October 18 – FIFA number two Fatma Samoura hopes the criminal investigation launched by Swiss prosecutors into the sale of World Cup rights to the Qatari-owned beIN Media group will not “disrupt” Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 18 – Just how short-sighted can you get? If ever a club was the victim of its own success, that club is surely Leicester City. The season before last, Leicester upset every prediction in the book by famously coming from nowhere to win the English Premier League, perhaps the greatest miracle in team sport.
By Samindra Kunti
October 18 – Construction consortium Ghemlanco has proposed a new design and extra funding for the Eurostadium in Brussels in a last-minute effort to push ahead with the controversial project for the 2020 European Championships. UEFA has given a deadline for clarity on the stadium build of November 20.
October 18 – Sweden have arguably drawn the short straw in the European playoffs for next year’s World Cup with a mouth-watering tie against Italy who last failed to qualify back in 1958.
October 18 – Tifosy, the sports crowdfunding platform that enables supporters to invest in clubs, has raised £1 million via crowdfunding for its own rights issue.
October 17 – Players and clubs are supporting UEFA’s #EqualGame message at 58 matches across Europe as part of the Football People action week campaign run by the anti-discrimination group, FARE.
October 17 – French Ligue 1 side Olympique de Marseille who started the season without a shirt sponsor, have now filled the space with an expansion of their partnership with telecommunications company Orange.
October 17 – Members of the legal team looking into historic sexual abuse in English football have undertaken counselling such has been the harrowing nature of their inquiry, according to UK media reports.
October 17 – The coach of Honduras has accused FIFA of being “inhumane” for scheduling the two legs of the World Cup playoff against Australia within five days of each other.
October 17 – Hertha Berlin’s players and officials became the latest sports team to “take a knee” in support of anti-racism ahead of their 2-0 defeat by Schalke last weekend.
October 17 – Controversial Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley (pictured) has put the Premier League club up for sale after a decade-long reign in charge of the iconic English team whose 52,000 capacity stadium is close to full most weeks courtesy of a fanatical fan base.
October 17 – Predictions that Tottenham Hotspur would break the Premier League’s 10-year attendance record in their clash against Bournemouth fell 2,600 fans short with Spurs only filling 81.67% of Wembley Stadium (73,502 was the official attendance figure) for their clash with Burnley.
October 16 – The UAE Pro League Committee (PLC) has engaged sports data and technology company Sportradar to collect and build stats-based content with the objective of building the fan base for the league in the country.
The US were beaten by lowly Trinidad & Tobago (no, it is one country, they weren’t playing two countries at the same time), lost fair and square and to add to their grief, Panama equalised against Costa Rica with a Thierry Henry type goal (“…the referee’s decision is final”, so don’t expect a Samoura-Senegal type replay decision to bail the US out).
By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – Former FIFA number two Jerome Valcke, back in the firing line after months of relative silence, has strongly denied colluding with the boss of Paris St Germain and beIN Sports, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, over suspected corruption linked to 2026 and 2030 World Cup broadcasting rights.