Senegalese on the defensive over age-cheating suspicions
October 18 – Senegal has denied reports of age-cheating after announcing their 21-man squad for the Under-17 World Cup in Brazil later this month.
Integrity
Ceferin calls for war in racists as Infantino says it is time to ‘eradicate’ the ‘obnoxious disease’
By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against Bulgaria following the racist abuse towards England’s black players that made Europe-wide headlines while UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin insisted football alone cannot eradicate the problem.
St Pauli axe Turkish midfielder Sahin for supporting war on Kurds
October 15 – Germany’s St Pauli have parted company with their Turkish midfielder Cenk Sahin, after he posted support of Turkey’s military offensive against the Kurds on social media. Sahin will return his old club Istanbul Basaksehir.
Racism crisis: Two strikes but they stay. England and Bulgaria play out ugly qualifier
By Andrew Warshaw
October 15 – Forget the 6-0 scoreline, impressive though it was. The resurgence of racism sweeping through European football reached a new low at international level on Monday when England’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Bulgaria was halted twice after home fans were warned about racist behaviour including Nazi salutes and monkey chanting.
All for one and one for all: England promise walk off if players are racially abused
October 9 – England players are threatening to walk off the pitch all together if any of them receive racist abuse from the stands when they take on Bulgaria in Sofia in a World Cup qualifier next Monday.
Red is the colour as Labour takes aim with political football
By David Owen
October 8 – Flummoxed by Brexit and with a general election looming, Britain’s opposition Labour party has turned to the people’s game to try to build some much-needed political capital.
beoutQ box seller convicted of fraud in London but is it too little too late for sports rights?
By Paul Nicholson
October 7 – The growth of the beoutQ broadcast piracy operation that has seen the emergence of beoutQ-enabled set-top boxes being retailed in countries around the world suffered a derailment in a London court on Friday with the conviction of a shop owner on two charges of copyright theft and two charges of fraud.
FA asks to see Man City evidence against Liverpool in player database hacking case
October 4 – Liverpool may have hoped the £1 million paid to Manchester City in 2013 over allegations that the club’s scouts had been spying on the activity of their Manchester counterparts had been brushed away. While the Premier League has shown no investigative interest in the ‘spygate’ row, the FA has asked to see Man City’s evidence surrounding the hacking.
Cardiff to go to CAS over €6m award to Nantes for Sala transfer
October 3 – Cardiff City have decided to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against FIFA’s ruling that they must pay the first instalment of €6 million to Nantes for €17 million striker Emiliano Sala who died in January when the light aircraft carrying him to Cardiff two days after he signed crashed into the sea before he could play a single game.
Silva’s sweet tweet turning sourer and sourer
October 3 – Manchester City’s Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association over a tweet he sent to team-mate Benjamin Mendy.
Former Valencia president Soler jailed for plot to kidnap and rob his former VP
October 2 – The former president of Valencia Juan Soler (pictured) has been jailed for two years for conspiring to kidnap his one-time vice-president and break into his home.
FIFA’s transfer reforms are a cover for ‘organised crime’, says Swiss parliamentary motion
By Paul Nicholson
September 27 – FIFA’s move to reform the player transfer market are unlikely to go far enough to appease critics who say that in reality all the measures will do is keep the current system in place and postpone the issues indefinitely.
Lauber survives as Swiss AG despite undocumented Infantino meetings
September 26 – The Swiss parliament has narrowly voted to extend the mandate of the country’s attorney general Michael Lauber despite a series of undocumented private meetings he held with FIFA president Gianni Infantino during his office’s handling of numerous cases of alleged FIFA-related corruption since 2015.
Italian Olympic boss Malago bellyflops into racism row
September 26 – The chairman of the Italian Olympics Committee has sparked fierce controversy by suggesting that diving is a more serious issue than racism in Italian football.
Silva’s sweet joke turns sour over ‘racist stereotype’
September 25 – A tweet posted by a Manchester City player about a teammate has been condemned by Britain’s Anti-racism group Kick It Out but played down by City manager Pep Guardiola.