By Samindra Kunti
August 24 – Next season’s Brazilian top flight will not pause for the 2021 Copa America, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has revealed after releasing next year’s calendar.
August 24 – The English Football League is reportedly in discussions with the government and safety authorities about staging test events next month with regard to supporters being allowed back into stadiums.
August 24 – The Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) is expanding the use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, bringing it in from the Quarter-final stage of the 2020 AFC Champions League.
August 24 – Trading platform eTorohas expanded its football marketing activity into France taking the left sleeve sponsorship patch on the AS Monaco Esports shirt in a two-year deal.
August 24 – Sevilla remain the undisputed kings of the Europa League, winning the tournament for a sixth time after a dramatic and absorbing 3-2 comeback against Inter Milan in the final behind closed doors.
By David Owen
August 21 – To borrow a phrase that has become a social media cliché: that escalated quickly. Sunday night’s first appearance in a Champions League final by Paris Saint-Germain, the loadsamoney, Qatar-backed giants of Ligue 1, was prefaced by a minor farce that might have been plucked from a Jacques Tati comedy.
August 21 – Manchester City’s owners City Football Group (CFG) are reportedly still in discussions to buy French second division club ESTAC Troyes.
August 21 – FIFA is planning a change in its rules that will allow players to switch eligibility and represent a second national team.
August 31 – Kosovan club FC Prishtina have taken the unprecedented step of signing players on loan from rival teams for a Europa League fixture because a raft of their own squad tested positive for Covid-19.
August 21 – New Barcelona head coach Ronald Koeman says he does not know if he can convince Lionel Messi to stay after the Argentine superstar reportedly threatened to quit following last week’s 8-2 Champions League humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich.
August 21 – FIFA is not stepping back from its own statutes and rules of law and is maintaining that the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) is the correct forum for the ousted former Trinidad and Tobago FA leadership who have complained against their replacement by a Normalisation Committee.
August 21 – The European Clubs Association (ECA), the body representing more than 200 European clubs, has joined forces with world players’ union FIFPro to announce fresh guidelines on player health protection during the newly announced international calendar caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
August 21 – Free-to-air broadcast matches will not take place routinely when the new English Premier League season begins, giving rise to concerns over how fans – especially season ticket holders – can watch games.
By Paul Nicholson
Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. FIFA’s ethics folk don’t do much that isn’t in their own interest either.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 19 – FIFA’s ethics body today stood firm behind Gianni Infantino in the wake of the much-publicised Swiss criminal investigation into his conduct, refusing to suspend him by arguing the allegations did not “ justify the adoption of any kind of measure”, yet seriously calling into question its credibility and so-called independence.