By Paul Nicholson
September 18 – Qatar-based sports broadcaster beIN Sport which holds the TV rights to multiple sports events across 43 countries where it is distributed has joined with 10 of its rightsholders to protest against Saudi Arabian focused web channel beoutQ, which it says is broadcasting beIN’s propriety content in Saudi Arabia without permission.
September 18 – The £20 million takeover of Championship club Barnsley looks likely to complete in the next two weeks when the English Football League complete their integrity tests on the proposed new ownership group of Chinese billionaire Chien Lee and US businessman Paul Conway.
September 18 – Former England captain Wayne Rooney received a two-year driving ban today after pleading guilty in a British court to drink-driving.
September 18 – Chelsea returned to the top of the attendance capacity chart after their Sunday lunchtime London derby with Arsenal. Just 185 seats were unfilled at Stamford Bridge.
By Mark Baber
September 15 – Taiwanese sports officials outlined plans to build six soccer stadiums to help kickstart a professional league during a visit by a delegation from Japanese club Vegalta Sendai to the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Thursday.
September 15 – A year into his UEFA presidency, Aleksander Ceferin says strengthening competitive balance will be his biggest priority going forward and singled out deciding to stage last season’s Europa League final in the wake of the Manchester terrorist attack as the toughest decision he had to make.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 15 – FIFA have announced a new format for the 2018 World Cup draw with teams to be grouped by their places in the world rankings rather than by Continent.
September 15 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has opened disciplinary proceedings against Shanghai SIPG head coach Andre Villas-Boas following his outburst after this week’s epic Asian Champions League quarterfinal tie against Evergrande.
September 15 – As anticipated, UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings following chaotic scenes that marred Arsenal’s Europa League fixture against Cologne last night.
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 15 – Atlético Madrid open their new 67,703-capacity Estadio Wanda Metropolitano stadium tomorrow with a 12 hour celebration that will include their first home match of the season against Malaga.
By Andrew Warshaw
The FIFA-appointed lawyer was the first to arrive, briefcase and notes in hand, an hour before the hearing.
By Paul Nicholson
September 14 – At FIFA they come like buses, you wait for one and another follows right behind. No sooner had sacked former chairman of FIFA governance committee Miguel Maduro lifted the lid on new FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s manipulations of the ethics system, than another former governance committee member revealed that he had filed a complaint to FIFA Ethics.
September 14 – It seems footballers are following the example of their administrators by being leaders when it comes to a comparison of athletes from different sports who commit crime off the pitch.
September 14 – Syria will host the first leg of their historic Asian World Cup playoff against Australia on October 5 in the Malaysian city of Melacca.