By James Dostoyevsky
As if football didn’t have other problems – between a Turkish club president assaulting a referee on the pitch and VAR turning into the most hated new tech distorting football results – a novel and stupefying proclamation emanated from Vlad the Impaler’s homeland, Romania this week.
By Samindra Kunti in Jeddah
December 18 – FIFA confirmed that the 2025 Club World Cup will be played across 29 days in June and July that summer in the United States. Both English Premier League’s Liverpool and Manchester United miss out on the new competition while LaLiga’s Barcelona could still qualify.
December 18 – The first edition of the expanded Club World Cup will be staged from June 15 to July 13, 2025, in the United States but the world players union Fifpro has slammed FIFA’s decision.
December 18 – Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer is undergoing tests and scans at hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during a Premier League game at the weekend.
December 18 – Qatar’s national airline has signed a six-year partnership with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that begins in January with the start of the Asian Cup that Qatar in hosting and kicks off 12 January.
December 17 – Fleetwood Haiya (pictured) has been elected the new president of the Malawi FA (FAM), bringing to an end the longstanding reign of Walter Nyamilandu.
December 16 – World champions Spain have secured the top spot in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings for the first time, knocking off ranking leaders Sweden who themselves had only had a short time at the top after displacing the USA in August. The US had held an unbroken six year run at the top.
December 15 – Premier League Aston Villa’s holding company, V Sports, has secured an investment from east coast US private equity firm Atairos.
By Samindra Kunti in Jeddah
December 17 – African champions Al Ahly from Egypt eliminated hosts Al-Ittihad from the Club World Cup with a resounding 3-1 win to set up a semi-final against Brazil’s Fluminense. Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds complete the last-four line-up and will face Manchester City.
December 18 – The AFC has drawn groups for the 8-team finals of the U-20 Women’s Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2024 that will be played March 3 to 16, 2024.
December 15 – The former president of Turkish top flight club Ankaragucu, Faruk Koca, has been handed a permanent ban by the Turkish Football Federation for punching a referee that has drawn widespread revulsion.
December 15 – Female fans in Iran have claimed a moral victory after being allowed to venture inside the Azadi Stadium in Tehran to attend Thursday’s eagerly anticipated clash between Persepolis FC and Esteghlal FC.
December 15 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has defended the 2030 and 2034 World Cup bidding processes as “the best FIFA can do for football, covering the entire world in only eight years”.
December 15 – Rebecca Welch will make history when she becomes the first female referee to take charge of a Premier League match on December 23 when Fulham take on Burnley.
December 15 – FIFA and Panini have extended their long-standing licensing and sponsorship partnership in a deal which will see the global brand remain FIFA’s exclusive partner for official stickers, trading cards, trading-card games and digital collectibles.