By Andrew Warshaw
December 19 – Danny Jordaan, the public face of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and head of the country’s national association (SAFA) has missed out on the same role with the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) after withdrawing from presidential elections before a vote was cast.
December 19 – When FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura (pictured right) visited Sierra Leone last month on a working trip that was partly to mediate in the ongoing dispute between the national association and the government over the way football there is run, she somewhat surprisingly suggested that the country bid for the under-17 women’s World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 16 – When Aleksander Čeferin was campaigning to replace Michel Platini as UEFA president, he dismissed as “insulting” persistent reports that in exchange for their votes he had made a series of promises to the Nordic federations, not least that he would support a joint Nordic bid for the 2024 Euro finals.
December 16 – Fan voting has opened for the CONCACAF annual awards, the fourth time the awards have been held.
December 16 – The MLS ended its 2016 season with a series of record numbers from attendance to bigger and better TV deals. A stark contrast to the second tier NASL that is struggling for survival.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 15 – Potentially vital concessions have been made by UEFA aimed at pacifying Europe’s leagues over their fierce opposition to proposed changes to the Champions League.
By Samindra Kunti and Paul Nicholson
December 15 – The news that New York Cosmos owner Seamus O’Brien has cut playing and coaching staff and trimmed operational overhead at the club just days after winning the North American Soccer League (NASL) is a hammer blow to the league that is desperately scrambling to sign up new clubs for the 2017 season.
By Paul Nicholson
December 12 – Barcelona were sanctioned for the ‘irregular’ movement of players under the age of 18 and questions have been raised over the Real Madrid academy system as regards transfer of minors. But England is by far the most active in the international recruitment of minors.
December 14 – UEFA is preparing to impose another Champions League ban on Albanian club Skenderbeu because of an ongoing match-fixing investigation.
December 13 – Their rivalry off the field remains just as intense as on it as Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo beat rival Lionel Messi to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or for a fourth time.
December 13 – With FIFA looking to expand the number of teams at World Cups and UEFA having already expanded its regional national competition to 24 teams from 16, the pressure on players, and subsequently on the clubs who pay them, is only likely to increase further.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 12 – For the first time, UEFA are to employ a formal bidding process for the venues of the Champions League and Europa League finals following accusations of a purely ad hoc procedure in the past.
December 12 – The English Football Association, already buffeted by the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the sport, has come under further attack after five of its most senior former executives wrote a damning letter to Parliament saying the organisation was unfit for purpose, self-serving and consumed by vested interests.
December 12 – The twin bombs that were exploded two hours after the end of the Besiktas vs Bursapor Turkish Super Liga match in Istanbul on Saturday were not targeted at football fans but were aimed at police on match-day security duty.
By Paul Nicholson
December 8 – CONCACAF is holding another extraordinary congress this Saturday, this time to approve the Confederation’s 2015 audited financial statements, remarkably almost a full year after the financial year ended. The positive from this is presumably that they managed to produce a set of accounts.