By Osasu Obayiuwana
April 9 – Facing rigorous criticism for the poor state of its financial affairs, following the completion of a detailed forensic audit by PwC (Price Waterhouse Coopers), top officials of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) refuse to accept the various allegations of financial impropriety laid at its door in Cairo.
By Paul Nicholson
April 9 – The former president and board of the Trinidad and Tobago FA (TTFA) have followed through on their promise and yesterday filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against their removal and replacement by a FIFA Normalisation Committee.
April 9 – Amid mounting pressure to accept wage cuts like some of their overseas counterparts, Premier League footballers have launched a fund-raising initiative to raise money for the country’s National Health Service (NHS) charities to help tackle the Covid-19 outbreak.
April 9 – Mauritius has become the first African country to cancel its professional league season “with immediate effect” due to the coronavirus outbreak.
April 9 – Italy’s Serie A is reportedly discussing playing all the remaining fixtures for the 2019/20 season in Rome.
April 9 – Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower whose string of incriminating revelations shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, has been released from pre-trial detention and placed under house arrest, his lawyers announced.
April 9 – Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the elections for the presidency of the French Football Federation, originally scheduled for next December, have been postponed to March 2021.
April 9 – Real Madid have become the latest Spanish club whose players and coaches have agreed to take pay cuts to alleviate the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis.
April 8 – Dutch football is drawing up a roadmap to resume the season that was suspended in March following the outbreak of the coronavirus with a return to action behind closed doors tentatively set for June 19.
April 8 – Former Brazil and Barcelona star Ronaldinho, detained in Paraguay after an investigation into the use of fake passports to enter the country, has been released but will remain under house arrest in the country.
April 8 – La Liga has earmarked three possible dates for the resumption of domestic matches once the green light is given by health authorities.
April 7 – The summer transfer window will be amended, the 2019-20 season extended indefinitely and player contracts ending on June 30 put back for a short period under radical proposals about to be announced by FIFA, according to unconfirmed reports.
April 7 – Bundesliga clubs, including reigning champions Bayern Munich, have been allowed to return to training amid strict measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus including the minimum of contact between players.
April 7 – The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has allocated $3.6 million for clubs in the lower tiers of the Brazilian football pyramid and the women’s game in a bid to mitigate the financial crisis caused by the global coronavirus outbreak.
April 6 – UEFA has been quick to play down reports attributed to its president Aleksander Ceferin that a deadline of August 3 has been set for the Champions League, which has reached the last-16 stage, and Europa League finals to be completed.