sponsored by Coca-Cola kicked off with an official launch ceremony in London on Monday and plans to hit 91 cities across 51 countries and six continents.
January 23 – Newcastle United has removed online betting firm FUN88 from the club’s youth team shirt. The sponsor’s logo was deemed by the club as a potential breach of FA regulations and comes after growing pressure on the UK government to look harder at the gambling advertising from betting companies in broadcast media and club sponsorships.
January 22 – With US Soccer president Sunil Gulati and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani about to begin their charm offensive in Europe for the North American bid for the 2026 World Cup, Gulati has been hit with new problems.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 22 – The head of Norway’s FA has called on FIFA to step up its investigation into the Russian doping scandal and even consider a ban, comments that have prompted a furious response from his Russian counterpart.
January 19 – The North American Soccer League has confirmed it is backing former US international Eric Wynalda in the U.S. Soccer presidential election race which climaxes on February 10.