Mexico 1 Honduras 0
July 2 – The question on the lips of pundits and fans at Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, was “would tonight be business as usual or unusual business?” as Mexico and Honduras met for the right to face the United States in the Concacaf Gold Cup Final on Sunday in Houston.
Spain 5 Portugal 0
July 3 – With an imperious display, world champions Spain waltzed past neighbours Portugal at the Wankdorff Stadion in Bern, winning 5-0 to back up their status as tournament favourites.
By Paul Nicholson
June 7 – Brazil and Barcelona striker Neymar faces his second prosecution this year for tax evasion. Having been convicted of tax fraud and ordered to pay €45.9 million in fines and back-taxes in March in Brazil, now Spanish prosecutors want him to go trial in their country.
June 7 – Sepp Blatter’s lawyers say his compensation payments were completely above board despite the furore over revelations last week by FIFA’s American lawyers that Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner paid themselves millions of dollars in bonuses that hardly anyone else was aware of.
The trio awarded themselves salary increases and future golden handshakes totaling tens of millions of dollars over just five years, it was disclosed. FIFA said prior to 2013,
June 7 – The former Chelsea team doctor who was verbally lambasted by Jose Mourinho and had her position downgraded rejected a £1.2 million settlement from the club, documents submitted to her employment tribunal show.
June 7 – The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) has beefed up its tournament management tools with a three-year agreement with Sportradar for its Federation Management Platform (FMP) competition management tools.
June 7 – Oulala.com, the daily fantasy football platform that launched the monetised version of its games in Europe last October, has launched its Euro 2016 game.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has come under renewed pressure to explain a series of potentially unlawful manoeuvres that threaten to seriously derail his presidency after 100 days in the job.
By Paul Nicholson
June 6 – Serie A giants Inter Milan have completed the sale of a 69% stake in the club to Chinese retail giants Suning Holdings Group, one of the three largest Chinese non-state owned enterprises with close to $50 billion in annual sales.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – Gianni Infantino has marked his first 100 days in charge of FIFA with a savage, somewhat unstatesmanlike tirade against his critics as he hit back at those who have accused him of abusing his position with a series of questionable manoeuvres.
June 6 – Another English Premier League club has been bought by US investors. Welsh club Swansea City, who play in the English league and cup, have completed a sale of what is believed to be 60% of their shareholding for £110 million to US investors Jason Levien (pictured) and Steve Kaplan.
By Paul Nicholson
June 6 – The dispute between the world beating US Women’s national team and the US Soccer Federation over the women’s demands for equal pay for representing their country – they generally earn between 62% and 25% less per match than their male counterparts – took a controversial turn in a Chicago court when a judge ruled they could not take strike action.
June 6 – Manchester City has launched an official club page on social media site GIPHY, the first English Premier League club to embrace the platform.
By David Owen
June 5 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino will have to wait at least another 15 months before securing membership of sport’s most powerful club.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – Explosive new allegations have emerged of a cover-up orchestrated by FIFA president Gianni Infantino which could push him towards an ethics hearing only three months into the job.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – With precision timing just when the organisation’s new president Gianni Infantino was under mounting scrutiny for a raft of allegedly suspect manoeuvres to boost his authority, FIFA’s American lawyers hit back today by revealing that Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves pay rises and bonuses worth $80 million over five years.
By Paul Nicholson
June 3 – The much-anticipated and often troublesome Copa America Centenario kicks off Saturday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, with the US hosts facing Colombia. The opening match has the potential to spark what could be a celebration of sparkling football which will be in stark contrast (and a relief from) the dark areas of football corruption that this tournament has brought into the light.