August 12 – With doubts still remaining over whether LaLiga clubs will be able to take shirt sponsorship from betting brands, Betway has announced a new agreement with Real Betis, a record for the club.
August 12 – FC Barcelona have confirmed a positive coronavirus test ahead of their Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich, but the club said the respective player has not had contact with any of the squad members that will travel to Lisbon.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – A strongly worded press release in Q and A format; a hastily arranged virtual press conference denouncing the Swiss judicial authorities; an attack on the reform process under the previous regime; letters fired off to every national association and every member of the all-powerful FIFA Council; and, if rumours are to be believed, the hiring of at least three (no doubt expensive) external specialist lawyers to help fight the case.
August 11 – Bundesliga clubs have had their hopes dashed by local authorities of allowing fans back into stadiums in time for the new league season that kicks off September 18.
August 11 – Former Concacaf president and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner’s attempted re-entry into public life in Trinidad and Tobago has ended as fast as it begun after he failed to win election as a member of parliament in the country’s just completed elections.
August 11 – Barcelona pay their players an $12.28 million annually, more than any other club in the world. That is more than a million more than Real Madrid (the world’s second highest payers) at $11.5 million.
August 11 – Newly promoted Leeds United, back in the Premier League after a 16-year absence, have unveiled online betting brand SBOTOP as the club’s new shirt sponsor.
August 11 – Phil Neville has been shortlisted for the role of head coach of Australia Women. In June, the English FA announced that his contract with England would not be extended.
August 11 – It isn’t every day that the prime minister of a country gets involved in a specific club take-over, but Boris Johnson has called on the English Premier League to explain why it neither approved nor rejected the recently failed Newcastle United deal.
August 11 – AC Milan Women, who are ploughing their own sponsorship furrow separate to their men’s team, have announced Italian bank Banco BPM as their new shirt sponsor.
By Paul Nicholson
August 10 – It has been a busy few days of letter sending by FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino who have scrambled to inform FA presidents their version of the circumstances surrounding the criminal investigation into Infantino’s meetings with the Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
August 10 – Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower whose string of incriminating revelations shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, has been freed from house arrest while remaining under judicial control.
By Paul Nicholson
August 10 – FIFA’s newly hired external PR teams went into overdrive at the weekend with a stunning assault, led by FIFA’s new-found media luvvie Alasdair Bell, the organisation’s deputy general secretary, on the FIFA reform process led Basel criminal law professor Mark Pieth (pictured) as being a useless waste of money.
August 8 – Atletico Madrid, due to play in the Champions League quarterfinals this week, have confirmed two positive cases of coronavirus from testing carried out on Saturday.
August 10 – Paris Saint Germain, one of the wealthiest clubs in world football, have signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Chinese consumer electronics and home appliances company Hisense.