March 15 – Talks are under way to allow up to 20,000 fans – around a quarter of capacity at Wembley – at this season’s FA Cup final as one of the pilot events for the large-scale return of spectators in the wake of the coronavirus.
March 15 – Germany’s DFL has renewed its official ball deal with Derbystar for a further four years, concluding the agreement a year before the current deal expires and taking the partnership through to the end of the 2025-26 season.
By Paul Nicholson
March 12 – South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe took the throne of African football at the 43rd CAF Congress today, profusely thanking his many ‘brothers’ before sending a clear message at the end of the meeting that there is an urgent need to progress the game in Africa and that it can’t be done without the buy-in of the private sector in all member nations.
By Paul Nicholson
March 12 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino opened the 43rd CAF Congress in Rabat, Morocco – pretty much his home constituency in the balance of FIFA’s politics these days – with an emphasis on African unity and yet another pledge to drive Africa to the top of the world game on the field of play.
March 12 – After a series of legal losses in his battle against criminal prosecution in Switzerland, FIFA president Gianni Infantino had a win yesterday when the Swiss Federal Criminal Court ruled in favour of one of four complaints Infantino’s legal team had made in December 2020.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 12 – Laura McAllister is under no illusions about her chances of success when she bids to become European football’s female representative on the FIFA Council next month.
March 12 – Brazil’s iconic Maracana stadium will be renamed ‘The Edson Arantes do Nascimento-Rei Pele stadium’ in honour of the country’s football legend Pele, following a decision by the Rio de Janeiro state legislature.
By Paul Nicholson
March 12 – The restart of Asia’s international football calendar is rapidly taking shape. Yesterday the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) rolled outs its plan for the centralised group stages of its 2021 Champions League, today it laid out the blueprint for the centralised completion of the group stages of the Asian qualifiers for both the Asian Cup 2023 and the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
March 12 – Bayern Munich have extended their partnership with sports betting firm Tipico until 2025.
March 12 – A major illegal streaming network that had over 100 million downloads of its app and had made profits estimated at €5 million has been shut shutdown following raids by Europol and the Spanish National Police.
March 12 – The sports ministry of Chad has dissolved the Federation of Chad Football Associations (FTFA) the country’s FA, which could led to a ban from the global game by FIFA.
By Paul Nicholson
March 11 – Women should not be left out of football’s rebuilding programme and that although positive steps have been taken by men for the women’s game, more can be done. These were two clear messages coming out of the just concluded Female Leadership webinars organised by sports integrity body SIGA.
By Paul Nicholson
March 11 – Saudi Arabia has stepped up to take on the bulk of Champions League group stage hosting next month in the AFC’s West zone. The UAE will also host a group while in the East zone Thailand will host three groups. India will also host a group.
March 11 – Despite an apparent agreement between UEFA and Europe’s leading clubs over plans to reform the Champions League post-2024 in order to stave off the threat of a breakaway super league, opposition to the plan continues to be voiced by some key stakeholders.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – In the end, all the campaigning and lobbying proved fruitless – for three of the candidates at least.