January 6 – The Asian Champions League final between Iranian giants Persepolis and South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai provided a huge boost to the AFC’s social media channels and its Farsi language channels.
January 6 – The top flight of Dutch football, the Eredivisie, has increased its ownership stake in the company that sells its commercial rights, Eredivisie Media & Marketing (EMM).
January 6 – Less than a month after his sacking by Premier League strugglers West Bromwich Albion, Slaven Bilic must be laughing all the way to the bank after being appointed head coach of Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan on a two-year contract.
January 6 – The English Football Association has provided fresh details of why it handed international defender Kieren Trippier a 10-game ban for breaching betting rules.
January 6 – FIFA has joined forces with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in a new campaign encouraging the football industry to raise awareness about global match-fixing.
By Paul Nicholson
January 5 – Saudi Arabia has agreed to lift its land and air blockade on Qatar in a major step towards ending a Gulf dispute that has been often been played out in the soft politics of football and football media.
January 5 – Celtic have defended their decision to embark on a warm-weather training camp in Dubai in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, insisting the trip was “approved by all relevant footballing authorities” as well as the Scottish Government.
January 5 – Can Santos win the Copa Libertadores for the first time since 2011 or will one of the traditional Buenos Aires clubs prevail? Or will Palmeiras ensure Brazil wins the competition for a second competitive time?
January 5 – Professional football in the UK will continue behind closed doors despite the country being plunged into yet another national lockdown but almost all grassroots sport will cease, heaping even more pressure on non-league clubs.
January 5 – The English Football Association continues to come under fierce criticism in Uruguay for the three-match ban imposed on Manchester United’s Edinson Cavani for a social media post containing a Spanish phrase that is offensive in some contexts, but which has an acceptable interpretation in others.
January 5 – Four of Manchester City women’s team have tested positive for the coronavirus, continuing the club’s covid-19 woes.
January 5 – Concacaf has cancelled its U-20 men’s championship, which would have qualified teams for the U-20 World Cup, and its U17 men’s World Cup qualification competition scheduled for 2021.
January 5 – The UEFA Foundation for Children and Sportradar Intelligence & Investigation Services are marking a three-year safeguarding partnership that reinforces the work carried out by the foundation.
January 5 – Manchester City Women are putting on the style with Italian fashionwear production house Salento Creazioni Moda who have become the team’s first ever global formalwear partner.
By Paul Nicholson and Samindra Kunti
January 4 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has launched into the new year with a major design rebrand of its major national team and club competitions, following up on the announcement at the end of last year of the alignment of its key national team competitions under the Asian Cup naming convention.