February 18 – Former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, now FIFA’s head of global development, is pushing for the offside rule to be tweaked in time for this summer’s Euro 2020 finals in response to a spate of VAR controversies this season.
February 18 – KAA Gent has signed up to the Belgian broadcast deal with Eleven Sports, leaving Antwerp as the only club to oppose the agreement for the country’s domestic TV rights.
February 18 – India has confirmed the host cities for the U-17 Women’s World Cup in November. Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium will host the final with Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Kolkata serving as other host cities.
February 18 – FIFA is investigating suspected match-fixing in Myanmar’s 7-0 defeat in a World Cup qualifier last year.
February 18 – Football-related racism doesn’t usually hit the United States but FC Cincinnati head coach Ron Jans (pictured) has resigned in the wake of an incident in which he is accused of making “extremely inappropriate comments”.
February 19 – Morocco has become the first African country to use VAR in a top-flight league game.
February 19 – Tottenham Hotspur’s South Korean international forward Son Heung-min has fractured his arm and could miss the rest of the season, a crushing blow to last season’s Champions League finalists who are already without long-term injury victim Harry Kane.
By David Owen
February 18 – Wolverhampton Wanderers, the famous old Midlands club currently engaged on their first European campaign in almost four decades, have reported a rebound to profitability for their first season back in the Premier League.
By Paul Nicholson in Rome
February 18 – Money confiscated from the prosecution of sport crime should be returned to sport, says Franco Frattini, Justice and Chamber President to the Italian Supreme Administrative Court and the leading judge tackling mafia and organised crime in Italy.
When two [or more] elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers” – African proverb.
When FIFA, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and the OFC were brought to their knees, in 2015, as a result of the financial scandals that exposed shocking levels of graft and maladministration in the game, informed watchers of the African football landscape always wondered when the continent’s inevitable moment of reckoning would come, as it was virtually unscathed during this tumultuous period.
February 18 – In 2021, Japan will replace their existing women’s Nadeshiko League with a fully-professional league that will require one female executive at each club.
February 18 – Another Premier League fixture, another headline-making VAR controversy, this time in favour of Manchester United after not one, but two Chelsea ‘goals’ were ruled out in Monday’s high-profile clash in the race for the top four.
February 18 – FC Barcelona have lurched from one crisis to the next this season. The latest controversy is over local media reports that the Catalan giants contracted the services of I3 Ventures, a social media company, to damage the reputations of key players, including Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique.
February 18 – First it was hotly rumoured, then it picked up steam – and now it’s confirmed. Spain’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Iker Casillas has announced his intention to run for the presidency of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) against the present incumbent Luis Rubiales.
February 18 – The world players’ union FIFPro has come out in support for players or teams who walk off the pitch due to racism following the abuse suffered by Porto forward Moussa Marega (pictured) at the hands of opposing fans during a Portuguese league match on Sunday.