By David Owen
October 30 – The construction and renovation of the 10 football stadia to be used for Euro 2016 is generating a total of 20,000 jobs in the building and services sector, according to Patrick Kanner, the French Sports Minister.
October 30 – English second-tier club Bolton Wanderers are playing down rumours of a potential takeover by a Thai consortium which would represent the latest foreign incursion into English football.
October 30 – Real Madrid have struck another deal with affluent Gulf investors as they bid maintain their status as the world’s richest club.
By Mark Baber
October 30 – Santos have announced the signing of a major sponsorship deal with Chinese technology firm Huawei through to the end of 2014, with the option of an extension.
By Paul Nicholson
October 29 – When the Qatari national U19 team stepped off their plane to a red carpet and heroes’ welcome it marked a new level of football achievement for the Gulf state that is reinventing itself through sport. It also marked another step on the development path set by the Aspire Academy.
October 29 – UEFA has reduced on appeal CSKA Moscow’s stadium ban imposed for serious fan trouble at their Champions League match at Roma – but any further outbreaks over the next five years and UEFA will almost certainly come down even harder on the club.
By Mark Baber
October 28 – Secretary General of FIFA, Jerome Valcke, has written to Amaju Pinnick, one of the two men claiming to be head of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), to say that unless a court case seeking to annul the disputed September 30 NFF elections is withdrawn Nigeria will be suspended.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 29 – Preparations for the Club World Cup in Morocco in December are continuing “as planned” even though the country has asked to be replaced as host for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) the following month due to fears over the spread of the Ebola epidemic.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
October 29 – Poland’s I Liga, the second tier of the country’s professional football league, is pushing local clubs to upgrade their stadiums with the aim of securing a new broadcasting rights deal. Starting in the 2015/2016 season, the sides will be required to install lighting at their sports facilities to enable evening matches.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 29 – Sepp Blatter has re-iterated his view that boycotting the 2018 World Cup in Russia will serve no legimitate purpose but has revealed for the first time that if they qualify Ukraine will not be placed in the same group as the hosts unless relationships between the two neighbours improve.
By Ben Nicholson
October 29 – Chivas USA, of the MLS, has officially ceased operations. The MLS will unveil in a press conference today the new ownership group who will take over the club from the MLS.
By Mark Baber
October 28 – The presence of Hong Kong-based businessman Richard Lee with Silvio and Barbara Berlusconi (pictured) at AC Milan’s 1-1 draw with Fiorentina on Sunday has sparked media speculation of a China link for the Rossoneri.
October 28 – Real Madrid are to appeal against a three-month suspension slapped on former World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane for not having the right coaching qualifications.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 28 – Tributes continue to pour in following the murder of South African captain Senzo Meyiwa, with teammates speaking of their “utter devastation” and the country increasingly outraged at the shooting during what appeared to be a botched robbery.
October 28 – Barcelona, who fell foul of FIFA’s regulations on the transfer of youth players and were forced to clean up their act, have proof that their system does in fact work following figures from the CIES Football Observatory that show the club leads the way in Europe’s big-5 leagues in numbers of youth players making it through to their first team, as well as providing more players from their system to other big-5 league clubs.