By Andrew Warshaw
November 7 – Gianni Infantino’s recent observation that FIFA will be examining all its competitions to see how they best fit into the international calendar has taken an interesting twist with the disclosure that the new Nations League tournament could be expanded beyond Europe and be turned into an ambitious global event.
November 3 – It must rank as one of the most bizarre as well as earliest and contentious sendings-off in history.
October 31 – Cologne have been fined €60,000 by UEFA after crowd trouble marred their Europa League group match at Arsenal in September.
October 30 – Kurdish fans around the world may not have a national team but they are nevertheless celebrating after Swedish club Dalkurd won promotion to the country’s top division after existing for just 13 years.
October 24 – Placed in the most delicate of diplomatic situations, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu says the club wishes to continue playing in La Liga even though it backs Catalonia’s drive for self-determination.
October 24 – Italian police and football authorities have opened an investigation into reports that Lazio fans left anti-Semitic stickers and graffiti, including images of famed Holocaust victim Anne Frank wearing a Roma shirt, during last weekend’s Serie A match against Cagliari.
October 24 – Belgian police are investigating a serious outbreak of fan violence caused by Belgian and Dutch fans which left a policeman with a broken jaw and led to 120 arrests.
October 23 – UEFA has ordered the partial closure of Spartak Moscow’s stadium for their next European home match as punishment for the latest outbreak of racist behaviour by supporters, this time towards Liverpool striker Bobby Adekanye during a Youth League match last month.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 20 – The head of the umbrella body representing European leagues went back on the offensive today over the gap between rich and poor saying it would be a “real disaster” if UEFA fails to address future competitive balance in its club tournaments.
October 20 – Manchester United pocketed €44.5 million of the more than €423.1 million in payments from UEFA for winning the 2016/17 Europa League. 56 clubs shared in the payments that were increased from the €411.1 million distributed in 2015/16.
October 20 – The Danish Football Association (DBU) says it has reached a “partial agreement” with the women’s national team over a long-running pay dispute, paving the way for the team to play the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Croatia on Tuesday.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 19 – The reputation of English football bosses has plummeted to an all-time and potentially fatal low following a grovelling apology to former England women’s internationals Eniola Aluko (pictured) and Drew Spence for racial comments made to them by former manager Mark Sampson.
October 19 – Denmark risk being thrown out of the women’s World Cup after refusing to play Sweden in a qualifier on Friday because of a festering pay dispute with the Danish Football Association (DBU).
By Samindra Kunti
October 18 – Construction consortium Ghemlanco has proposed a new design and extra funding for the Eurostadium in Brussels in a last-minute effort to push ahead with the controversial project for the 2020 European Championships. UEFA has given a deadline for clarity on the stadium build of November 20.
October 12 – Portuguese legend Luis Figo, who ran for FIFA president two years ago before pulling out of the race with a stinging attack on the electoral process, has joined UEFA as a football advisor.