By Andrew Warshaw
December 18 – La Liga has it, so does the Bundesliga, Serie A and France’s Ligue1. But the self-interested, blinkered approach of half of England’s top-flight clubs has once again been starkly exposed after they rejected for the third time a proposal to re-introduce five substitutes per team per game for the remainder of the season.
December 18 – English Premier League clubs have agreed to make up to two concussion substitutions per match from next month in a radical new rule change to protect players from serious head injury.
December 18 – The 2021 eChampions League will start in February and culminate with the final to be played the day before the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul. Prize money has been set at €280,000.
December 18 – The 2021 men’s and women’s U-17 European Championships have been cancelled by UEFA due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
December 18 – Twitch is rapidly becoming the newest must-have ‘broadcast’ channel for clubs, with Premier League Tottenham Hotspur launching their service on Wednesday. LaLiga’s Barcelona announced they were migrating new content to a Twitch last week.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 17 – Thirteen games into the new English Premier League season and we have the first managerial casualty, one that almost beggars belief.
By Paul Nicholson
December 17 – Former Trinidad and Tobago FA president David John-Williams (pictured), the target of a vitriolic character assassination in local media and from the TTFA management that ousted him (before they were removed by FIFA), has issued a powerful statement and evidence rebutting accusations that he stole FIFA funds as “fabrication”.
December 17 – The potential introduction of concussions substitutes took a step nearer with rulemaking body IFAB fast tracking trials of a new rule to begin in January 2021.
December 16 – Spain’s LaLiga is hiving off its digital product into a new company which it has valued at €450 million and is now being touted to private equity investors.
December 17 – With coronavirus case spiking at just the wrong time in the US, Concacaf has nevertheless managed to complete its centralised quarter finals in Orlando with two Mexican, one Honduran and one US team lining up for Saturday’s semi-finals.
December 17 – With the Champions League in Europe taking a break until February, all eyes are on the final of Asia’s equivalent competition on Saturday when South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai take on Iranian giants Persepolis in Qatar.
December 17 – Sao Paulo giants Palmeiras have projected a profit of €1.6 million for the 2021 season, but will suffer heavy losses in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
December 17 – UEFA and president Aleksander Ceferin have formally confirmed they will support the newly launched European climate pact.
December 17 – The body of Diego Maradona “must be conserved” in case his DNA is needed in a paternity case, an Argentine court has ruled.
By Paul Nicholson
December 16 – India have launched their bid for the 2027 Asian Cup hosting in New Delhi, joining already confirmed Qatar and Saudi Arabia as potential hosts for AFC’s flagship competition after China host in 2023.