Concacaf sets draw and dates for 16-team Champions League
January 29 – Hard on the heels of the AFC’s Champions league draw earlier this week, Concacaf have said they will hoid their 16-team Champions League draw February 10.
Midea expands Man City deal as well as onboarding with CFG in New York and Mumbai
January 29 – Manchester City, who returned to top of the Premier League this week, are firing on all cylinders off the pitch as well with another sponsorship announcement indicating the leverage the club’s owner City Football Group brings in terms of opening up sponsorship budgets to its club assets.
Qatar 2022 hospitality sales could hit $450m, despite pandemic
By David Owen
January 28 – Match Hospitality agents have committed to record World Cup sales targets, auguring well for the sale of official Qatar 2022 hospitality packages, which gets under way on Monday (February 1).
UEFA extends decision deadline on 12-city Euros in hope it can get fans into stadia
By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says he remains committed to staging next summer’s delayed Euros in the current format of 12 cities despite recent surges of the coronavirus pandemic across the continent.
Getting Messi: Barca threaten to go legal with PSG over claims they will sign him
January 28 – An unsavoury row has broken out between Barcelona and Paris St Germain over the future of Lionel Messi with the Catalan giants threatening to report the Middle East-owned Ligue 1 champions to FIFA and UEFA.
AFC sets dates for expanded Women’s Asian Cup India 2022
January 28 – The premium women’s national team competition in Asia, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to be played in India in 2022 will be held January 20 to February 6.
Omari removal from CAF elections again asks questions of Infantino’s weaponised ethics body
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – The role of FIFA in African football politics is again coming under scrutiny after the world governing body surprisingly ruled out current interim president Constant Omari (pictured) from the Congo from standing for election for the FIFA Council. FIFA did however clear South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe and Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya to stand for election for presidency, which confers its own seat on the FIFA Council.
Fans hate agents, prefer domestic leagues and feel it all costs too much, finds survey
January 28 – A survey of football fans has found that generally they think agents are overpaid, that leagues are too weighted towards so-called big teams, that there are too many national team matches but not too many club games, and that it costs too much to watch whether via pay TV or in stadia.
Chicago’s second pro team to take root in Chicago Fire’s old Bridgewater stadium
January 28 – Chicago’s second professional men’s team, who will begin play in the third tier NISA for the upcoming 2021-22 season, will base themselves at the SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.
NWSL fixes dates for Challenge Cup covid-secure openers and regular season
January 28 – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the US has released dates for the start of its season that will open April 9 with the NWSL Challenge Cup.
AFC completes 2021 Champions League draw; sticks with centralised venues for group stage
January 27 – The AFC today completed the draw for its expanded 2021 Champions League at headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Losses soar at Brighton’s Seagulls as pandemic takes £25m hit
By David Owen
January 27 – Losses have widened at Brighton and Hove Albion, the progressive south-coast Premier League club, after a season described by chairman Tony Bloom as “one of the most challenging in our club’s history”.
2026 World Cup host selectors to pick 16 cities across North America by year end
January 27 – FIFA plans to appoint host cities for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico by the last quarter of this year.
NBC Sports closure raises questions over $1.3bn Premier League deal
January 27 – Premier League broadcast rights partner NBC, is shutting its Sports Network in the US and is expected to close operations by the end of 2021.
FIFA steps in to clear Motsepe and Yahya to run for CAF presidency
January 27 – World federation FIFA has cleared all four candidates, including South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe (pictured) and Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya both whose eligibility had been in doubt, to run in the presidential elections of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).