By Paul Nicholson
December 7 – Wherever there is money in football these days you will generally find Europe’s clubs prospecting. The current gold rush is in China with AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Arsenal very much in the middle of the race for Chinese football’s hearts and mind.
By Mark Baber
December 7 – In the wake of last Thursday’s superseding indictment, issued by the US Department of Justice, in the FIFA corruption cases, Sportswear company Nike has once again issued a statement to the effect that it is cooperating fully with authorities and to insist its officials were not aware of any bribery or wrongdoing in connection with the millions the company sent to a Swiss bank account.
December 7 – The French government has become embroiled in the Karem Benzema sex tape scandal, with prime minister Manuel Valls saying the Real Madrid striker “has no place” in the national team at next summer’s European Championship finals.
December 7 – The head of Ecuador’s football federation, one of 16 officials newly charged with corruption by US authorities, has turned himself in to authorities in his home country in the knowledge that it does not extradite its nationals.
By Samindra Kunti
December 7 – Marcus Antonio Vicente is the new president of the Brazilian Football Association CBF. He assumed the position on an interim basis after Marco Polo Del Nero was indicted by the FBI last week.
By Ben Nicholson
December 7 – David Beckham is al last enjoying some Floridian sunlight on his campaign to exercise his contractual option to create an MLS expansion team. After three years of toiling, and scorching in political heat, Beckham has secured a site for his team’s home stadium. The MLS approved the location, getting Beckham over a hurdle that last week threatened to indefinitely suspend the idea.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – Europe’s leading clubs, having been given no say in FIFA’s reform package, have issued a strongly worded rebuke of the organisation’s attempt to clean itself up.
By Samindra Kunti
December 3 – FIFA’s ethics committee has begun an investigation into the Brazilian FA (CBF) president Marco Polo Del Nero. If guilty Del Nero can expected to be added to an increasingly long list of south American football chiefs either suspended or banned from all football-related activities.
By Paul Nicholson
December 2 – The commercial rights for the Copa America Centenario 2016 which sparked the US Department of Justice’s deep dive into the murky world of football marketing on its continent, have been re-awarded.
December 2 – The world’s leading football leagues gathered in Paris yesterday and have agreed to form a permanent new world association to lobby for their interests with the game’s governing bodies.
By Matt Scott
December 2 – The Greek public prosecutors who declined to pursue charges against Olympiacos in the so-called Koriopolis match-fixing scandal have been accused of accepting bribes as they considered the case.
By Mark Baber
December 2 – When it comes to a boring football match, most fans have little option but to grin and bear it. Not so with Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of Mauritania, who in the 63rd minute of the Supercup match between FC Tevragh-Zeina and ACS Ksar, decided enough was enough and brought the action to an end – ordering the referee to proceed straight to penalties.
December 2 – Former Brazilian powerbroker Jose Maria Marin, who pleaded not guilty to corruption charges when he was extradited to the United States from Switzerland as one of the infamous ‘Zurich Seven’, has been having trouble meeting the $1 million in cash required as part of his $15 million bail conditions.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 2 – Within days of declaring him a free man after two years in detention, Singapore authorities have re-arrested Dan Tan, one of the world’s most notorious match-fixing kingpins accused of being the mastermind behind a global syndicate.
By Mark Baber
December 1 – A UNESCO and Juventus-backed report on the fight against discrimination and racism in football has just been published, aiming to give an overview of the challenge of tackling unacceptable racist, xenophobic and intolerant views and making some concrete recommendations for clubs in how to propagate messages of tolerance, respect and inclusion.