AC Milan land renewed Emirates deal but at reduced €10m a year
July 28 – AC Milan have held on to their main shirt sponsor Emirates airline in a three-year deal that will see them take a reported annual €4 million cut in the sponsorship fee.
Exclusive: Bility lays bare FIFA’s ‘corrupt’ African power games in letter to AU and UN
By Paul Nicholson
July 27 – Musa Bility has entered the FIFA integrity debate again with a hard-hitting letter to the chair of the African Union and the secretary general of the United Nations imploring them to “intervene and reform FIFA and organizations such as CAF”.
Mob rule: FIFA bans Guinea-Bissau’s dissenting Nascimento a day before re-election
July 27 – With interesting timing, FIFA has imposed a 10-year ban on the president of Guinea-Bissau’s federation, Manual Nascimento (pictured), over “an incident of mob justice.”
Premier League ends in tears for Cherries and Hornets, as Villa and Man Utd make the cut
By Andrew Warshaw
July 27 – Total elation for some, utter heartbreak for others. The English Premier League season, behind closed doors since lockdown, wound up on Sunday with Manchester United and Chelsea securing places in the Champions League at Leicester’s expense and, at the other end, Watford and Bournemouth being relegated along with already doomed Norwich City.
New Covid cases compounds season-completion issues for La Liga’s second-tier
July 27 – Spain’s second tier has been thrown into further chaos after the fixture between Deportivo la Coruna and Fuenlabrada, the final game for both of them, was cancelled after an outbreak of Covid-19 cases at Fuenlabrada.
Slow to restart Juventus secure 9th Serie A title on the bounce
July 27 – Juventus have confirmed they are Europe’s most dominant team at home with a ninth consecutive Serie A crown after goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Federico Bernardeschi against Sampdoria clinched the league title.
FIFPro enters politics banning Ivory Coast for not supporting Drogba’s presidential push
July 27 – FIFPro has taken the highly unusual step of suspending its Ivory Coast member for not supporting the bid of Didier Drogba, the country’s most iconic player, to become the next president of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF).
Barking mad: Tanzania’s Yanga fire Belgian coach Eymael after racist rant
July 27 – Tanzanian top tier club Young Africans SC dismissed their Belgian head coach Luc Eymael (pictured) with immediate effect after he described the club’s fans as dogs and monkeys.
Leicester builds on its Thai commitments with one-year tourist board deal
July 27 – Leicester City have announced a one-season partnership with Tourism Authority of Thailand to launch the ‘Thailand Smiles With You’ campaign and promote the country as a tourist destination as it recovers from the effects of the pandemic.
Lauber resignation over Infantino meeting ‘lies’ ramps up pressure on FIFA boss
By Paul Nicholson
July 24 – Switzerland’s embattled Attorney General Michael Lauber has offered to resign after a Swiss court concluded he had lied to investigators regarding his office’s corruption probe into FIFA.
AFC boosts skill sets around protection of its growing commercial properties
July 24 – In a move to increase protection of its commercial rights, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has formed an Independent Working Group that will advise the AFC’s commercial and legal departments.
VAR gets its own performance review as Riley opens formal Premier League discussion on use
July 24 – English football’s refereeing boss Mike Riley (pictured) was presenting his eagerly awaited season review of the video assistant referee system today at a Premier League shareholders’ meeting.
Henderson beats van Dijk, Mane and de Bruyne to player of year award
July 24 – Liverpool’s Premier League title-winning captain Jordan Henderson has been named England’s footballer of the year in the annual award by the country’s football writers.
Covid-free Chinese teams will kick off reformatted CSL this weekend
July 24 – On Saturday, defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai Shenhua will finally kickstart this season’s Chinese Super League after a five month delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Serie A clubs to meet over the $2bn questions
July 25 – Italian clubs will progress discussions on potential venture capital investors in Serie A in meetings scheduled for next week.