France 1 Wales 1
July 9 – A rampant France booked their ticket to the quarter-finals with a commanding 4-1 win over Wales in St. Gallen on Wednesday night. Despite heavy rotation, the French side pulled no punches against the Euro debutants, delivering a dominant performance that sends a clear message to whoever awaits them next week.
By Paul Nicholson
July 26 – In what would be one of the most remarkable club acquisitions of an English football club, if not the most controversial, Evangelos Marinakis (pictured), owner of Greek champions Olympiakos, is set to take majority control at Nottingham Forest, playing in England’s second-tier Championship.
July 26 – Liverpool and Sevilla have both been punished relating to crowd trouble at last season’s Europa League final in Basel.
July 26 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur have built on their pre-season tour to Australia with the signing of a three-year deal with Australian broadcaster Foxtel.
July 26 – England’s new manager Sam Allardyce insists his man-management skills will bring the best out the national team that lost its way so dismally at Euro 2016.
July 26 – Panama will host the 2017 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship April-May next year. The competition is the regional qualifier for the U17 World Cup which will be held in India in 2017.
By Paul Nicholson
July 25 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has elected Antiguan Gordon Derrick to a second four-year term as president.
July 25 – UEFA has confirmed the names of the three candidates vying to succeed Michel Platini as president of European football’s governing body as Slovenia’s Aleksander Ceferin, Duch FA boss Michael van Praag and controversial veteran Spaniard Angel Maria Villar who has been doing the job on an interim basis since Platini was banned in May.
July 25 – Russian sports minister Vitaly Mukto, barred from attending the Rio Olympics because of the country’s doping scandal, says he sees no reasons why the 2018 World Cup, which he is in charge of organising, should be switched.
By Paul Nicholson
July 25 – The pre-season game between Manchester United and Manchester City in China, the first ever meeting of the two clubs outside England, has been called off after heavy rain has left the famous Bird’s Nest stadium pitch in Beijing unplayable.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – Disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has agreed to pay Trinidad $375,000 (US$56,000) to a fellow Caribbean politician to end a long-running local feud unconnected with the widespread bribery allegations hanging over him.
July 25 – Greg Clarke (pictured) is poised to become the new chairman of the English Football Association after being nominated for the position by the organisation’s board in succession to the outspoken and often controversial Greg Dyke who has stepped down after three years.
July 25 – Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer, official sponsor of Spain’s La Liga and England’s Premier League, has expanded its footprint announcing it is the Official Timekeeper and Global Partner of Manchester United.
By Paul Nicholson
July 22 – Tomorrow the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) will vote in what has become an increasingly politicised vote with the regional governing body CONCACAF and its new president Victor Montagliani having inserted themselves into the election hustings with funding for one of the candidates through an exclusive-invite Trinidad conference, and the leak of CFU financial information to the press in an attempt to discredit the current leadership.
July 22 – South Korean business executive Chung Mong-gyu, younger cousin of banned former FIFA Vice President Chung Mong-joon, has been re-elected unanimously as head of the South Korean FA after being the sole candidate.
July 22 – Wolverhampton Wanderers, one of the most evocative names in English football but for several seasons in the second tier of the domestic game, are the latest club to fall into the ambitious hands of Chinese ownership following the announcement they have been bought by Fosun International.