By Andrew Warshaw
January 31 – A highly sensitive spanner has been tossed into the workings of UEFA’s annual congress next week with Paris St-Germain supremo Nasser Al-Khelaifi set to join the organisation’s executive committee despite his club being under financial investigation and he himself being embroiled in a criminal case.
January 31 – Spanish authorities have reopened proceedings into the bizarre and still seemingly murky case of the liver transplant undergone seven years ago by former French international defender Eric Abidal, saying new evidence has come to light suggesting a trafficked organ was used.
January 30 – The family of missing Cardiff City forward Emiliano Sala have hired a private company, paid for by fundraisers, to carry on looking for the 28-year-old after rescue workers finally called off the official search last week for the light aircraft that was carrying him to his new club but disappeared off the English Channel Island of Guernsey.
January 29 – Marseille have been ordered to play home fixtures behind closed doors until officials have finished investigations into a firecracker that was thrown on to the pitch during their last league game against Lille.
January 23 – Hopes are tragically fading fast for Argentine-born star Emiliano Sala 36 hours after the light aircraft in which he was the sole passenger disappeared in the English Channel en route to Cardiff where he had signed for the Premier League club.
January 22 – Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala was on a plane that went missing over the English Channel on Monday evening while he was en route to Cardiff City after being signed by the Premier League club, French aviation officials have confirmed.
January 22 – A French player power dispute has intensified with the country’s National Professional Footballers’ Union saying Paris Saint-Germain have “no right” to exclude Adrien Rabiot from their first-team setup simply for refusing to sign a new contract.
January 18 – Barcelona could be thrown out of the Copa del Rey for fielding suspended defender Chumi Brandariz (pictured) in their last-16 first leg defeat after opponents Levante said they would lodge a complaint with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).
January 18 – Europe’s 710 top-division clubs earned a record €20.11 billion in revenues between them in the 2017 financial year although almost half of that amount was accrued by just 30 of them, according to UEFA’s annual Club Licensing Benchmarking report.
January 17 – Following weeks of protests over gender discrimination, thousands of women attended Wednesday night’s controversial Italian Supercup final between Juventus and AC Milan in Saudi Arabia – but all of them were reportedly chaperoned by men or accompanied by male children.
January 16 – Bundesliga boss Christian Seifert has warned UEFA and FIFA not to even think about using weekends for any future expansion of international competitions.
January 16 – The English Football League are to formally investigate the so-called “spygate” affair when Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa sent one of his coaching staff to spy on Derby County ahead of their high-profile Championship match last Friday.
January 15 – As widely anticipated UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings into alleged racist chanting by Chelsea fans in last month’s Europa League game with MOL Vidi in Hungary.
January 11 – UEFA have banned Bayern Munich star Thomas Muller for two matches after he was sent off against Ajax in the final game of the Champions League group stage against Ajax.
January 10 – Italian police have launched an inquiry after Roma supporters allegedly distributed anti-Semitic leaflets on Wednesday to coincide with the 119th anniversary of bitter city rivals Lazio.