By Paul Nicholson
June 1 – Outgoing Liberian FA (LFA) president Musa Bility is clearly not as outgoing as people had expected, with FIFA having again recognised the controversial CAF committee member as leader of football in the country, for the time being.
June 1 – Timed just two weeks before the FIFA Congress in Moscow, FIFA has lifted its suspension imposed on Guatemala 18 months ago over its failure to comply with anti-corruption rules.
May 31 – Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has slammed French Football Federation chief Noel Le Graet, who has claimed that the French national team has moved on from the striker.
May 31 – The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has hailed the decision to award the final of the 2020 Champions League Final to Istanbul as a positive move in the build-up to the September ballot to choose the 2024 Euro hosts.
May 31 – The UEFA Europa League is getting a new look for next season that UEFA says will emphasise the “scale and dynamic nature of the competition.”
May 30 – West Ham United have been catapulted straight into the top division of the restructured Women’s Super League in England, while Manchester United have been awarded a license for the second tier Women’s Championship for their newly formed team.
May 30 – FC Cincinnati, founded only in 2016 but playing before average 24,500 crowds in the second tier USL this season, is the newest recruit to the MLS and will start play in the 2019 season.
May 29 – The rollercoaster that has been Danny Jordaan’s life in football was given another five-year ride over the weekend as he was elected unopposed as South African Football Association (SAFA) president, taking him through to 2022.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 29 – One month after the British government delayed renewing his visa amid increasing diplomatic tension between London and Moscow, Chelsea’s billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich no longer needs one to visit the UK after managing to quickly become an Israeli citizen.
May 29 – Jose Hawilla (pictured), the ‘Mr Big’ in the football corruption cases brought by the US Department of Justice and who co-operated to bring down a cabal of crooked football administrators, has died in a Sao Paulo hospital aged 74.
By Samindra Kunti in Kiev
May 29 – Substitute Gareth Bale scored twice for Real Madrid to win the Champions League 3-1 win against much-fancied underdogs Liverpool. Mohamed Salah dislocated his shoulder and Loris Karius was the anti-hero, conceding two astounding goals that led Madrid to glory. Madrid’s win was historic in collecting a 13th European Cup. The victory may also have signified the end of an era.
By Samindra Kunti in Kiev
May 25 – Real Madrid will seek to win a record third consecutive Champions League title when they face Liverpool in Kiev on Saturday. But the excitement of the match is already over for about a thousand Liverpool fans who won’t make it to the Ukrainian capital after their flights were cancelled.
By Samindra Kunti in Kiev
May 25 – Lyon defeated Wolfsburg 4-1 to win the Champions League for a third consecutive time. They recovered form a goal down to run out classy 4-1 winners against ten Germans in a dramatic 30 minutes of extra time.
May 25 – An attack on a referee in an amateur game between two Turkish teams based in north London has attracted outrage after video footage of the incident was released in the media.
By Paul Nicholson
May 24 – If there was any lingering doubt that the relationship between former UEFA general-secretary-turned-FIFA-president Gianni Infantino and the head of the European governing body Aleksander Ceferin was strained, those doubts were blown out the water by a speech by Ceferin to the Council of European Union Sports Ministers in Brussels yesterday (Wednesday).