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.
By David Owen
October 15 – French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu has called on UEFA to sanction Turkey after the Turkish team’s players executed another military-style salute in the Stade de France on Monday night.
October 14 – Tensions ahead of tonight’s European Championship qualifier between Bulgaria and England have been racked up after Bulgarian coach Krasimir Balakov accused England of having a bigger racism problem than his own country.
October 14 – Tiny Andorra’s 21-year wait for a first European Championship qualifying win is over after they defeated Moldova 1-0 on Friday.
October 11 – Belgium have become the first team to qualify for Euro 2020 after a 9-0 demolition job of amateurs San Marino.
October 11 – The Bulgarian FA have written angrily to UEFA to protest against a threat by England players to walk off the pitch en masse if any of them are racially abused during Monday’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Sofia.
October 10 – UEFA have confirmed that Slovan Bratislava’s Europa League game against Wolverhampton Wanderers will be played behind closed doors after dismissing their appeal against being charged for racist chants by fans in a play-off game against PAOK of Greece.
By David Owen
October 10 – Sligo Rovers currently reside, it is fair to say, some way below the pinnacle of European football. But the League of Ireland club plays a mean social media game.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 9 – The heads of the two bodies representing Europe’s clubs and league have renewed their war of words over qualification for the Champions League in the post-2024 cycle and how European competitions should be structured.
October 9 – England players are threatening to walk off the pitch all together if any of them receive racist abuse from the stands when they take on Bulgaria in Sofia in a World Cup qualifier next Monday.
October 9 – The European summer transfer window should close at the same time everywhere as used to be the case, according to the head of the European Leagues.