By Samindra Kunti
July 31 – Argentina and Uruguay will press forward with their joint-bid to host the 2030 World Cup. They will face stiff competition from Europe and China even though the latter cannot technically jump the gun under FIFA rules.
July 31 – Few people were more knowledgeable about football and Australian football in particular than Lászó Ürge who changed his name to Les Murray when people were unable to pronounce or spell it in his second home, Australia.
July 31 – Two fans died and several were injured in a domestic South African pre-season friendly at the weekend at the stadium that hosted the 2010 World Cup final.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 28 – Cameroon have again come out fighting over suggestions they will be unable to stage the African Cup of Nations in 2019 when the tournament is expanded to 24 teams.
July 28 – England laboured to victory over Portugal at the women’s Euro 2017 in the final group games on Thursday, setting up an intriguing quarter-final against rivals France. Hosts the Netherlands and favourites Germany also progressed to the last eight.
July 15 – More African federations have expressed reservations about the speed with which the Continent’s showpiece tournament is being overhauled.
July 24 – The US squad changes after the group stages of the CONCACAF Gold Cup bore fruit at the weekend with the host country beating Costa Rica 2-0 to qualify for the final. In contrast, Mexico, who left a number of big names off their roster, crashed 1-0 in their semi-final against Jamaica.
July 24 – Javier Tebas, controversial head of the Spanish League who has fought an often acrimonious war of words with Federation President Angel Maria Villar, has welcomed the arrest of FIFA’s number two official saying Villar is now “history” after he was jailed without bail pending an investigation into corruption allegations.
July 24 – The world players union FIFPro is demanding a response from UEFA after a player with Serbian club FK Vojvodina was allegedly attacked in the dressing room by his team’s own fans following a Europa League tie.
July 24 – El Salvador defender Henry Romero has received a six-game ban after biting USA striker Jozy Altidore during their Gold Cup quarter-final.
July 21 – The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has reacted swiftly to accusations that money from Puma’s kit deal has not been accounted for through the federation’s accounts, saying that the reports are “maliciously false, calculated to cause damage to the reputation of the GFA and (GFA president) Mr Nyantakyi.”
July 21 – African football chiefs have rubber-stamped the biggest ever overhaul to the Continent’s showpiece competition by agreeing to switch the African Nations Cup from its traditional January date to June and expand the finals to 24 teams – starting with the next edition in 2019 in Cameroon.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 20 – The biennial club-versus-country row that has dogged African football’s major competition looks set to end after a landmark decision to switch the African Cup of Nations from January to June.
July 20 – Robert Kraft (pictured), owner of Super Bowl champions New England Patriots but, more significantly, a key player in the growth of soccer in the United States, has been named honorary chairman of the board for the joint 2026 World Cup bid from Canada, Mexico and the United States.
July 20 – Cameroon has been quick to re-assure African football leaders that it is fully capable of staging the 2019 African Cup of Nations with the necessary government backing.