By Andrew Warshaw
May 29 – It won’t look the same, it won’t feel the same. But the millions for whom football is the best possible drug to lift spirits during the Covid-19 crisis will be delighted by the news.
By David Owen
May 29 – Three words: Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The young defender’s big-money transfer to Manchester United on the penultimate day of Crystal Palace’s 2018-19 financial year was responsible almost entirely for carrying the Eagles back into the black after recording the biggest pre-tax loss of any of the 20 clubs comprising English football’s top tier in 2017-18.
By Paul Nicholson
May 29 – The Chinese Football Association (CFA) have slashed 11 clubs from their professional leagues, while five others have withdrawn from professional football, including last season’s Chinese Super League (CSL) side Tianjin Tianhai.
May 29 – Reports in Africa suggest next year’s African Cup of Nations may be in jeopardy because of the Covid-19 outbreak, a further blow to hosts Cameroon.
By Samindra Kunti
May 29 – Anderlecht have reshuffled their boardroom yet again in a bid to halt the club’s dramatic, recent slide. Wouter Vandenhaute steps in as Anderlecht’s new chairman and with former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany becoming an investor in the club.
May 29 – Scotland’s 42 senior clubs are in discussions about a temporary revamp that envisages three enlarged divisions of 14 clubs each for the next two years to replace the current 12-10-10-10 version.
By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
May 29 – Zamalek’s controversial president Murtada Mansour has proclaimed his club as ‘African club of the century’, 20 years after Al-Ahly were officially given the moniker by African governing body CAF.
May 29 – Paraguay has become the first South American country to announce an imminent return of the game with the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) releasing a schedule for the opening of the Paraguayan Championship ‘Apertura’ on July 17 and training sessions allowed from as early as June 10.
May 29 – Italy’s Serie A will return on June 29 in the country hit hardest in Europe in the early weeks of the Covid-19 outbreak.
May 29 – With Europe’s major leagues all stepping up plans to restart their seasons in the coming weeks, the exception is France which has not been lost on the country’s influential daily sports paper l’Equipe.
By Paul Nicholson
May 28 – Real Madrid are still the most valuable club in the world, ahead of Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, according to latest figures in the KPMG Football Benchmark 2020 club evaluation report that looks at the 50 elite clubs in European leagues.
May 28 – In the next step towards the season getting back on track, Premier League clubs have unanimously voted to start contact training, including tackling, despite four more positive Covid-19 results at three different clubs, albeit from over 1,000 tests.
May 28 – The Spanish football federation (RFEF) has given the green light for matches to be played on Mondays and Fridays when La Liga returns in order to allow the season to finish.
May 28 – Football Federation Australia (FFA), A-League clubs and the players’ union have unveiled plans to resume the country’s premier league from mid-July, but proposals could be derailed depending on domestic broadcaster Fox Sports’ position on TV rights.
May 28 – The final AFC spot at the Tokyo 2020 women’s Olympic tournament will now be decided in February 2021 over a two-legged play-off between China and South Korea.