By David Owen
January 8 – Arsenal, the North London club who have perked up recently under Mikel Arteta while remaining in the lower half of the Premier League table, are taking out a £120 million government loan to help them to navigate their way through the covid crisis.
January 8 – FIFA has broken new ground by announcing it will trial concussion substitutes at next year’s Club World Cup in Qatar.
January 8 – Real Madrid and former French international forward Karim Benzema will face trial for his alleged involvement in the attempted sex-tape blackmail of former teammate Mathieu Valbuena, prosecutors in Versailles have finally confirmed several years after the story broke.
January 8 – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter is recovering after being rushed to hospital, but his life is not in danger according to Swiss media.
January 8 – FIFA has stuck with traditional broadcast channels and in particular state-owned terrestrial channels with the award of the 2026 World Cup broadcast rights in each of the Nordic territories: DR and TV2 in Denmark, YLE and MTV in Finland, TV2 and NRK in Norway, and SVT and TV4 in Sweden.
January 8 – Tottenham Hotspur have unveiled a multi-year deal for their first sleeve sponsorship. Online car retail platform cinch will become the club’s Official Sleeve Partner, starting with this weekend’s matches.
January 8 – The head of the union representing English professional players says its members are potentially putting others at risk in the way they celebrate goals and has urged them to act sensibly amid a spike in Covid-19 cases that has led to a third nationwide lockdown.
January 8 – The mouth-watering FA Cup clash between Premier League clubs Aston Villa and Liverpool tonight has been hugely diluted because of a “significant” Covid-19 outbreak at the host club.
January 8 – Manchester United’s Uruguayan international striker Edinson Cavani was not intentionally racist in the Instagram post that brought him a three-match suspension.
January 8 – Cypriot top flight club Apollon FC are giving their fans the opportunity to vote on the club’s Puma kit for the 2021/22 season. Earlier this season the club gave the fans the chance to select the starting 11 for a friendly against Aris Limassol.
January 7 – The 2023 Asian Cup, the region’s flagship competition for national teams, will take place in China between June 16 and July 16 across 10 cities – its longest ever edition.
January 7 – Palmeiras and Santos are in control of their own destinies in the Copa Libertadores semi-finals after the Sao Paulo clubs successfully navigated tricky away legs in Argentina.
January 7 – Karel Van Eetvelt will leave Anderlecht as CEO on April 1 in a new boardroom shuffle at the heavily indebted Brussels-based club.
January 7 – Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford has topped a ranking of the player transfer values at €165 million, knocking PSG’s Kylian Mbappé (€149.4 million) off the top.
January 7 – The much-chronicled effects of coronavirus on the English Premier League is set to take its toll on the third round of the FA Cup – traditionally one of the highlights of the season – when the country’s top clubs join the competition this weekend.