January 23 – Michel Platini is back. The Frenchman and former UEFA president returns to the global stage as the personal advisor of FIFPro president Philippe Piat after having served a four-year ban from the game for the unjustified collection of €1.8 million from Joseph Blatter.
By Samindra Kunti
January 23 – Leading agents, including Mino Raiola, Jorge Mendes and Jonathan Barnett, have threatened FIFA with legal action over proposals to cut fees to the representatives of players and clubs involved in transfers.
January 23 – Football clubs worldwide splashed out a record $7.35 billion (€6.63 million) on transfers in the men’s game in 2019, according to the latest FIFA report.
January 23 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has invited war-torn Libya to replace Tunisia in the upcoming African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals in Cameroon.
January 23 – Energy drink giants Red Bull, which already owns clubs in Germany, Austria, the USA and Brazil, are now reportedly targeting Brøndby, one of Denmark’s biggest teams where there is fierce opposition to the move.
January 23 – The race by Europe’s clubs to establish a digital advantage and take ownership positions in potentially game-changing technologies has another new entrant.
January 23 – UEFA is tendering for solutions to fulfil four key technology service areas for its competitions from 2021, including men’s and women’s club and national team competitions.
January 22 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has carried out the draw for African 2022 World Cup qualifiers but at the same time announced that matches will now not start for another nine months. The big news from the draw itself is that either Cameroon or Ivory Coast will not qualify for the Qatar World Cup after the teams were paired together.
January 22 – Top-flight Spanish club Osasuna rigged matches over two seasons in an attempt to avoid relegation, a court heard on Tuesday in the latest match-fixing revelations to strike at the heart of European football.
January 22 – Saudi Arabia have become the first Asian country to qualify for the Olympic football tournament, alongside hosts Japan, after defeating reigning champions Uzbekistan 1-0 in the semi-finals of the AFC U-23 Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.
January 22 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has confirmed it is moving two Asian Champions League preliminary matches out of Iran to neutral venues because of security concerns, a move that has infuriated Iranian authorities.
January 22 – On the first day of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, FIFA president Gianni Infantino courted the US president thousands of miles away at a dinner during the World Economic Forum in Davos, expressing his hope that “the ‘American dream’ becomes reality…all over the world.”
January 22 – Qatar and FIFA have jointly published a comprehensive strategy covering sustainability ahead of the 2022 World Cup, including pledges on workers’ rights and environmental issues.
By Andrew Warshaw
Januuary 21 – No sooner have we entered a new decade than outspoken Spanish league boss Javier Tebas is back on the offensive, this time slamming proposals both for a revamped Champions League and FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup and renewing his attack on what he has long described as “financial doping”.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – As the Rolling Stones famously sung, it’s all over now. John Delaney (pictured), the flamboyant Irishman who strode European football’s corridors of power until being forced to resign as chief executive of his federation (FAI) 10 months ago, has finally given up his position on the UEFA Executive Committee.