By David Gold
March 22 – Lionel Messi (pictured) has overtaken David Beckham as the world’s best paid footballer, after a study revealed he made €33 million (£27.5 million/$52 million) during 2011.
By David Gold
March 22 – Bolton Wanderers will play their weekend Premier League clash with Blackburn Rovers and the abandoned FA Cup tie with Tottenham Hotspur next week after stricken midfielder Fabrice Muamba’s family encouraged the club to do so.
By Andrew Warshaw in Istanbul
March 22 – The Turkish Government today gave the broadest public hint yet that the country would like to stage the European Championships in 2020.
By Andrew Warshaw in Istanbul
March 21 – Welsh clubs playing in the English league will not be allowed to qualify for Europe by competing in their own domestic cup, UEFA ruled today.
By Andrew Warshaw in Istanbul
March 21 – UEFA announced here after a two-day Executive Committee meeting that the bidding process for the 2020 European Championships will begin next week when invitations are sent out to all 53 member nations who will then have until mid-May to declare their interest.
By Andrew Warshaw in Istanbul
March 21 – Over-ambitious clubs who try to flout Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules by taking UEFA to court were warned to think again today after the European Commission confirmed the regulations were legally compliant.
By David Gold
March 21 – Filling stadiums at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations is the top priority for the tournament, being held in South Africa, according to the man responsible for organising the competition.
British football’s privileges are under threat. But don’t blame Sir David Richards if Britain loses its unique status in world football. That will be the natural reaction after our Dave’s extraordinary performance in Doha last week. But it will be wrong. Look to wider politics in the world body for the answer.
Not that the Premier League chairman covered himself with glory when he went to Qatar last week. His mission there was to tell the world what it can learn from the Premier League having become the most powerful League in the world.
By David Gold
March 21 – The Brazilian Government has taken another step towards passing the 2014 World Cup bill after meeting with the opposition in the country’s Congress, though it still faces hurdles before it becomes law.
By Andrew Warshaw in Istanbul
March 21 – The 2014 Champions League final will be staged at the home of Benfica, one of the great evocative names of European football.
By David Gold
March 21 – Fabrice Muamba has held a “brief” conversation with his Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle as he continues to show positive signs after suffering a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup tie last weekend.
By David Gold
March 20 – FIFA will make a decision on which cities will host matches at the Russia 2018 World Cup this September, it was confirmed today.
By David Gold
March 20 – The turf for the new Welsh National Football Centre has been cut for the first time at the Newport International Sports Village.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 20 – FIFA reiterated today that it will be up to the game’s South American Confederation, CONMEBOL, to replace Brazil’s Ricardo Teixeira (pictured) on the world football governing body’s Executive Committee.
By David Gold
March 20 – Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Vanuatu are all through to the semi-finals of the Oceania men’s football qualifiers for London 2012, but hosts New Zealand are yet to seal their last four spot.