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.
September 26 – American second tier league the USL has named SCG Fields as the Official Field Builder. SCG will be an official supplier for the United Soccer League, USL’s Division III, the Premier Development League (PDL) and the Super Y League.
September 21 – Not before time, FIFA is set to back down and lift its ban on British national teams displaying the poppy symbols on shirts and armbands to honour the war dead of World War 1 and all conflicts since.
September 25 – The chaos of Sierra Leone took another political twist at the end of last week when the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) banned 19 officials from football activity in what was a response to the previous day’s indictment of Sierra Leone FA president Isha Johansen (pictured) on six corruption charges by the country’s anti-corruption commission.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 25 – After weeks of deliberation and speculation, Kenya has been stripped of the right to host the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) following last weekend’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee meeting in Accra led by CAF leader Ahmad Ahmad.
September 25 – UEFA has wasted no time securing its first media deals for its newly announced Nations League competition with China’s Super Sports Media stepping up to acquire exclusive digital media rights to the competition in China for the 2018-19 and 2020-21 editions of the competition.
September 25 – Hassan Al Thawadi (pictured), the public face of the Qatar World Cup, has made his latest defence of the Gulf state’s credentials – again denouncing the “negative headlines” about its right to stage the 2022 event despite the fact that it will be the first hosts to have never previously qualified for the finals.
By Samindra Kunti
September 25 – The Argentinean national women’s team has gone on strike, citing structural problems and a lack of basic resources to properly train and play matches. The strike is an embarrassment for the newly formed AFA management team which has only recently taken control of the federation after a FIFA normalisation committee had been parachuted in to run football in the country.
September 25 – With Europe’s giant clubs setting up academies, coaching schools and grassroots initiative across China, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has stepped in to bring some kind of order to the chaos.
September 25 – The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has hired Ty Francis to spearhead its commercial growth as the organisation builds its portfolio of products for the sports business and governing bodies.
September 22 – Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Paris St-Germain’s Neymar were selected Friday as the final three nominees for the Best FIFA Men’s Player award.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 22 – Russia’s new FIFA Council member, Alexey Sorokin, says his country fully deserves to maintain its place at FIFA’s top table. “The fact is it was important for Russia to preserve its place in the world governing body of football. We’ve had a role since 1947. We are a prominent football nation and we think we deserve a seat on the FIFA Council and deserve to take part in the overall management,” said Sorokin in an interview with Insideworldfootball.
By Paul Nicholson
September 22 – Liberian head coach James Debbah (pictured right with Must Bility) has apologised to journalist and broadcaster Danesius Marteh on the Liberian FA’s (LFA) Facebook site after Debbah assaulted Marteh during a radio show.
By Mark Baber
September 22 – The High Court’s ruling that the Kenyan Premier League should revert to a 16-club competition with immediate effect and nullification of the recent adoption of CAF/FIFA club licensing requirements will be challenged by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) in the country’s Appeal Court.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 22 – For years, football’s European stakeholders – leagues, clubs and especially fans – have complained about meaningless friendlies and pushed for an alternative that makes games more competitive.
September 22- Real Madrid have renewed their shirt sponsorship deal with Dubai airline Emirates in a record value deal taking them through to the end of the 2020/21 season.