December 19 – Football’s complicated and often fragile diplomacy in middle east is often a tightrope walk. AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa (pictured left) was back in the UAE this week to meet with the UAE FA Transitional committee, sworn in last weekend after an emergency meeting following the resignation of the Federation’s Board of Directors.
December 19 – Barcelona and Real Madrid drew 0-0 at Camp Nou in El Clásico that failed to live up to its name on the pitch but delivered fierce clashes off it. The hosts remain top of La Liga on goal difference, but the game was overshadowed by cries for Catalan independence and violence outside the stadium, injuring 46 people.
December 19 – The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has requested an €18 million bailout from the Irish government amid the financial meltdown that is threatening to bankrupt the governing body.
December 19 – Eighteen players from the current Belgian squad have enrolled in a custom-made coaching course, devised by the Belgian FA (KBVB) to develop their footballing know how and enhance their coaching prospects.
December 19 – Coca-Cola has compounded the controversy of the Italian Super Cup to be played between Juventus and Lazio on December 22 in Saudi Arabia, by becoming the event’s title sponsor.
December 18 – Manchester City has launched a dedicated channel on YouTube Kids, the first football club to do so. The channel will feature City-themed children’s content aimed at an under 12 audience.
December 18 – Serie A has apologised in the wake of the furore over imagery of monkeys being used in artwork for their anti-racism campaign.
December 18 – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, in Qatar for the Club World Cup, says he’s not the right person to talk about human rights in the country and whether it fit to host global tournaments.
By Paul Nicholson
December 17 – The Liverpool bubble was dramatically burst last night as Aston Villa spanked a young team 5-0 in the quarter finals of the EFL League Cup and in front of 30,000+ fans at Villa Park, 4,000 of them travelling Liverpool fans.
December 18 – UEFA has issued tenders covering its club competition licenses in the areas of video games and esports, as well as for the creation of a number of UEFA-branded products.
December 18 – Hong Kong fans jeered the Chinese national anthem as the political turmoil that has gripped the former British colony once again spilled over into football.
December 18 – A data analysis of MVPs in clubs in Europe’s Big 5 leagues for the season to date shows Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi as again being their clubs key players so far. But the lists also throw up some less well known names.
December 17 – LaLiga is striking at the heart of English Premier League broadcast territory with the country’s first dedicated football channel on the SkyTV platform.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 17 – Why now? It’s a question many are pondering after FIFA on Monday confirmed reports last week that it is filing a civil lawsuit against veteran former president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA president Michel Platini to recover the CHF 2 million paid to Platini in 2011 on Blatter’s authority, which led to long bans for both of them.
December 17 – Less than three weeks after Serie A clubs in Italy pledged collectively to combat the “serious problem” of racism, further criticism has rained down from anti-discriminatory bodies following a totally ill-judged campaign featuring paintings of apes.