September 29 – The Chinese Super League is taking further steps to boost the quality of its league saying that it will likely bring in experienced referees from Europe and America for the 27th round of the current league competition. The CSL has already committed to bringing in video assistant referees (VAR), now scheduled for the 28th and 29th rounds.
September 26 – Possession stats have become a staple of the TV presentation package and an indication of how games are progressing – generally winning teams have the majority of possession. Celtic top a ranking of European clubs this season, with a thumping 70.8% of ball possession.
September 25 – With Europe’s giant clubs setting up academies, coaching schools and grassroots initiative across China, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has stepped in to bring some kind of order to the chaos.
September 21 – A ranking of top division clubs in 31 European nations according to the average age of line-ups fielded since the start of the current season shows just 15 clubs from the Big 5 leagues in the top 100 and none from the Premier League.
By Mark Baber
September 20 – FIFA have confirmed they are investigating Chelsea for third time in eight years over possible breaches of regulations around signing youth players. Chelsea deny any wrongdoing.
September 15 – Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu (pictured) led a ground breaking ceremony yesterday for the club’s new Johan Cruyff stadium that will house its second team, women’s team and European matches for its U19 team.
September 11 – Gus Poyet has resigned as coach of Shanghai Shenhua after a fourth straight defeat, this time 2-1 to Henan Jianye, left the big-spending club languishing in 12th place in the Chinese Super League.
September 5 – Danish company Veo has launched a video recording system that can film games without using a camera operator and deliver an edited match back to clubs and coaches within 24 hours.
By Samindra Kunti
September 4 – The Belgian national team’s bonuses have been scaled down ahead of the 2018 World Cup after the Belgian FA, the KBVB, and the players reached a mutual agreement.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 1 – The window is closed, the brinkmanship is over and the domino effect has run its course. The result of which is that the English Premier League once again smashed its own summer transfer record with a total spend of more than £1.4 billion.
August 29 – Italy coach Giampiero Ventura has added his voice to those who believe that the transfer market should close before the start of the season.
August 25 – He may feel unloved in Spain where he has been handed a five match ban for laying his hands on a referee after he had been sent off, but he was certainly feeling the love from the rest of Europe last night when he picked up the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award for the 2016/17 season.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 24 – He was perhaps the only genuine world-class player in an England side that promised so much but too often under-performed, the greatest goalscorer in the history of the national team.
By Samindra Kunti
August 18 – Paris Saint-Germain have confirmed the return of former player and coach Luis Fernandez to the club, this time in the role of the youth academy’s sporting director as the club seek a further reboot.
August 18 – Waterlogged pitches often lead to matches being halted. So, sadly on occasions, does hooliganism. But surely this is one of the most “egg-straordinary” reasons ever.