October 4 – Following the lead of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the South African Football Association (SAFA) has endorsed the proposal for a biennial World Cup, with the governing body’s strongman Danny Jordaan arguing that the tournament in its current form “has not brought progress in African football over the last 100 years”.
October 3 – Business magnate and controversial former Olympique Marseille president Bernard Tapie has died at 78 after a long battle with stomach cancer. He led the French club to the Champions league crown in 1993, a victory later overshadowed by a match-fixing scandal in the French league.
October 4 – Online trading platform eToro has secured partnerships with eight clubs in Italy’s Serie A for the coming 2021/22 season.
October 3 – Israeli football agent Pini Zahavi (pictured centre) has been charged in Belgium with forgery, use of forgeries, fraud and money laundering in relation to mismanagement at second-division club Royal Excelsior Mouscron, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
October 1 – In a further effort to garner support for his organisation’s much-criticised plan to stage the World Cup every two years, FIFA president Gianni Infantino held a summit with more than 200 national federations Thursday in which he banged the drum for how the game should look going forward.
October 1 – Belgium coach Roberto Martinez, whose team top the world rankings but have failed to win the world championship, opposes FIFA plans to stage the World Cup every two years, arguing the frequency would “devalue” the tournament.
October 1 – France has emerged as the first major European footballing country to give tacit conditional approval to staging the World Cup every two years.
October 1 – Scottish champions Rangers have written to UEFA to complain about the racist treatment of Glen Kamara during their Europa League game at against Sparta Prague on Thursday.
October 1 – Serie A champions Inter Milan have posted a mammoth loss of €246 million for the 2020/21 financial year.
October 1 – In one of the first moves of its kind, a fan who was identified for online racial abuse of a player from English Championship club West Bromwich Albion has been jailed for eight weeks.
October 1 – The G20 Anti-corruption Working Group, which for the first time includes sport as a specificity within its mandate, has reached consensus on the draft high level principles on Preventing and Combating Corruption.
October 1 – Brazil legend Pelé has been released from hospital after undergoing surgery for a colon tumour. He will require further treatment at home.
September 16 – The finalists for the Women’s Asian Cup in India next year are starting to take shape with six of the eight qualifying groups now complete.
October 1 – FIFA’s new Football Tribunal comes into operation officially today (October 1) as the world governing body seeks to further streamline and modernise its dispute processes into a more efficient decision-making system.
October 1 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) side North Carolina Courage have dismissed their English head coach Paul Riley following allegations of sexual misconduct. He becomes the third NWSL coach to be fired for misconduct since August.