July 22 – Fans of English Championship club Wigan Athletic have launched a petition calling on the government to strengthen the owners and directors test after their team was plunged into administration earlier this month when its Hong Kong owner pulled the plug on further funding.
July 21 – Jack is back, really. FIFA’s most-wanted, Jack Warner, the disgraced former Concacaf president and FIFA vice president currently battling extradition to the US, is bidding to re-enter politics in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago as a member of parliament.
July 21 – The Copa Libertadores will return to action behind closed doors in September, six months after South America’s flagship competition was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Conmebol has announced.
July 21 – UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin says Covid-19 has had a worse effect on football than during the Second World War.
July 21 – The French government has threatened to re-impose a ban on fans after Paris St Germain supporters failed to observe Covid-19 social distancing rules in last Friday’s friendly against Waasland-Beveren.
July 21 – The prestigious Ballon d’Or award is the latest event to be hit by the Covid-19 pandemic with this year’s ceremony cancelled, organisers France Football announced on Monday.
July 20 – Football fans, along with spectators of other sports, could be allowed back into stadiums in England on October 1 provided a series of test events are successful in the coming weeks.
July 20 – The long-awaited return of football in Paraguay has been set back after players from three different club tested positive for the coronavirus.
July 20 – FIFA has sanctioned a club in Mauritius for failing to use its Transfer Matching System (TMS).
July 20 – The MLS has announced more casualties of the coronavirus, announcing it is postponing the inaugural seasons of three expansion clubs. Charlotte’s debut will move from 2021 to 2022 while St. Louis and Sacramento, will now begin play in 2023, instead of 2022.
July 17 – After weeks of speculation the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that its showpiece event, the African Cup of Nations, will stick to the summer months in 2023 and be held June/July in the Ivory Coast – a massive ask for the players who will now have to play three major tournaments in 18 months.
July 17 – Newly-promoted VfB Stuttgart’s achievement in getting back to the top flight in Germany has been marred by them becoming the latest cash-strapped Bundesliga club to seek financial aid because of lost matchday revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
July 17 – Spain’s Health Minister, Santiago Illa, has cast doubt on the possibility of fans being able to go back to stadiums when the new season starts in September.
July 17 – Despite a season when they were often far from their scintillating best, Real Madrid are Spanish champions once again, ending Barcelona’s two-year grip on the title and prompting coach Zinedine Zidane to declare it felt sweeter than any of the three straight Champions League crowns the club has won under his tenure.
By Paul Nicholson
July 16 – Egyptian giants Zamalek are taking their protests over CAF’s 2020 award of the ‘African club of the Century’ to Al-Ahly to the confederation’s ethics function, claiming the club rankings that decided the title were rigged.