By David Owen
April 29 – New broadcasting deals enabled the Football Association to bounce back into profit while boosting investments in the English game by almost 30% to £165.6 million during the year to end-July 2019.
April 29 – The seemingly on-off Swiss prosecution of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi (pictured), boss of beIN Media and president of Paris St Germain, has taken further twists this week with Swiss justice saying he will be tried in court in September. Al-Khelaïfi’s lawyers had already filed a request for the removal of ‘compromised’ federal prosecutors, as well as filing their own criminal complaint.
April 29 – After prolongated negotiations, American investment group Pacific Media Group (PMG) has become the new owner of struggling KV Oostende.
April 29 – FIFA’s chief medical expert has warned countries against resuming their seasons too early because of Covid-19 and believes it makes far more sense to prepare fully for next season instead.
April 29 – Players from the European Union will have to go through a points-based system similar to that which currently applies to non-EU footballers before being allowed to play in the English Premier League under new proposals caused by Brexit.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 28 – Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber is facing calls for his resignation amidst accusations that the entire Swiss criminal justice system has been undermined over the botched 2006 World Cup tax fraud investigation. The case briefly came to trial following a five-year investigation but has now controversially collapsed.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 28 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino is once again facing allegations of wrongdoing in his dealings with Switzerland’s under-fire attorney general Michael Lauber over a tv rights contract he handled when he worked as UEFA’s legal affairs director.
April 28 – When it comes to standing on wallets UEFA clearly has a much bigger one than FIFA. Hours after FIFA announced a $150 million Covid-19 support package for its 211 member associations, UEFA trumped them by more than $85 million, releasing €236.5 million to help its 55 member associations.
April 28 – As a fourth English top-flight team, Tottenham Hotspur, opened part of their training ground for light exercises on an individual basis, plans to resume the Premier League season are being stepped up in what has been labelled ‘Project Restart’.
April 28 – LaLiga will have more flexibility in negotiating its broadcast deals following the Spanish government’s scrapping of a three-year licensing restriction on TV rights contracts.
April 28 – Teams will be able to use up to five substitutes instead of the usual three under a new “temporary dispensation” proposal from FIFA to help with congested schedules and player overload.
April 28 – Argentina has become the latest country to cancel its domestic league as a consequence of the global health crisis.
April 28 – The importance of scoring the first goal is highlighted in a 92-league analysis by the CIES Football Observatory that found the team scoring first generally goes on to win in about 70% of matches.
April 28 – Liverpool’s projected £60 million expansion of their Anfield Road stadium is being placed on hold for at least a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
April 28 – Following a meeting of EU leaders and government ministers in charge of sport, SIGA chairman Franco Frattini and CEO Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros have written an Open Letter to the meeting participants encouraging them to ensure sports integrity is part of the package of support that the EU is planning to provide to member states.