By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – Europe’s leading clubs are to lobby UEFA to let them use five substitutes per game in the group stages of this season’s Champions League and Europa League as part of the effort to ease fixture congestion and the physical burden on players after such a short pre-season.
September 9 – Spain’s FA (RFEF) has approved an extension of the five-substitutions rule until the end of the 2020/21 season after a request from the league, allowing Spanish clubs to apply the rule and mitigate the consequences of what is projected to be physically daunting season for their players.
September 9 – In a potentially significant breakthrough after a six-month shutdown that has crippled club finances, two Scottish top-flight grounds are being allowed to welcome a limited number of fans to games this weekend.
September 9 – A campaign by Barcelona fans to force a vote of no confidence in club president Josep-Maria Bartomeu (pictured) is halfway to its goal according to local reports.
September 9 – Recognised by FIFA and the United Nations as the world’s most environmentally sustainable club, Forest Green Rovers have now attracted attention from Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin who has become the club’s second-largest shareholder.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 8 – The head of European club football’s umbrella organisation warned today of the “deep scars” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the probable “cash crisis” for scores of clubs in the months ahead.
September 8 – Tickets have gone on sale for the European Super Cup between Bayern Munich and Sevilla, due to be the first UEFA club match with fans in attendance since the coronavirus shutdown.
September 8 – Two of England’s most exciting young players have been sent home in disgrace from international duty for breaking Covid-19 rules as indiscipline and irresponsibility not for the first time made footballing headlines across the country.
September 8 – Manchester City are the latest high-profile club to be hit with fresh Covid-19 outbreaks, with both Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte testing positive just days before the start of the new Premier League season.
September 7 – With the Serie A season imminent, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has voiced his concern over fans attending matches, arguing that it would be inappropriate at the present time.
September 7 – Luis Rubiales is certain to be re-elected as Spanish FA president for another four years after emerging as the sole candidate to stand in elections later this month.
September 4 – The row over the premature ending of France’s 2019/20 Ligue 1 season is rumbling on with Olympique Lyonnais (OL) demanding €117.7 million in compensation.
September 4 – The new French season has been plunged into further chaos after defending champions Paris St Germain announced three more positive cases of COVID-19 in their squad, 24 hours after unconfirmed reports that Brazilian superstar Neymar was one of them following a holiday in Ibiza.
September 4 – Germany’s professional clubs want to welcome back a limited number of fans in the new Bundesliga season, but league boss Christian Seifert has admitted that it will be “a demanding and difficult season.”
September 3 – Switzerland’s professional teams are to be allowed to have their stadiums back up to two thirds full from October, one of the first countries in Europe to do so in the wake of Covid-19.