By Andrew Warshaw
January 8 – When the draw is made for the last 32 of the world’s oldest and most revered domestic cup competition this evening, the name of one club will be conspicuous by its absence in the famous velvet bag.
January 8 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has boosted its anti-matchfixing armoury via a renewed deal with Sportradar that will see the sports integrity specialists expand their servies to include investigations beyond just identifying fraud on the pitch.
January 8 – Zimbabwe’s, under the oversight of new Sports Minister Raymond Kazembe, is working to put the sport’s finances on a more solid footing, with an extraordinary general meeting of ZIFA having been arranged and a new sponsorship for key teams in the offing. Meanwhile it has emerged ZIFA President Philip Chiyangwa earned $72,000 in 2017 from renting out his offices to the association.
January 8 – Mind games between managers are nothing new. Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson was a past master at it.
January 8 – The non-FIFA Confederation of International Football Associations (CONIFA) ratified the membership of Yorkshire on Saturday. Yorkshire will play its first friendly against the Isle of Man in January.
January 8 – Oman is celebrating only its second ever Gulf cup title but last Friday’s victory over the United Arab Emirates was marred by at least 40 fans being injured after a glass barrier collapsed.
January 8 – Manchester City’s holding company City Football Group (CFG) is exploring further club expansion with India, the world’s second most populous nation, looking like the next market for acquisition.
January 8 – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger may be enduring arguably the toughest period of his Arsenal career but he has friends in a number of high places not least Liberia where newly elected George Weah, who has made the remarkable transition from world-famous footballer to president, has invited him to his inauguration later this month.
January 8 – The protracted transfer of Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool to Barcelona has finally gone through with the Catalan giants paying what will effectively amount to the third highest fee of all time to land the coveted Brazilian playmaker.
January 8 – Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology makes its long-awaited debut in English football tonight when Brighton face Crystal Palace in the last of the FA Cup third-round fixtures.
By David Owen
January 5 – Another Premier League club has reported strong 2016-17 profits, as a consequence largely of the league’s new TV deal. Everton have clocked up a £30.6 million post-tax profit on turnover of £171.3 million, almost £50 million more than the previous highest recorded.
January 5 – Vitaly Mutko’s humiliating decision to step down as head of Russia’s World Cup organising committee in the wake of the ongoing doping scandal is now official.
By Samindra Kunti
January 5 – The Indian Super league descended into farce after FC Goa’s match against Atletico de Kolkata was forced to kick off at 11pm after the team were stranded when their flight from Goa to Bengal was delayed. Eventually, the game kicked off at 11pm with the visitors salvaging a draw.
January 5 – Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah won the 2017 CAF African Football Player of the Year Award. Egypt’s Hector Cuper was named Coach of the Year and for a third time Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala won the Women’s Player of the Year award.
January 5 – The failure of the Ivory Coast to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Russia continues to have a knock-on effect off the field with a raft of clubs calling for an extraordinary general meeting of the national federation and the removal its president Augustin Sidy Diallo.