December 21 – A fresh player power dispute is making headlines in France where Paris St Germain are refusing to select midfielder Adrien Rabiot for “disrespecting” the club by refusing to sign a new contract.
December 21 – Jadon Sancho, Kylian Mbappé and Raheem Sterling head al list of players whose market value increased most in the past four months, according to data from KPMG Football Benchmark.
December 21 – The Chinese FA has slapped a comprehensive set of financial controls on its Super League and professional clubs covering money that can be spent owners on their teams, player salaries and even player bonuses for winning competitions.
December 21 – A US investor has taken a controlling stake in Scottish Championship side Dundee United in a deal estimated to be worth £1 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – German football boss and FIFA Council member Reinhard Grindel has renewed his attack on the FIFA leadership and Gianni Infantino in person saying Infantino is fuelling international prejudice against his own organisation over his controversial plans to reshape the landscape of world football,
December 20 – India were the first team to arrive for the 24-nation Asian Cup when they landed today in Abu Dhabi and were greeted with a fervent reception from their supporters thanks to the staggering 3.3 million Indian community who live in the United Arab Emirates.
December 20 – Despite a pre-match appeal to both sets of supporters following a number of high-profile cases of discrimination in recent weeks, police are investigating an incident that saw Tottenham Hotspur’s England midfielder Dele Alli struck on the head by a plastic bottle during their 2-0 League Cup quarterfinal win against arch-rivals Arsenal on Wednesday.
December 20 – After travelling nearly 25,000kms across Asia, the new Asian Cup trophy has finally landed in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, one of the four host cities of the region’s pinnacle tournament that starts early next month.
December 20 – After weeks of conjecture about whether he is back in favour, Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, has finally thrown in the towel at the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU).
December 20 –Germany’s DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga has agreed a broadcast deal with the ProSiebenSat.1 Group to air the federation’s new launch eFootball VBL Club Championship.
December 18 – Wolves are more likely to win maximum league points if Diogo Jota is in the starting line-up than if he isn’t. The same for Chelsea if Ross Barklay and/or Pedro Rodriguez starts.
December 20 – Major League Soccer is revamping its playoff format from next season to include more teams in the post season MLS Cup and end the season nearly a month earlier.
By Paul Nicholson
December 19 – The European Union, China and Canada all spoke out in support of Qatar’s case against Saudi Arabia at a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting today discussing the beoutQ piracy of broadcast programming. All three backed the contention that Qatar had the right to pursue protection of the intellectual copyright through the organisation.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 19 – Philip Chiyangwa, one of the most charismatic figures in African football and a key ally of Gianni Infantino, has been sensationally ousted as president of the Zimbabwean FA (Zifa) following elections held on Tuesday.
December 19 – Within days of euphorically picking up the Copa Libertadores title against arch-rivals Boca Juniors, Argentinian giants River Plate were brought embarrassing down to earth on Tuesday when they suffered a shock defeat to hosts Al Ain in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.