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.
By Paul Nicholson
December 8 – The US Department of Justice’s attempts to get former CONCACAF president and FIFA vice president Jack Warner to the US to stand trial looks set to suffer further delay.
December 8 – Former Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup and the club itself have denied he was sacked – mysteriously at the time – because of concerns that he and, primarily, his agent stood to profit from player transfers.
December 8 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against Celtic following crowd disturbances and fireworks set off by fans in this week’s Champions league meeting with Manchester City.
December 7 – Mexico’s Liga MX is to start an 18-team women’s league in 2017. President Enrique Bonilla (pictured) said the league will begin with a cup competition in the spring before the formal season begins in September.
December 7 – Manuel Burga, former president of the Peruvian Soccer Federation (FPF), has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges in a New York court after being extradited from his homeland.
December 7 – Bolivian authorities have detained the chief executive of the airline involved in the fatal crash last week that killed 71 people, including most of the Brazilian football team, Chapecoense.
December 6 – Chapecoense have officially been awarded the Copa Sudamericana by CONMEBOL after most of their team died in the fatal plane crash en route to the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final in Colombia.
By Samindra Kunti
December 6 – Belgian topflight club Standard Liege wants to ban their supporters from travelling to away matches after their match with Charleroi was abandoned due to crowd trouble.
December 6 – Amid increasing security challenges facing host and bidding nations, a leading expert from the International Centre for Sport Security has highlighted the need for enhanced international collaboration and information-sharing at global level.
December 2 – The UEFA executive committee holds its final meeting of the year next Friday and is scheduled to address European football’s most burning issue: the proposed new Champions league format.
By Samindra Kunti
December 2 – Dutch club Feyenoord has unveiled ambitious plans for a new stadium, part of a larger Feyenoord City campus in the south of Rotterdam. The future venue has a projected price tag of €400 million.