January 29 – The deadly coronavirus that started in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has killed over 130 people with 6,000 others affected has had an immediate effect on international football with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) changing the order of home matches to be played by Chinese clubs in the AFC Champions League group stage.
January 29 – ‘Clinical’ is a word often used by commentators about teams that make the most of their goal chances to win games. The CIES Football Observatory have translated that basic observation into a data model that measures team efficiency.
January 29 – Concacaf is using the Women’s Olympic qualifying tournament to reinforce its empowerment message with a series of immersive fan zone experiences and a collaboration with Girls Will Be.
January 28 – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is facing accusations of undermining the game’s oldest domestic cup competition in a row over whether English football’s first winter break is being fairly applied.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
January 28 – The fight of Musa Bility, the former Liberia FA President, to overturn his 10-year FIFA ban, at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), has taken a new turn, with both parties yet to agree on a hearing date for the appeal.
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – BeoutQ may have stopped satellite transmission but the issues of piracy and the Saudi Arabian support for the rogue broadcaster still remain. BeoutQ’s decoder boxes are still in circulation and providing illegal access to third-party IPTV pirate apps streaming stolen live sports content, including all the world’s major football competitions.
January 28 – Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower whose string of incriminating revelations shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, has now been named as the source of leaked documents about the business dealings of Africa’s richest woman.
January 28 – German top-flight club Eintracht Frankfurt have post-humously stripped their former president Rudolf Gramlich, who was in charge when they won their only league title in 1959 and the following year when they contested the European Cup final, of an honorary title after discovering his involvement with the Nazis before and during the Second World War.
January 28 – Italian giants AC Milan will open three academies in Kerala in a three-year agreement in collaboration with Calicut Sports City LLP, the club has announced.
January 28 – Amnesty International have criticised the potential £340 million purchase of Newcastle United by Saudi Arabian investment fund (PIF) – a vehicle of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman – saying the deal is “sportswashing, plain and simple.”
January 28 – Bookmaker Paddy Power is continuing its ‘unsponsor’ campaign by taking its branding off tomorrow’s League Two match between Newport County and Macclesfield Town – now tagged as Paddy Power’s second ‘Unsponsored Derby’ as part of its ‘Save Our Shirt’ campaign.
January 28 – FOX Sports in the US have swept up a premium package of broadcast rights from Concacaf including the Women’s Olympic Qualifiers that kick off tonight with Costa Rica vs Panama and the US vs Haiti.
By David Owen
January 27 – Holders Kárpátalja face a typically eclectic group as they bid to win a second consecutive World Football Cup later this year in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje.
January 27 – The annual talks of a sale of Newcastle United by owner Mike Ashley have begun again with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) this time round being the buying party for £340 million.
January 27 – South Korea won the final of the AFC U23 Championship with a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia after defeating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final in Thailand with a goal in extra-time from Jeong Tae-uk.