July 12 – The David Beckham-led investment group behind Miami’s Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion franchise may have been slow to secure the slot but is now gathering pace with meetings scheduled today with city officials regarding the plans for an ambitious new multi-use stadium complex.
July 3 – The 2026 World Cup may have been awarded to North America but according to outspoken US women’s goalkeeping legend Hope Solo, the men’s game has gone backwards.
July 3 – The fledgling third tier of US football – USL Division III – has announced its fifth founding member for its inaugural 2019 season. Toronto FC II will be operated by 2017 MLS Cup Champions Toronto FC and is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Group.
By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has confirmed Barbados FA president Randy Harris as its new leader to finish off the two years remaining on the presidential term after former president Gordon Derrick was banned from football by FIFA at the end of last year.
June 11 – The rapidly expanded secoind tier US professional league, the USL, broke another record last week as total attendance for the 2018 season broke the one million barrier at the earliest point in its history.
By Paul Nicholson
June 8 – While Concacaf focus in Moscow next week will be on the United 2026 bid to bring the World Cup back to the region, the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) also faces a potentially pivotal moment.
June 1 – Timed just two weeks before the FIFA Congress in Moscow, FIFA has lifted its suspension imposed on Guatemala 18 months ago over its failure to comply with anti-corruption rules.
May 30 – FC Cincinnati, founded only in 2016 but playing before average 24,500 crowds in the second tier USL this season, is the newest recruit to the MLS and will start play in the 2019 season.
May 22 – The new Nashville MLS franchise that will start play in the 202 season has named former Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre as its chief executive officer.
May 21 – Concacaf is taking its expanded 16-team Gold Cup to 15 venues spanning 13 US cities in 2019, as well as taking matches to Central America and the Caribbean to venues that will be announced later this year.
May 14 – The Women’s U17 Concacaf Championship that was abandoned last month in Nicaragua after three matches due to civil unrest and security concerns in the country, will resume in June in the US.
May 2 – There may still be life in the North American Soccer League (NASL) that shelved its 2018 season after US Soccer denied the league Division 2 status, effectively ripping away its commercial underpinning.
April 23 – CONCACAF has canceled the rest of its 2018 Women’s Under-17 Championship following violence in Managua, Nicaragua, where the tournament began Thursday.
April 11 – FIFA’s 2026 evaluation committee had only just left Mexico City and its Azteca stadium when the iconic venue returned to the real business of play in the Conacaf Champions League. Toronto FC endured a far tougher examination in the Azteca than the FIFA bid bods were likely to have given it.
April 9 – Concacaf is to play its 2018 Women’s Championship in the US in three cities: Cary, N.C., Edinburg, Texas, and Frisco, Texas. The tournament will be played October 4-17.