By Andrew Warshaw
March 20 – African football’s new leadership faces immediate and important questions about transparency and double standards after electing an official who was banned from running for FIFA president on to its own ruling body.
March 20 – Manchester United will tour the US for two weeks as part of their pre-season preparation in July, playing five games on the east and west coasts, most likely as part of the International Champions Cup (ICC) tournament.
By Paul Nicholson
March 20 – The Egyptian prosecution of former Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou over the award of CAF’s media and commercial rights to Lagardère Sports will continue, promised a legal spokesperson for Presentation Sports. This is despite Hayatou having lost the presidency of CAF to Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad last Thursday.
March 20 – The head of Palestine Football Association (PFA) Jibril Rajoub has re-iterated that he will not agree to any further compromises if FIFA continues to drag its feet over the festering dispute regarding Israeli conduct in Middle East football.
March 20 – He’s been the figurehead at Arsenal for a generation but Arsene Wenger has given the biggest hint yet that he will call it a day in the summer following mounting pressure over his position.
By Samindra Kunti
March 20 – India’s preparations for the U-17 World Cup have been hit following the postponement of two friendlies with Mali. Meanwhile car manufacturer Hero has become a local sponsor for the tournament.
March 20 – Mali has hit back at becoming the latest African country to be suspended by FIFA over government inference saying it will not be pushed around and will continue to operate as it sees fit.
March 20 – Russia’s World Cup chief organiser Vitaly Mutko, recently barred from holding on to his place at FIFA’s top table, has brushed aside allegations that Russian footballers were among those guilty caught up in the country’s widespread doping scandal.
March 20 – City Football Group (CFG) are “focused on” expanding the number of clubs they have under ownership from the their current four of Manchester City. New York City FC, Melbourne City and Yokohama F Marinos, according to chief commercial officer Tom Glick (pictured).
March 17 – Manchester City have become the first Premier League club to sign a sleeve sponsorship for next season when the league relaxes its branding exposure rules.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 17 – When Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad paid tribute to his predecessor Issa Hayatou and spoke of a new dawn for African football after clinching the most seismic of election victories, it brought to mind another one-sided presidential ballot.
March 17 – On the day Ahmad Ahmad became African football’s new leader, a raft of his supporters won places on the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee, notably South Africa’s Danny Jordaan, the public face of the 2010 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 17 – Following Insideworldfootball’s exclusive revelation that UEFA vice-president Marios Lefkaritis was exploiting a loophole in age restrictions in an attempt to cement his power base, the veteran Cypriot has agreed to withdraw from international football politics, bringing the curtain down on his 21-year career.
By Paul Nicholson
March 17 – The International Champions Cup (ICC) has unveiled Singapore as its exclusive south-east Asian venue for the next four years. For the 2017 tournament, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan will play each other in July.
By Paul Nicholson
March 17 – It has been a busy week in the sports broadcast market with UK Culture Secretary Karen Bradley referred 21st Century Fox’s £11.7 billion bid for full control of Sky to communications regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority – Sky are the Premier League’s dominant TV partner. In France, Qatari owners have pumped in another €600 million into beIN Sports to cope with losses believed to at more than 1 billion.