Concacaf Champions League set for LigaMX vs MLS final
March 21 – The vice-like grip Mexico’s clubs have held on the Concacaf Champions League is being challenged with this year’s final guaranteed to have a challenger from the MLS.
World Football
Real Madrid and Chelsea lined up for Champions League repeat
March 18 – Holders Chelsea will face 13-time winners Real Madrid in the glamour tie of the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Concacaf confirms W Qualifiers schedule for Monterrey finals in July
March 18 – The dates of the final rounds of qualifying for the Concacaf W Championship to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, in July, have been confirmed for women’s international match window in April.
USL Women’s Super League to break new ground with season to follow international calendar
March 18 – The USL has announced that its professional women’s Super League that will kick off in August 2023 will not be played as a calendar year competition but will align with the international women’s football calendar.
Fan-less Chelsea head for Middlesbrough for FA Cup clash as ‘integrity’ storm rages
March 18 – The FA Cup, the world’s oldest domestic knockout tournament, resumes at the quarterfinal stage this weekend with much of the focus on crisis club Chelsea’s visit to second-tier Middlesbrough.
Russian striker Dzyuba says he rejected call-up for family, not political reasons
March 18 – Russia’s national team captain Artem Dzyuba has denied he asked not to join the side’s training camp because of the conflict in Ukraine.
OFC 2022 qualifiers: Solomon Islands open with win, Vanuatu hit by Covid, NZ waiting
March 18 – The Solomon Islands defeated the Cook Islands 2-0 to kick off the eight-team Oceania World Cup qualifiers with a ticket for the intercontinental playoffs at stake, but on the first day of the tournament Tahiti – Vanuatu had to be postponed because of a Covid-19 outbreak.
FIFA relaxes transfer rules to allow Ukrainian players to move to foreign clubs
March 17 – FIFA has relaxed its rules to allow home-based Ukrainian players to move to foreign clubs without having to wait for the next transfer window.
VAR referral results in win for Mediapro and €2.1m loss for RFEF
March 17 – The bad blood between the Spanish football federation (RFEF) and Mediapro, one of the world’s biggest sports media organisations that is headquartered in Spain, has continued with the latest victory going to the agency with a €2.1 million compensation win.
Juve slip three late goals to Villareal to exit UCL; Chelsea war machine keeps rolling
March 17 – Three late goals earned Villarreal a stunning 3-0 second-leg victory at Juventus on Wednesday to knock the Italian giants out of the Champions League on a 4-1 aggregate, the third season in a row they have been eliminated in the last 16.
Duka elected for sixth term as president in controversial Albanian FA vote
March 17 – Albanian FA president Armand Duka was overwhelmingly re-elected for a sixth four-year term on Tuesday following weeks of bitter disagreement about the validity of the process.
Montagliani reserved on biennial World Cup but says more internationals are needed
By Paul Nicholson at Soccerex in Miami
March 16 – Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has voiced reservations over a biennial men’s World Cup, saying that it is problematic and questioning where confederation championships, including the fast-growing Concacaf Gold Cup, would fit in.
Spartak Moscow remain out of Europa League as Russia lose appeal added time
March 16 – The ban on Russian teams playing in UEFA competition has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but a separate and more significant ruling on Russia’s World Cup status is expected later this week.
Regular season El Clasico in US? Now it is a question of ‘when, not if’ for LaLiga
By Paul Nicholson at Sportel in Miami
March 14 – LaLiga’s staging of a regular season game in the US is a question of “when, not if”, according to Boris Gartner, CEO of LaLiga North America.
MLS must let its teams ‘off the leash’, says broadcast partner
By Paul Nicholson in Miami
March 15 – With the MLS domestic broadcast rights package currently in market with a new cycle coming up, one of the league’s biggest broadcast partners has said that to compete internationally the MLS needs to “release the leash” and lets its teams grow beyond their local boundaries.