February 29 – A ranking of the players who have made the most domestic league appearances since the start of their adult career shows English Premier League players occupying 15 of the 20 age group categories.
By Matt Scott
February 29 – The Northern Irish referee Arnold Hunter has been drawn in to the match-fixing scandal surrounding Olympiacos over his performance in Anderlecht’s 2-1 Europa League win over the Greek champions last Thursday night.
By Mark Baber
February 25 – The Turkish national team’s record goal scorer, former Inter Milan and Galatasaray striker Hakan Sukur, has been indicted for insulting the increasingly dictatorial Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Twitter, an offence for which he faces up to four years in a Turkish jail.
February 24 – FC Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw at Juventus FC in the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final left the latter more spirited as they came back from a 2-0 deficit. Off the pitch, though, is another story. KPMG’s Football Benchmark team has found that Bayern significantly outperformed Juventus for the 2014/2015 season.
February 23 – Under 21 players are far more likely to be given playing time in France’s Ligue 1 than in any of the other Big 5 European leagues in England, Germany, Italy or Spain. In fact, they are almost three times as likely to get playing time than in England’s Premier League.
By Paul Nicholson
February 22 – While Jordan’s Prince Ali enters the final week of his second quest to conquer the top table of world football and become FIFA president, one of his billionaire subjects has shown a much more humble ambition by buying a 92% stake in fourth tier English club Bristol Rovers.
February 19 – A Russian footballer who removed his shirt to provocatively reveal a picture of Vladimir Putin at a Europa League fixture in Turkey is to be punished by his club which in turn is to be sanctioned by UEFA.
By Mark Baber
February 17 – Milan’s Internationale and Pirelli are on the verge of signing a new three-year deal to extend their 20 year partnership, according to Italian reports.
February 16 – Paris St-Germain’s preparations for tonight’s Champions League clash with Chelsea have been rocked by an internal spat between coach Laurent Blanc and one of his own players.
February 16 – Owners and chairman are notoriously impatient with coaches when things go wrong. But Palermo surely take the biscuit having made no fewer than seven managerial changes this season.
February 16 – The Champions League restarts tonight with Round of 16 matches. Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich are reckoned to be nailed on qualifiers for the last eight, while Chelsea, Manchester City and Barcelona will join them, according to analysis of data from the CIES Football Observatory.
By Samindra Kunti
February 15 – The Dutch FA, the KNVB, have confirmed that the 2009 Eredivisie match Utrecht vs Willlem II was subject to match-fixing after a year-long probe. A charity match between Willem II and the Sierra Leone national team may also have been manipulated.
February 15 – Thirteen more European federations have pledged unanimous support to Gianni Infantino in his bid to become FIFA president, according to the Serbian FA (FSS).
February 12 – Germany will officially bid to be among the first countries to experiment with video replays if lawmakers approve live trials next month.
By Mark Baber
February 11 – As Third Division club Amedspor, from Turkey’s largest Kurdish-populated city Diyarbakir, enjoys a run to the Turkish cup quarter-finals, it finds itself under attack from the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) – with player and fan bans imposed and police raids for alleged ‘ideological propaganda’.