October 22 – UEFA has signed three start-up businesses as part of its business innovation drive to develop new technologies and products that will significantly impact the commercial management and promotion of football and its assets.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – Everyone was appalled by the headline-making events in Sofia recently when England’s black players were verbally abused by a section of the Bulgarian fans.
October 21 – Racism has once more marred Italian football. This time Sampdoria and England U-21 midfielder Ronaldo Vieira was the target of monkey chants from AS Roma fans.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – In another strategic move to preserve football’s geo-political status quo, UEFA have decided to keep apart Russia and Kosovo in European competition because of “security risks”.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 18 – No final decision on the format to revamp the Champions League post-2024 will be taken for at least a year but a closed shop competition is a “no go” area, according to the head of the umbrella body representing Europe’s major leagues.
October 18 – British politicians from across all parties are urging UEFA to ban teams who do not tackle racism effectively, following Monday’s highly publicised incidents in Sofia when England played Bulgaria.
October 18 – English Premier League clubs have been reassured there are no plans to strip them of their fourth automatic Champions League place.
October 18 – This month’s El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid has been called off because of fears of civil unrest just 24 hours after reports suggested that Spanish football chiefs would reject reversing the two league fixtures between the clubs.
October 18 – Bulgarian police have made six arrests in the aftermath of Monday’s Euro 2020 qualifier against England, which was twice halted for racist chanting and Nazi salutes and led to the Bulgarian football president, Borislav Mihaylov, resigning 24 hours later.
October 17 – Spanish football chiefs are reportedly likely to reject La Liga’s request to switch El Clasico on October 26 from Barcelona to Real Madrid because of the ongoing civil unrest throughout Catalonia.
October 17 – Bulgarian football legend Hristo Stoichkov was reduced to tears in response to the racist abuse dished out by Bulgaria’s fans towards England’s players during their Euro 2020 qualifier earlier this week.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against Bulgaria following the racist abuse towards England’s black players that made Europe-wide headlines while UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin insisted football alone cannot eradicate the problem.
October 15 – Germany’s St Pauli have parted company with their Turkish midfielder Cenk Sahin, after he posted support of Turkey’s military offensive against the Kurds on social media. Sahin will return his old club Istanbul Basaksehir.
October 16 – Spain qualified for Euro 2020 with a last-gasp 1-1 draw away to Sweden. They join Belgium, Italy, Poland, Russia and Ukraine in next year’s finals.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 15 – Forget the 6-0 scoreline, impressive though it was. The resurgence of racism sweeping through European football reached a new low at international level on Monday when England’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Bulgaria was halted twice after home fans were warned about racist behaviour including Nazi salutes and monkey chanting.