July 9 – In the latest political row involving players at the World Cup, Croatia’s Domagoj Vida has avoided punishment from FIFA after being filmed proclaiming “glory to Ukraine” in the wake of his side’s quarterfinal victory over Russia.
July 9 – The Brazilian FA (CBF) wants to maintain Tite as head coach of the Brazilian national team until the 2022 World Cup in Qatar even though Brazil crashed out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage following a 2-1 defeat against Belgium.
July 9 – He was only a stand-in but he has already stepped down. Fernando Hierro, forced at the 11th hour into leading Spain at the World Cup, has given up the post and will not return to his former role as sporting director.
July 9 – AC Milan’s Chinese owner Yonghong Li has missed the deadline to repay €32 million of interest on the debt to US hedge fund Elliott Management which provided an estimated €335 million of the €740 million Li used to buy the club.
July 9 – The US Soccer Federation is to hold its first football-specific hackathon on Chicago, July 14-15, at the 1871 – Chicago’s Centre for Technology and Entrepreneurship.
July 9 – He may be 40 and have retired from international football but Gianluigi Buffon is about to enter a new phase of his stellar career.
July 9 – One of the big success stories of the World Cup so far has been the welcome the Russians have given to visitors regardless of nationality, colour or religion.
July 9 – The rising career of Kenyan referee Aden Marwa has been terminated after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Saturday banned him for life.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 6 – Morocco’s unexpected recent announcement that it will bid for the 2030 World Cup despite five previous failures can be explained by the fact that it will almost certainly be a joint effort with its north African neighbours.
July 6 – Bournemouth, about to enter their fourth season in the Premier League, have finally settled with the English Football League (EFL) over a breach of financial fair play (FFP) rules when they were in the Championship in 2014/15.
By Paul Nicholson
July 6 – Italian football faces a sponsorship crisis following a government proposal to ban on all gambling advertising, including sponsorship or promotional deals with gambling companies.
July 6 – The entry of the giant OTT streaming services into the top tier football rights market is gathering pace with Facebook agreeing an estimated £260 million deal for live Premier League matches in south-east Asia.
July 6 – FIFA has slapped St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation president Venold Coombs with a two-year ban and a hefty fine after finding him guilty on corruption charges.
July 6 – After describing Colombia’s World Cup loss to England as a “monumental theft” and being wrapped over the knuckles by FIFA, for whom he is a well-paid ambassador, Diego Maradona has apologised for the comments he made about the refereeing during the last-16 tie.
By David Owen
July 6 – There is World Cup history attached to both of Friday’s quarter-final match-ups in Russia. In the case of France versus Uruguay in Nizhny Novgorod, I do not see it having any particular bearing on this week’s outcome; in that of Belgium versus Brazil, it very well might.