November 30 – BeIN Sports, the broadcast rights holder for the MENA region for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, is claiming more than 111 million viewers tuned in for the Opening Ceremony, while a cumulative total of more than 900 million watched the first 16 group stage games.
November 30 – While FIFA is franchising out its FanFest internationally and attempting to establish a brand footprint in the area, the US firm of the same name that has already been working on the ground has struck a deal with Fan Token specialists Socios.com.
November 30 – Italian giants AC Milan have followed the expansion route of city rivals Inter and opened three new academy centres in India.
November 30 – TikTok has further expanded its presence in football stiking a deal with Football Australia for the men’s and women’s senior teams, the CommBank Matildas and Subway Socceroos.
November 29 – World Cup boss Hassan Al-Thawadi has said 400-500 migrant workers have died as a result of work done on construction projects, and is sticking by the figure of just three work-related deaths on World Cup projects.
November 29 – In a bombshell move, the entire board of Juventus, including chairman Andrea Agnelli, has resigned en masse, plunging one of the world’s most famous clubs into crisis.
November 29 – A pitch invader with a rainbow flag interrupted the World Cup match between Portugal and Uruguay.
November 29 – The Scottish Football Association (SFA) is to bring in a ban on professional footballers heading the ball in training the day before and the day after a game.
November 29 – The 2023 UEFA Nations League finals will be hosted in the Netherlands and played in Rotterdam and Enschede next summer.
November 29 – The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has struck a deal with Portuguese-based video NFT specialist RealFevr to create digital collectibles of historic and iconic moments of the Copa del Rey.
November 28 – The cryptocurrency winter is biting deep, including into football sponsorship with two of the biggest commercial scalps – FIFA and Brazil’s CBF – being hit with non-payment issues right when a World Cup is in full flow.
November 29 – Five-time world champions Brazil marched on to the knockout phase of the World Cup with a laboured, but ultimately deserved victory against a limited Swiss side with Casemiro delivering the winning strike in the 83rd minute.
November 29 – How well do you know Samir Handanovic, one of Inter Milan’s finest? Inter’s captain goalkeeper isn’t on duty in Qatar, but he is a special talent and both he and his club are catching the eye, especially with US investors.
By Samindra Kunti in Al Khor
November 28 – Qatari fans staged a protest of their own, targeting Germany by holding pictures of the former Germany player Mesut Özil while covering their mouths during the match against Spain.
November 28 – Following Morocco’s surprise 2-0 victory against Belgium, rioting broke out in Brussels as well as in various Dutch cities as celebrations spilt out of control.