By Paul Nicholson
April 8 – Sudanese football has witnessed more administrative chaos in the battle for control with state Emergency Police having been called to break up the general assembly of the leading Almerrikh club.
April 8 – Premier League Southampton have secured shirt sponsor Sportsbet.io for a further three years in what the club is describing as the biggest sponsorship in the club’s history.
April 8 – Ajax Amsterdam will offer season ticket holders a full or partial refund for the matches they have missed out on this season, the Dutch club has announced.
April 8 – With the Dutch on the cusp of legalising online sports betting in the country, the Netherlands Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation (NOC*NSF) has moved to increase protection against match-fixing via a new deal with Sportradar Integrity Services.
April 8 – Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana stadium won’t be renamed after Pele following a decision by state legislators. The proposal for a name change had been mired in controversy.
April 8 – The Premier League prides itself that any team could beat any other on any given day. It is a boast made by a number of other top European leagues. According to a new set of stats, the competitive balance in the big European leagues isn’t as balanced as they pretend.
April 8 – Banco Santander has renewed its title sponsorship of LaLiga for a further two years, with the option to extend for a further year until 2023-24.
April 8 – American investors have bought another English club, but rather than expanding US ownership presence in the Premier League investment fund ORG has plumped for Ipswich Town who have not been in the Premier League since 2002. The deal is said to be worth about £40 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 7 – Not for the first time, Pakistan football has been plunged into disarray after the country was handed an international ban by FIFA for ‘third-party interference’ following a coup by former leaders of the national federation (PFF).
By Paul Nicholson
April 7 – Controversial AEK Athens owner Dimitris Melissanidis has again hit the headlines in Greece where he could be facing a life ban from football.
April 7 – With the AFC Champions League set to start today with preliminary qualifying rounds, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has reaffirmed the confederation’s commitment to its competition calendar.
April 7 – The financial fall out of Serie A’s failure to back beIN Sport in its battle against piracy and in particular Saudi-focussed BeoutQ has now come home to roost via a drop in overseas broadcast rights that could be as much as €150 million annually.
By David Owen
April 7 – Premier League champions-elect Manchester City plunged heavily into the red during the covid-impacted 2019-20 season, posting a king-sized pre-tax loss of £125.1 million.
April 7 – Just days after the nine hosts cities for the 2023 Women’s World Cup were announced, FIFA has opened invitations to tender for the media rights to the tournament in both host markets, Australia and New Zealand.
April 7 – Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela, who was at the centre of a racism storm last month, has been provisionally suspended for one game by UEFA ahead of a full hearing.