UEFA wants to add Nations League Qatar 2022 qualification route
December 5 – UEFA wants to tweak the qualifying process for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, allowing a pathway via the Nations League to reach the global finals.
Lagardere in African limbo as CAF contract dispute heads for Swiss courts
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 5 – The consequences of the decision of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to terminate its $1 billion, 12-year marketing contract with Lagardere Sports (LS) continue to reverberate at the French company, with staff of its Africa Division uncertain of their future.
East Africa’s Cecafa Cup reduced to nine teams as nations withdraw
December 5 – East Africa’s flagship competition the Cecafa Cup will kick off with a depleted participants field after South Sudan, DR Congo and Ethiopia all withdrew from the competition.
Mediapro take UEFA court over TV deal-making with beIN and Canal Plus
December 5 – Spanish TV group Mediapro are taking UEFA to court for allegedly altering submission bids for the Champions League for 2021-2024 in favour of France’s Canal Plus and Middle East broadcasting giant beIN Sports.
Expanded 2020 Copa America draw pitches Aussies with Argentina and Qatar with Brazil
December 5 – The draw for the 2020 Copa America, held in the Colombian city of Cartagena, has drawn Argentina with Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and invitees Australia. In the other group reigning champions Brazil and co-hosts Colombia were paired with Peru, Equador, Venezuela and Asian champions Qatar.
Egyptian giants Ahly to switch stadiums while they wait for new sports complex
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 5 – Cairo club Ahly have announced that they will now be staging their matches at the Al Salam stadium.
PAOK’s gun-slinging owner Savvidis in new shoot-out over report he also owns Xanthi
By Paul Nicholson
December 4 – A club ownership storm has broken in Greece linking controversial Russian-Greek oligarch Ivan Savvidis to control of two clubs in the Greek Super League.
Who sets Africa’s agenda? Its elected leaders? Or Europeans?
“We must find an African solution to our problems” – Kwame Nkrumah (Prime Minister of Ghana, 1957-1966)
Anyone with an acute sense of history will remember how, in the late 1980s, the master-servant relationship between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Western financial institutions, on the one hand, and financially troubled African nations on the other, led to the imposition of flawed ‘Structural Adjustment Programmes’ (SAP) that devastated the economies of the countries that borrowed money under these onerous SAP terms and conditions.
Ooredoo connects for local sponsorship of Club World Cup
December 4 – Qatari telecoms company Ooredoo has become a local sponsor of the Club World Cup which kicks off on December 11 in Doha, Qatar.
PSG and beIN chief Al-Khelaifi meets Swiss prosecutors again over World Cup TV deals
December 4 – Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the president of Paris St. Germain and boss of beIN Sport Media, has been questioned for a second time by Swiss federal prosecutors as he seeks to have a two-year investigation into allegations he bribed the man who was once FIFA’s second most senior official dismissed.
FIFA bans Afghan official for failure to report sexual abuse
December 4 – FIFA has banned a third senior Afghanistan football official implicated in a sexual abuse scandal.
Ceferin says more will be done to fight racism but warns Boris to look closer to home
By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has re-iterated his long-held view that more needs to be done to combat racism in European football following an unwelcome resurgence of discrimination across the Continent, from Bulgaria to Italy.
IFAB rule makers want deeper dive on concussion thinking and better VAR communication
December 4 – Concussion substitutes, improving player behaviour and tweaks to VAR were among the topics discussed when the International Football Association Board (IFAB) held its Annual Business Meeting (ABM) in Belfast, Tuesday.
Juve and Socios.com launch $JUV fan token with a song
December 4 – Juventus fans are being given the opportunity to vote on the new goal celebration song that will be played when their team score at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
Qatar’s Afif and Japan’s Kumagai take top AFC Awards
By Paul Nicholson in Hong Kong
December 2 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) crowned their top players and highest performing member associations at a glittering Hong Kong awards ceremony last night that fused modern and traditional Hong Kong with a celebration of the best of Asian football.