Azerbaijan’s Qarabağ FK loses UEFA appeal over racist sanctions
January 29 – UEFA’s appeals body has upheld a €100,000 fine imposed last November on Qarabağ FK and rejected the club’s appeal.
World Football
Concacaf sets draw and dates for 16-team Champions League
January 29 – Hard on the heels of the AFC’s Champions league draw earlier this week, Concacaf have said they will hoid their 16-team Champions League draw February 10.
UEFA extends decision deadline on 12-city Euros in hope it can get fans into stadia
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says he remains committed to staging next summer’s delayed Euros in the current format of 12 cities despite recent surges of the coronavirus pandemic across the continent.
Getting Messi: Barca threaten to go legal with PSG over claims they will sign him
January 28 – An unsavoury row has broken out between Barcelona and Paris St Germain over the future of Lionel Messi with the Catalan giants threatening to report the Middle East-owned Ligue 1 champions to FIFA and UEFA.
Omari removal from CAF elections again asks questions of Infantino’s weaponised ethics body
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – The role of FIFA in African football politics is again coming under scrutiny after the world governing body surprisingly ruled out current interim president Constant Omari (pictured) from the Congo from standing for election for the FIFA Council. FIFA did however clear South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe and Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya to stand for election for presidency, which confers its own seat on the FIFA Council.
Fans hate agents, prefer domestic leagues and feel it all costs too much, finds survey
January 28 – A survey of football fans has found that generally they think agents are overpaid, that leagues are too weighted towards so-called big teams, that there are too many national team matches but not too many club games, and that it costs too much to watch whether via pay TV or in stadia.
Chicago’s second pro team to take root in Chicago Fire’s old Bridgewater stadium
January 28 – Chicago’s second professional men’s team, who will begin play in the third tier NISA for the upcoming 2021-22 season, will base themselves at the SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.
NWSL fixes dates for Challenge Cup covid-secure openers and regular season
January 28 – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the US has released dates for the start of its season that will open April 9 with the NWSL Challenge Cup.
FIFA steps in to clear Motsepe and Yahya to run for CAF presidency
January 27 – World federation FIFA has cleared all four candidates, including South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe (pictured) and Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya both whose eligibility had been in doubt, to run in the presidential elections of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
FIFA’s Mosengo-Omba tells Africa they have common aims, but CAF must clean up its act
January 27 – The next president of the African Football Confederation must be “absolutely honest”, according to FIFA’s Chief Member Associations Officer, Veron Mosengo-Omba.
Senegal’s Senghor puts himself at front of race for CAF presidency
January 26 – Senegal’s Augustin Senghor has taken the bold step of declaring himself as favourite to win the increasingly bitter election race to become the new Confederation of African (CAF) president in succession to the disgraced Ahmad Ahmad.
Defensa y Justicia win all-Argentinean battle for Copa Sudamericana
January 26 – Hernan Crespo and Defensa y Justicia clinched their first ever international title with a 3-0 victory against Lanus in the Copa Sudamericana final.
MLS sets new season dates but still has to agree wage deal with players
January 26 – The 26th season of the Major League Soccer (MLS) will kick off on April 3 and conclude in November, though player wage negotiations still hang as a cloud over the competition.
Turkish delight: Ozil leaves Arsenal on a free for cash-strapped Fenerbahce
By Andrew Warshaw
January 25 – He cost almost £42 million when he moved to Arsenal over seven years ago, then a club record, helped Germany win the World Cup, earned an eye-watering weekly fortune but has now been transferred for precisely nothing.
Serie B’s Pisa is latest Italian club to move into foreign ownership
January 25 – Alexander Knaster, an Anglo-American tycoon of Russian origin, has acquired a 75% stake in Italian Serie B side Pisa Sporting Club.