By Andrew Warshaw
March 20 – Officials from the United States, Mexico and Canada have played down the possibility of anti-American sentiment among fellow FIFA members as they step on the gas in their bid to host the 2026 World Cup.
March 20 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has set up a second level of governance for its commercial rights sales tender that is currently in play for the two cycles between 2021 and 2028. The tender closes March 29.
March 20 – Final preparations for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Jordan 2018 are under way with the AFC unveiling a brand-new trophy which will be lifted at the final in Amman on April 20.
March 20 – Lyon face being thrown out of Europe for a year by UEFA because of crowd trouble before last Thursday’s Europa League fixture when they were eliminated by CSKA Moscow.
March 20 – Gaetano Micciche has been confirmed as the new president of the Serie A after stepping into the post temporarily less than two weeks ago.
March 20 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU), emaciated by the withdrawal of financial support by CONCACAF and FIFA, has shown that it still has some teeth left with the announcement of a new women’s competition, the CFU Women’s Challenge Series.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 19 – After months of damning stories and rumours surrounding financial corruption within his national federation as well as his own alleged involvement, Musa Bility, whose conduct proved so controversial he failed an integrity test to contest the FIFA presidency, is to step down as Liberian FA president after choosing not to run for a third term next month.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 19 – Underdogs Morocco may be winning the sympathy vote in the race to land the 2026 World Cup but judging by last Saturday’s globally streamed press conference outlining their credentials, they have considerable ground to make up on the favourites from North America.
By Paul Nicholson
March 19 – Runaway English Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers look certain to be headed back to the Premier League but they will need to head off growing concerns about their ownership and the influence of super agent Jorge Mendes in the club’s signings, an influence that will concern Premier League club owners, many of whom rely on Mendes for key foreign players.
March 19 – Are you watching, Gianni Infantino? Forty-eight hours after the FIFA president triumphantly hailed the official introduction of video technology, hundreds of Lazio supporters demonstrated in front of the headquarters of the Italian football federation to protest about the system whilst there was more controversy in the English game.
March 19 – Russia has issued security guarantees to Arsenal fans planning to travel to Moscow for next month’s Europa League clash with CSKA in the wake of the diplomatic spat over the poisoning of a Russian double agent on British soil.
March 19 – China’s rapidly growing interest in football has seen a new twist to its sponsorship involvement with Hangzhou Wahaha Group becoming an official sponsor of the Portuguese national team and Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. becoming a sponsor of the Belgian team.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 19 – Despite reservations far and wide, as anticipated FIFA’s ruling Council has rubber-stamped the decision earlier this month by football’s lawmakers to approve video assistant referees for the World Cup and beyond.
By David Owen
March 18 – City Football Group Limited, the Abu Dhabi- and Chinese-owned entity that holds investments in various football clubs including Premier League champions-elect Manchester City, has posted a £71 million loss from continuing operations for the 13 months to 30 June 2017.
By David Owen
March 18 – FIFA have reported a net loss of $191.5 million for 2017, the third year in the four-year World Cup cycle that will culminate with Russia 2018 this summer.