March 22 – The joy of Panamanian Ceclio Waterman, as he celebrated his last-minute winner against the USA on the set of CBS with former Arsenal great and TV pundit, Thierry Henry, screaming ‘Eres mi idolo’, Spanish for ‘You’re my idol’, reminded all watching that ‘this is the reason we love the game’.
March 21 – SoFi stadium, Inglewood, California is for all intents and purposes a spaceship, and the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) probably wishes they were boarding it with a one-way ticket to Mars after being dumped out of the Concacaf Nations League semifinal by Panama.
March 22 – Prior to the Concacaf Nations League doubleheader on Thursday at SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California, the smart money was on the USA and Canada to advance and contest the final on Sunday. 180 minutes later, the smart money looked foolish.
October 26 – After almost 20 years AC Milan have agreed with Adidas to end their technical sponsorship deal early at the end of the 2017/18 season.
US striker Megan Rapinoe’s claim that FIFA is “old, male and stale” may have been a comment triggered by disbelief over FIFA’s final nominations for its top female player award, but the wider context does bear closer examination. A look at the top of the FIFA hierarchy shows that half its confederation presidents do not have competing national women’s senior teams.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 25 – A pro-Palestinian campaign group has re-ignited Middle East tensions by writing to FIFA ahead of this week’s Council session protesting at Israel’s alleged continuing obstructive conduct in the region.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 25 – FIFA’s head of referees Massimo Busacca has praised the steps female referees have taken at the U-17 World Cup in India. He reiterated that VAR is a work in progress.
October 25 – More than three-quarters of North Americans polled in a survey broadly support plans to host the 2026 World Cup.
October 25 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) says it has yet to receive any official notification confirming Egypt’s withdrawal from the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN).
October 25 – Proposals to give a greater share of overseas television revenue to the Premier League’s so-called big six from 2019 has been ditched after no progress was made over the controversial plan.
October 25 – Real Madrid and Barcelona top the ranking of Big-5 clubs that have trained the most footballers playing in the Big-5 European leagues on October 1. Manchester United rank 5th while PSG come in at 14th.
October 25 – FIFA is not the only football body to face problems with a flooded pitch. But in India FIFA could switch venue and city for its U17 World Cup semi-final between Brazil and England. In Kiribati they don’t have that luxury.
By David Owen
October 24 – He may have kept his audience waiting at this week’s Sportel sports media and marketing convention in Monaco, but La Liga President Javier Tebas did not disappoint. Interviewed onstage for 30 minutes, as ever in his native Spanish, the man who has emerged as probably the most colourful and consistently interesting league boss in the business in recent years, since La Liga moved belatedly to a collective selling model for its broadcasting rights,
By Andrew Warshaw
October 24 – Cristiano Ronaldo was duly crowned the world’s best player for the second year running at FIFA’s Best Awards gala on Monday but that didn’t tell the whole story.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 24 – FIFA have hit back at claims that it showed scant regard for the status of women’s football by naming little-known teenage striker Deyna Castellanos on its female player-of-the-year shortlist for Monday’s ceremony in London.
October 24 – After three delays, a venue has finally been found for the neutral ground double header Asian Cup qualifiers between Malaysia and North Korea later this month.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 24 – FIFA shifted the U-17 World Cup semi-final between England and Brazil from Guwahati to Kolkata on Monday. Torrential rainfall had reduced the quarter-final between Mali and Ghana to a mud fight at the weekend.
By David Owen
October 24 – The new UEFA Nations League is set to enhance the value of European international football matches, according to Guy-Laurent Epstein, the European football body’s marketing director.