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 Andrew Warshaw
August 28 – With little fanfare and hardly any publicity, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recently proudly announced the makeup of its new standing committees for the next four years. One of those re-elected as chairman of its legal committee – was Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, the controversial Pakistani who has been at the centre of a bitter domestic dispute.
By Mark Baber
August 28 – In the latest moves in the FIFA corruption case, an Argentine judge has suspended the US extradition request for Argentine businessmen Hugo and Mariano Jinkis in lieu of more information from US prosecutors, whilst the US has insisted on priority over Nicaragua in extraditing Julio Rocha from Switzerland.
August 28 – If there wasn’t quite a group of death, Manchester City arguably again drew the short straw in the draw for the group stages of the Champions League.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
August 28 – FC Schalke 04 has inked a new sponsorship deal with Turkish Airlines. The deal, which is estimated to be worth a total of €1.4 million, will see the airlinesupport the Gelsenkirchen-based side for two years.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 28 – Nicolas Leoz, one of the most prominent powerbrokers caught up in the FIFA corruption scandal, has suffered a significant setback in his fight to avoid extradition to the United States.
August 28 – Lionel Messi’s role in Barcelona’s treble-winning 2014/15 campaign has resulted in him being been named UEFA’s European player of the year for the second time in the accolade’s five-year history.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 28 – Former South African political prisoner turned human rights icon Tokyo Sexwale says he is still unsure whether to take on UEFA president Michel Platini and South Korea’s former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president next February, but will make a decision “in due course”.
By Adonis Pratsides
August 28 – The lack of precision and the negligence, with which those who have attempted to defame Dr. Eva Carneiro have operated, would have stunned even the most listless surgeon, as the steady progress of Women in football suddenly flat lined.
By Ben Nicholson
August 28 – Gatorade, a PepsiCo brand, has taken the Official Sports Drink sponsorship category for the UEFA Champions League, as part of the three-year deal signed by parent company PepsiCo last month.
By Samindra Kunti
August 28 – The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) have released the calendar for the 2016 Brazilian domestic season: the top-flight Brasileirão will come to a halt for the national team’s World Cup qualifiers, but not for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
By Tom Parsons
August 27 – A Barcelona-based study has found that Real Madrid and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has the strongest social media presence of all athletes in the world.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 27 – FIFA have kickstarted their latest attempt finally forge a workable compromise in the Middle East that satisfies both Palestinians and Israelis.
By Paul Nicholson
August 27 – Euro2016 in France will be the first time the European Championships have been played in the expanded 24 team format. More matches mean more venues and the competition will be played in 10 venues across the country. Will this be the catalyst event that, like the 2006 World Cup in Germany, kick starts French football into a new era of glory?
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
August 27 – Following the club’s return to Italy’s Serie B, Italy’s second tier, Ascoli Picchio FC has unveiled detail of a planned €12 million stadium redevelopment.
By Alexander Krassimirov
August 27 – Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia have started an educational campaign in a bid to combat the extreme racism of their fans. The club is one of the most frequently fined by the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU). Recently the fines for Bulgarian teams for racist incident, of which there are sadly many, have been increasing.