December 12 – The culmination of the Champions League group phase was marked by an ugly outbreak of fan violence in Milan where three Ajax supporters were stabbed prior to their decisive fixture with AC Milan. The fans were apparently attacked in three separate incidents close to the San Siro stadium with one of them in a “serious” condition after being stabbed in the stomach.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 12 – Just over a year after declaring that the level of officiating in Russia needed a radical overhaul, Roberto Rosetti has resigned as head of refereeing at the Russian federation.
December 12 – Rupert Murdoch’s German satellite broadcaster Sky Deutschland has retained its right to screen Champions League games until 2018.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Zahir Belounis, the footballer whose story of being “trapped” in Qatar against his will made him an international cause celebre, was in London today for preliminary talks with unidentified clubs over possibly extending his career in the English league.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 11 – Poland’s Ekstraklasa is planning to launch its own television channel. Under the plan, the channel will hold Polish league football broadcast rights and resell them to digital platforms and cable operators.
December 11 – Barcelona will make a decision in January whether to move from the iconic Nou Camp stadium, their home for more than half a century.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – Scottish champions Celtic have taken what appear to be steps to disband their notorious Green Brigade fans group after a reported £10,000 worth of damage was caused to the away end of the ground at Motherwell’s stadium during last Friday’s league game between the clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – The spot-fixing scandal that has rocked English football has moved up a gear with the relevation that five of the six men arrested are past or present players, the most high profile being DJ Campbell, a striker with Blackburn Rovers in the second tier of the domestic game who previously played in the Premier League with three different clubs.
By Alexander Krassimirov
December 10 – CSKA Sofia CEO Alexander Todorov (pictured) said that the new management of the club has reduced the salaries of the players about 35% compared to those who have paid the previous owners of Titan AS.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 9 – Following a series of defeats which pushed the football club towards the relegation zone of Poland’s Esktraklasa, the Ultras of Zaglebie Lubin assaulted one of the club’s players, damaged another one’s car with bricks and threatened to assault a third player.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – A one-time English Premier League footballer and Nigerian international has admitted being involved in spot-fixing in a second damaging newspaper sting that has led to six people being detained and has once again seriously undermined the reputation and credibility of English football.
By David Owen
December 6 – Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium – which was a venue for the London 2012 Olympic football tournament and may play a part in UEFA’s innovative, multi-country Euro 2020 competition – generates more than £130 million a year for the Welsh economy and sustains more than 2,500 permanent jobs, a new report has revealed.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – In arguably his most radical idea since becoming UEFA president, Michel Platini is calling for yellow cards to be scrapped, with players instead being sent to a rugby-style sin bin.
December 4 – With Christmas fast approaching, sponsors are looking to activate their partnerships for the buying season. Rotary and EA Sports have both come out with new promotions, while footwear manufacturer Puma has launched a limited edition boot with BMW.
December 5 – When more than 12,000 school children were allowed to occupy the stands behind both goals normally used by Juventus’ infamous Ultras, who had been banned for abusive chanting, the Italian giants must have hoped they were sending out the right message.