By Samindra Kunti
June 28 – In the end, after 120 minutes of sheer drama, industry and balletic skills that reaffirmed football’s endearing qualities, there was redemption for Unai Simon, Alvaro Morata and Spain with a 5-3 overtime win for the ages against Croatia.
June 28 – The Brazilian and Portuguese national federations have become the latest governing bodies to join the crypto-based rush to fan tokens.
June 28 – Manchester City, owned by the UAE’s City Football Group (CFG), has gone closer to home with its latest sponsorship. Expo 2020 Dubai has been designated the club’s Official Exhibition partner.
June 29 – CSTN, which is re-emerging as a broadcast network in the Caribbean under TV veteran Selby Browne with a series of football deals, has picked up the rights to the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) competitions from 2021 to 2024.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – The doomed European Super League may be past history but Real Madrid president Florentino Perez insists the ongoing court case brought by the three remaining members of the project will show the world it was not a failure and is very much alive.
June 28 – Argentine prosecutors have summoned Diego Maradona’s personal physician Leopoldo Luque for questioning in court for his role in the star’s death from heart failure last November. Luque is implicated together with six other doctors.
June 28 – The increase in the number of penalties awarded at Euro 2020 has won approval from UEFA’s referees chief who says it shows VAR is working correctly.
June 28 – Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic has admitted that losing one of his superstar players for tonight’s last-16 clash with Spain, Ivan Perisic, is a complete shock, saying he was “the best player in the group phase.”
June 28 – Norwich City have signed Lotus Cars as the club’s shirt sponsor in a one-year deal and as a replacement for online gamer BK8 who had initially committed to the position but were withdrawn after fan protests.
June 28 – Belgian football clubs can welcome back fans to their grounds with a third of stadium capacity freed to allow supporters in, the Belgian Pro League has announced.
June 26 – Houston’s bid to be one of the US cities selected to host the 2026 World Cup was given a boost last week after it was named in the top 10 ‘Americas Cities of the Future’.
June 27 –There is no slacking in the pace of Concacaf events to the end of the year. As soon as the Gold Cup completes in early August in Las Vegas, Concacaf will be back on the road again with its 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf League (SCL) club competition.
By Samindra Kunti in Amsterdam
June 27 – It took Denmark 27 minutes to break Welsh resistance. From the edge of the box, Kasper Dolberg took a couple of touches to engineer space and curl a sumptuous strike in between two defenders and goalkeeper Danny Ward. The Johan Cruyff Arena exploded with raucous joy. The press box was showered with beer and half-naked men ran around in wild celebration.
By Paul Nicholson
June 25 – The US men’s team, still basking in the glory of having beaten arch rivals Mexico in the Nations League final, have gambled on pretty much a complete squad turnover for the Gold Cup, but still maintain they will be competitive.
June 25 – Belgian international Thomas Meunier has said football is not ready for openly gay players, arguing that the sport’s mentality is not developed enough for a player to comfortably come out.