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.
December 17 – Major League Soccer is set to announce Charlotte as the league’s 30th franchise for a record fee of $325 million.
December 16 – The loss of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) contract has knocked between €210-€240 million off the sales price of the Lagardère Sports.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 17 – Samson Siasia, the former Nigeria striker and manager of the Super Eagles, has accused the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) of failing to help him fight against the life ban imposed on him in August by FIFA, world football’s governing body, for match-fixing.
December 17 – Glasgow giants Celtic have been hit with €16,000 fine by UEFA after fans set off fireworks in their Europa League clash with Lazio in Rome.
December 17 – Arsenal and Everton are both hoping for new managers for Christmas with Mikel Arteta and Carlo Ancelotti respectively emerging as frontrunners.
December 16 – Olympic esports took a tentative step towards becoming a reality with the IOC suggesting that simulation games based on the actual sport (rather than ‘killer games’) could be included in the Olympic programme.
December 16 – Juventus have extended their Official Water deal with Chinese mineral water firm Ganten for another three years, taking them through to 2023.