January 8 – A player valuation ranking by the CIES Football Observatory makes Kylian Mbappé (France and Paris St-Germain) the world’s most valuable player at €265.2 million, with Man City and England’s Raheem Sterling at €223.7 million.
January 8 – Iraq and Australia kicked off the AFC U-23 Championship in Thailand with a 1-1 draw today. At press time, hosts Thailand were playing Bahrain. The 16 teams are playing for three slots at this summer’s Tokyo Olympic Games.
January 8 – Sunderland owner Stewart Donald (pictured) has confirmed via a statement on the club website that he will sell the League One club after mounting pressure from supporters over the holiday period demanding he leave. Donald has been in ownership charge for 18-months.
January 8 – George Weah, Liberia’s most decorated player who now runs the country, is facing the biggest crisis of either his footballing or political career.
By Paul Nicholson
January 8 – Olympique Lyonnais (OL) are the latest European Big 5 league club to formalise and expand its professional e-sports operation to compete under the club’s name on a variety of game platforms as well as the FIFA platform.
January 8 – Second-tier Spanish side Malaga have suspended their coach Victor Sanchez del Amo (pictured) after a sexually explicit video of him appeared on social media.
January 8 – Premier League Manchester City has unveiled a new global partnership with consumer appliances manufacturer Midea.
January 8 – Amanda Duffy (pictured) will step down as president of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States next month to become executive vice president of the Orlando Pride.
January 7 – The revamped Spanish Super Cup gets under way in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday but few Spanish fans have made the trip amid heightened political tensions in the region and mounting criticism of the tournament being held in another Continent in a country long condemned for its human rights record.
January 7 – Liverpool have formally announced that Nike will become the club’s official supplier from the start of the next season when the current New Balance deal ends.
January 7 – An alleged case of racist abuse that led to England’s Professional Footballers’ Association calling for a government inquiry into discrimination has not been proven, prompting concerns that players may refrain from reporting such incidents in the future.
January 7 – Flamengo’s new year has began under a storm cloud. The Brazilian giants have not yet reached a rights agreement with TV Globo about the upcoming Rio state championship and, on Monday, Flamengo dismissed their director of football Paulo Pelaipe.
January 7 – The University of East Anglia have intensified research into the link between football and dementia with a £1 million study that will test former players for early signs of the disease.
January 7 – Serie A’s Fiorentina have set a blockchain-meets-football first with each of the club’s playing shirts to be inserted with a dedicated chip that can be tracked and will prevent counterfeiting.
January 7 – Celtic midfielder Ryan Christie has been slapped with a ban after being found guilty of grabbing Rangers’ Colombian forward Alfredo Morelos by the genitals during the recent derby between Scotland’s two rival Glasgow giants.