March 19 – Legislation to establish an independent regulator to oversee English professional football was being introduced today in an effort to ensure financial sustainability as well as stopping teams from joining breakaway competitions like the European Super League.
It is not every day that one surveys the annual performance of a venerable 120-year-old organisation, notes a near $400 million loss, and concludes that business is ticking along very nicely. Then again, the organisation is FIFA and the business is football – a realm which, you might often be forgiven for thinking, operates in keeping with a commercial logic that is entirely its own.
March 19 – Starlizard Integrity Services, the betting-related match-fixing monitoring specialists, are reporting a 16% increase in suspicious matches in 2023 against 2022.
March 19 – Turkey’s Fenerbahçe have called an emergency meeting to vote on whether the club should withdraw from the Turkish Super Lig after the unprecedented scenes following the match with Trabzonspor on Sunday, when Trabzonspor fans attacked Fenerbahce players.
March 19 – Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo were handed benign draws in the Copa Libertadores while Palmeiras and River Plate of Argentina face a tougher route to the knockout stages.
March 19 – The German football federation is targeting racism and discrimination with a new campaign ahead of this summer’s European Championship.
March 19 – England captain Harry Kane has linked up with the national squad despite sustaining an ankle injury during Bayern Munich’s recent match against Darmstadt.
March 19 – Blockchain and crypto specialists Chiliz has entered into a strategic partnership with game studio Unagi and the French Professional Football League (LFP) to launch fantasy football Coach Ligue 1, the first time a league has developed their own game.
March 18 – Michael Ricketts has been re-elected as the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) president for a second term. Ricketts was first elected in 2017.
March 18 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino has secured a 33% pay rise to run world football and now earns an eye-watering CHF 4.13 million ($4.66 million). FIFA grants its national federations $2 million annually.
March 18 – Turkish police have detained 12 people after fans of Trabzonspor invaded the pitch following the weekend home defeat to Fenerbahce and attacked visiting players, prompting immediate condemnation from FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
March 18 – Following a raid on the headquarters of the South African Football Association (SAFA) by the country’s criminal investigation unit, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has stepped in with their own investigation.
March 18 – DPR Korea came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 in the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2024 final at the JAR Stadium.
March 18 – Former Bulgarian international and Levski Sofia legend Georgi Ivanov-Gonzo is the new president of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU), beating former Manchester United star Dimitar Berbatov to the post in the first round of voting.
March 18 – Manchester United have been handed a dream FA Cup semi-final draw after beating Liverpool 4-3 in an Old Trafford thriller, and could face rivals Manchester City in the final for the second year running.