August 18 – The telescoping of the UEFA club competition final rounds to a mini-knockout competition and the impact of Covid-19 has seen some surprise results but in reality has also served to emphasise the polarisation of European around the Big 5 leagues, according to research by KPMG Football Benchmark.
August 18 – Texas-based Italian-American billionaire Dan Friedkin (pictured), the new owner of Roma, has promised to turn the club into “one of the greatest names in world football” after completing his €591 million purchase of an 86.6% majority stake.
August 18 – Ten years old when her family fled the civil war in Somalia, Jawahir Roble is English football’s first female Muslim referee and has her sights set on getting to the top.
August 18 – Inter Milan set up what should be an intriguing climax to the Europa League against five-time champions Sevilla after thrashing Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 in Monday’s second semi-final.
August 17 – UEFA has decided that September is too early to allow limited fans back into international matches according to Scottish FA chief executive Ian Maxwell.
By David Owen
August 17 – In six and a half decades, RB Leipzig, who take on one of the Middle East-backed super-clubs, Paris Saint-Germain, in Lisbon on Tuesday night, will be the first team from eastern Germany to appear in a Champions League/European Cup semi-final.
August 17 – Armenian football, which has been so plagued by match-fixing that it abandoned its second tier league, has announced a new sponsorship deal with online bookmaker brand VBET, owned by BetConstruct.
August 17 – The political protests sweeping through Belarus have spilled over into football with CSKA Moscow’s Belarusian striker Ilya Shkurin (pictured) saying he won’t play for his country until President Alexander Lukashenko steps down.
August 17 – Is Lionel Messi about to light up the English Premier League? Rumours are rife that Messi wants to leave Barcelona following last week’s 8-2 Champions league humiliation – and that Manchester City, themselves desperate hunting for exciting new players, could be his destination.
By Paul Nicholson
August 14 – Trinidad and Tobago High Court judge Carol Gobin has ruled against FIFA’s application to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by former TTFA board members over their replacement with a normalisation committee.
August 14 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says sweeping changes will have to be made to Financial Fair Play rules in the wake of Manchester City’s successful appeal against a ban from the Champions League.
August 14 – The world’s oldest domestic knockout competition, England’s FA Cup, is to be radically restructured next season to help ease fixture congestion with all replays scrapped in every round.
August 14 – Major League Soccer’s expansion team in St. Louis will officially be known as St. Louis City Soccer Club. The team has also unveiled its official colours and logo.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 13 – With a couple of minutes left on the clock, one of the great romantic upsets was on the cards. In France, pens were being sharpened in anticipation of pouring scorn on yet another Champions League under-achieving failure by the country’s moneybags superstar team.
August 13 – Brazil’s CBF was forced to modify its medical protocol after positive coronavirus tests rocked the opening weekend of the country’s top flight, but, on Tuesday, four infected players were granted permission to play.