January 2 – An English Championship game was briefly halted on Wednesday as discrimination at football fixtures, which marred much of 2019, occurred again just two days into the new year.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 31 – Football’s law-makers have hit back at criticism of VAR by English football experts, saying the problem lies directly at the feet of the Premier League for not applying the rule correctly.
December 31 – The vice-president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has been charged with fraud in the latest corruption scandal to besmirch the federation.
December 31 – The debt-ridden Football Association of Ireland’s (FAI) existence is reported to be under threat because of long-term financial mismanagement.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola declared the VAR system a “big mess” on Sunday after a weekend that witnessed a plethora of ever more baffling rulings being judged on a series of screens often hundreds of miles away from the action.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – Four English top-flight teams go into 2020 with new men at the helm after the managerial merry-go-round moved into full swing over Christmas.
By Paul Nicholson
December 30 – China has announced ten cities that will host the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) flagship Asian Cup in 2023. Beijing will be the lead city.
December 30 – Seven players from Eritrea’s national football team disappeared following the end of the Cecafa Cup in Uganda earlier this month, according to tournament spokesman Rogers Mulindwa. Police continue their search for the players.
December 30 – US investors buying European clubs has become commonplace but European investors moving into the US to acquire a stake in club soccer is not.
December 30 – The Chinese Super League has introduced a salary cap of £2 million a year, a move that will redraw clubs’ transfer policies and spending. Domestic players will be allowed to earn a maximum of £1.1 million a year.
December 30 – A Moroccan referee has been banned for life for awarding four highly questionable penalties, three of them for the same team, in a domestic league match.
December 30 – A Spanish second division match abandoned at half-time after Rayo Vallecano fans chanted that Albacete’s Ukrainian forward Roman Zozulya (pictured) was a ‘Nazi’ is to resume behind closed doors.
December 30 – Scottish giants Rangers have announced a new partnership with American USL side Orange County SC involving player exchanges between the pair.
December 29 – Roma, Basel, Man City, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Olympique Lyonais lead the club branded qualifiers for the FIFA eClub World Cup 2020 finals to be be played February 7-9.
By David Owen
December 30 – Brazilian footballers were more likely to be sanctioned for anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) than those of any other nationality, according to statistics relating to samples collected in 2017 made public this month by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).