June 17 – A six-month ban meted out to Egypt’s top referee Gehad Grisha has been overturned amid the ongoing chaos and inconsistency within Africa’s football administration.
In the three decades I’ve covered African football, I have gone through the entire gamut of emotions: exhilaration – over some of the continent’s great moments at the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup; frustration – over the comedic errors our football governors repeatedly make; and deep despair, as one continually questions whether the custodians of a game that means so much, to Africa’s one billion people, will ever live up to their responsibilities and do their darned jobs diligently.
By Paul Nicholson
June 15 – It would not be a major football tournament these days if it wasn’t being stolen for television by a Saudi-based broadcaster. The country that doesn’t allow women in its stadiums is nevertheless taking the women’s World Cup so seriously that it is allowing the piracy of every game from France 2019 on the beoutQ channels.
June 17 – After just one season in charge, Maurizio Sarri has formally left Chelsea to return home and take over as Serie A champions Juventus, it was officially announced after weeks of reports that a deal was being concluded.
By Samindra Kunti in Rio de Janeiro
June 17 – Brazil kicked off the Copa America with a subdued 3-0 win against Bolivia. High tickets prices led to many empty seats during the opening weekend which saw Argentina’s misery continue with a 2-0 defeat by Colombia and Asian champions Qatar battle back to draw 2-2 with Paraguay.
June 14 – Zvonimir Boban, Gianni Infantino’s personal adviser and a member of the FIFA president’s closely guarded inner circle, has quit after just two years to return to AC Milan as the club’s chief football officer.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 14 – Amaju Pinnick, the most senior official in African football behind under-fire supremo Ahmad Ahmad, has blasted Nigerian authorities for attempting to push him out of office, insisting he will stand his ground and not give in to “sociopaths”.
June 14 – The CEO of Italy’s Serie A has issued a powerful endorsement of beIN Sports in its battle against the copyright theft of Saudi Arabian-based BeoutQ that has been stealing the Qatari broadcasters’ live broadcasts and retransmitting on its own networks.
By Samindra Kunti in Rio de Janeiro
June 14 – Brazil and Bolivia will kick off the Copa America tonight in a tournament that anyone could win but which has failed to generate much interest in the host nation so far.
June 14 – UEFA has officially unveiled its new Over The Top (OTT) streaming platform – UEFA.tv – a bespoke platform built for the governing body that will be a mix of archive content and current UEFA competitions.
June 14 – Strikers top the latest transfer valuations of players in the five leading European leagues with PSG’s Kylian Mbappe now estimated to be worth a staggering €252 million, though his Brazilian teammate Neymar having lost more than 40% of his value dropping to €124.7 million.
June 14 – Most clubs whose head coach manages to win one of UEFA’s two European club trophies in his first season as well as finish third in the domestic league would consider that a resounding success.
June 14 – AFDP Global, the international social enterprise set up to use football as a tool for change in deprived communities, has welcomed FIFA’s ground-breaking move to ban former Afghan FA president Keramuudin Karim for life for sexual abuse.
June 14 – Arsenal have signed VBET as the club’s Official Betting and Gaming Partner in a partnership, which will run until 2022.
June 14 – Aston Villa, £170 million play-off winners, have moved swiftly to sign their first sleeve sponsor. Asian betting firm BR88 will take the position in a one-year deal.