By Paul Nicholson
January 22 – Cracks are beginning to appear over UEFA’s supposedly unified stance behind Gianni Infantino’s bid to become FIFA president as a result of his €500,000 campaign fund – understood to be hard cash budgeted for his political push that doesn’t include other costs for campaign services provided by UEFA.
January 22 – Almost half of the top 20 highest-earning football clubs in the world play in the Premier League, further evidence – if ever it was needed – of where the commercial clout lies.
By David Owen
January 22 – England’s Football Association (FA) has reported a loss and a reduction in turnover for its financial year ended July 31. The £9.3 million pre-tax loss was attributable partly to £10.4 million of restructuring/reorganisation costs, which in turn included £6.7 million of redundancy costs.
January 21 – The financial and ownership position of leading Chinese Super League (CSL) side Beijing Guoan FC has been clarified with Chinese internet company LeEco (formerly known as LeTV), which operates the Le Sports service, and the club announcing a strategic co-operation.
By Mark Baber
January 21 – A meeting called by Minister of Youth and Sports Solomaan Dalung, aimed at resolving the ongoing dispute between rival claimants to the position of Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick and Chris Giwa ended in stalemate and came close to descending into fisticuffs according to witnesses.
January 21 – The tax trial of world player of the year Lionel Messi and his father has been set for May 31-June 3 but clashes with the start of the centennial Copa America taking place in the United States with the strong possibility that Argentina’s Barcelona star may not make it in time for his country’s opening game.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – UEFA’s refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina has given his personal backing for using goal-line technology in European competitions, starting with next summer’s Euros.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – Italian football has a history of discrimination issues but it isn’t every day an incident involves a strongly-worded spat between two top-flight coaches.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – Gianni Infantino has been given a boost ahead of UEFA’s two-day executive committee meeting that began today by receiving the backing of the German FA in his bid to become FIFA president.
By Mark Baber
January 20 – The final report from the UK Expert Working Group on Football Supporter Ownership and Engagement was published yesterday, setting out recommendations for what more can be done to encourage greater engagement between supporters and those that run their club, while also helping to remove barriers to supporter ownership, when such opportunities arise for credible supporters’ trusts to bid to own their club.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 20 – As UEFA’s top brass prepare to convene at their Swiss headquarters this week amidst the fallout from Michel Platini’s ban, the head of one of Europe’s smallest federations has blown open the divisions and uncertainty afflicting European football’s governing body.
January 20 – Former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb, who sprang to prominence as the man to clean up FIFA but is now under house arrest as part of the US probe into widespread corruption by football’s powerbrokers, has not been paid since shortly after becoming embroiled in FIFA’s biggest ever scandal.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 20 – Iraq has taken the unusual step of publicly declaring its support of Prince Ali al Hussein in the upcoming FIFA presidency.
By Paul Nicholson
January 20 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has indicated that it is broadly in support of the FIFA/CONCACAF reform statutes that will be voted on at the CONCACAF Extraordinary Congress on February 25 in Zurich, the day before FIFA holds its Congress to vote on reform and elect a new president.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – FIFA presidential candidate Gianni Infantino is confident Caribbean support can push him over the line when he contests the election on February 26.