By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – Five senior members of the World Cup-winning US national women’s team have filed a legal challenge over wage discrimination having consistently outstripped the achievements of their male counterparts.
April 1 – Broadcast preparations for the 2016 Copa America Centenario in the US are progressing with France-based Host Broadcast Services (HBS) being appointed to deliver the pictures and logistics for tv stations worldwide.
March 28 – Sonia Bien-Aime has been appointed to head a Women’s Football Leadership Group in the CONCACAF region, aimed at promoting the game to women and stimulating growth of the women’s game.
March 24 – The Caribbean Cup 2016 kicked off this week with a new format and a new title sponsor in the form of Scotiabank. Cuba, Grenada and Guyana all won their opening games as seven groups begin play to qualify 15 teams for the next round.
By Paul Nicholson
March 23 – Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Liverpool and Chelsea will all compete this summer in the US-organised International Champions Cup (ICC), but not all games will be played in the US.
By Paul Nicholson
March 17 – Mark Rodrigues, the US-based Guyanan football entrepreneur, has pulled out of the race for the CONCACAF presidency leaving just three candidates – Canadian FA president Victor Montagliani, Caribbean Football Union president Gordon Derrick and Bermuda FA president Larry Mussenden.
By Paul Nicholson
March 15 – Having passed their package of reforms at an extraordinary congress the confederation for north and central America and the Caribbean has embarked on the search for a new general secretary and chief legal/compliance officer. This May CONCACAF will also elect a new president.
By Paul Nicholson
March 10 – CONCACAF have appointed a new director of refereeing following a review of its Refereeing Department earlier in the year.
By Paul Nicholson
March 9 – Regulation of the runaway Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) business in the US took a step closer in Virginia this week, but a ruling is still awaited in New York over whether DFS games operated by DraftKings and FanDuel are illegal or not.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 9 – The FifaGate corruption scandal that has already snared 41 individuals and entities allegedly involved in more than $200 million of bribes and kickbacks has widened still further after Miguel Trujillo (pictured), a Florida-based consultant licensed to arrange official matches between member associations, admitted charges against him when he appeared in a Brooklyn court.
By Ben Nicholson
March 7 – David Beckham’s Miami franchise dream is very much alive and kicking, and he says that it is not just his dream, revealing that some world class players have been “showing interest” in his upcoming MLS franchise.
March 3 – The former president of the Guatemalan FA, Brayan Jimenez, pleaded not guilty and was released on $1.5 million bail Wednesday 24 hours after being extradited to the United States to faces charges for his alleged role in football’s global corruption scandal.
By Mark Baber
March 2 – Former Guatemalan Football Federation president and member of FIFA’s Committee for Fair Play and Social Responsibility Brayan Jimenez was extradited on a commercial flight from La Aurora airport to the US on Tuesday to face charges of corruption, money laundering, fraud and embezzlement.
By Paul Nicholson in Zurich
February 25 – Having said all the ‘right things’, and then voted the ‘right way’, CONCACAF’s member associations will now proceed to, hopefully, ‘doing the right thing’. A big step forward was taken by the confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean and its member associations at their extraordinary congress in Zurich where they voted unanimously to approve a wide ranging package of reforms.
February 24 – In a welcome break from news on reform and political manouevring issues, CONCACAF has announced that it is using the quarter finals of its club showcase championship, the Scotiabank Champions League, “to promote social well-being through soccer”.