By David Owen
January 22 – UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin has followed up the body’s latest Club Licensing Benchmarking Report, which documented growing disparities between Europe’s super-elite and the rest, by floating the idea of a “luxury tax”.
January 20 – Korea Republic’s Cho Jae-wan etched himself into the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship record books on Saturday after scoring the fastest goal in the three editions of the tournament’s finals, and the second quickest in Asian Football Confederation history.
January 19 – The North American Soccer League has confirmed it is backing former US international Eric Wynalda in the U.S. Soccer presidential election race which climaxes on February 10.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – The global perception of the United States under Donald Trump could pose a direct threat to the country’s bid to jointly stage the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico according to bid leader Sunil Gulati (pictured).
How many 19th century industries can say they have more than tripled revenues over the first 16 years of this millennium? My hunch would be only one: European club football which, according to the latest UEFA Club Licensing Benchmarking Report, generated revenues of €18.5 billion in 2016, up from €6 billion in 2000.
January 19 – Football’s lawmaking body, the International FA Board, has confirmed that video assistant refereeing will be the main focus of attention at Monday’s interim business meeting in Zurich.
January 19 – FIFA are again reported to be investigating Chelsea over possible breaches surrounding signing under-age players. And once again the club are denying any wrongdoing.
January 19 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS has lifted a five-year ban imposed on Senegalese club US Ouakam. In July 2017 eight people were killed by a stampede at the game US Ouakam – Stade de Mbour during Senegal’s cup final.
January 19 – With the Winter transfer window open but the market relatively cold in comparison to the last overheated Summer transfer window bonanza, the CIES Football Observatory has produced an analysis of the destinations of the players from the three main exporting countries of Brazil, Argentina and France.
January 19 – Manchester United have signed a new three-year deal with Lancashire-based sports nutrition company Science in Sport plc (SiS). Beginning immediatedly the deal will run thorough to end of May 2021.
By David Owen
January 18 – Manchester United has by far the highest net debt among European football clubs, according to the latest UEFA Club Licensing Benchmarking Report, published this week.
January 18 – Brazilian FA boss Marco Del Nero, who escaped being put on trial for his alleged role in the FIFAGate scandal since his country has no extradition treaty with the United States, is to contest his FIFA ban on Friday – via video link from Rio de Janeiro .
By Andrew Warshaw
January 18 – Just a few days before the video assistant referee system is expected to be given a provisional thumbs-up by football’s lawmakers, debate is raging yet again about when and how it should be used – this time in England where VARs have only just started to be trialled in certain cup games.
January 18 – Any buyer thinking they were going to get a knock-down price from Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley for the club should think again. While Ashley may be king of the sports leisure discount market with his Sports Direct chain, he is not necessarily looking for a quick turnover of the club at a giveaway price.
January 18 – The social media profiles of Europe’s top clubs are spawning a whole new growth area and fan base for Europe’s biggest clubs, but none are getting close to the dominance of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United who between them now connected with a staggering 391 million people on Twitter and Facebook.