By Mark Baber
April 22 – FC Barcelona have unveiled the designs for their revamped home – the Nou Camp Nou – at a ceremony attended by Barca board members, the first-team squad and media representatives. Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the new stadium will become “an icon for the city,” though most would argue it already is in global opinion.
April 22 – With scores of their players repeatedly unpaid, Romanian football authorities have eased contract restrictions that will now allow them to move on and not be retained by clubs against their will.
April 21 – Not many clubs sack their coach with the domestic league title about to be won. But in Scotland, where Celtic are by far the biggest fish in a relatively small pool of winners, expectations go much further than perennial success in the top flight.
April 19 – The European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) has spoken out against the idea of a European Super League and backed the current UEFA-based system.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 18 – Michel Platini is facing a race against time to be able to resume his role as UEFA president before the 54-nation confederation’s annual congress in Budapest at the start of next month.
By Paul Nicholson
April 18 – Wonderful as the Premier League Leicester City story is, are we seeing an English return to long ball football? Could we soon be crying out for more of the same and a demand for the likes of the old Wimbledon to return to the top flight? Could Sam Allardyce be right after all?
April 18 – Lionel Messi chalked up his 500th career goal on Sunday, his 319th in La Liga, in Barcelona’s 2-1 home defeat to Valencia.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 18 – Reinhard Grindel, the only candidate for a job that has become something of a poisoned chalice, has officially taken over as head of the German football association (DFB), the sport’s biggest single federation.
By Paul Nicholson
April 18 – Both Milan clubs could come under Chinese ownership if reports are correct that AC Milan could be sold within eight weeks and if Suning Commerce Group complete on a proposed acquisition of a stake in Internazionale.
April 15 – Will Pep Guardiola’s final game in charge of Bayern Munich be against the team he is leaving them for at the end of the season?
April 15 – Manchester City have been charged by UEFA after fireworks were set off during their 1-0 Champions League quarter-final, second-leg win over Paris St Germain on Tuesday night.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 14 – Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has finally learned that he will not be selected for France at this summer’s Euros after months of claim and counter-claim over his role in an alleged sex tape blackmail case that has overshadowed his international record on the field.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 13 – The threat of an international ban on Greek football has been lifted after the government and the Greek FA (EPO) reached an 11th-hour agreement with FIFA to restart the domestic cup competition.
April 12 – If the basis for international success is in the number of young players coaches can pick from their domestic leagues then England, who currently have the youngest national ‘A’ team in Europe, need to be worried about what happens next. France on the other hand has a very bright future.
By Samindra Kunti
April 12 – FC Barcelona’s Brazilian superstar Neymar, who has had assets seized in Brazil as part of a tax fraud case and whose transfer to Spain was one of the most controversial deals in world football, has had details of his contract released showing he receives a guaranteed salary of €45.9 million with his five-year contract at Barca. His buy-out clause is a massive €190 million.