February 20 – In a week where financial cheating and corruption have again dominated sports headlines with the UEFA ban on Manchester City and the Swiss indictments surrounding FIFA’s media rights, SIGA’s conference in Rome which focussed on Anti-Corruption in Sport had an almost eerie-like timing.
February 21 – UEFA have been forced to apologise to hundreds of fans after a technical error meant tickets for Euro 2020 that should not have been on sale ended up being cancelled after being paid for.
February 21 – South Korea has postponed next week’s opening home matches for top-flight clubs Daegu FC and Pohang Steelers due to a surge of coronavirus virus cases.
February 21 – Germany’s Borussia Dortmund will have two shirt sponsors from the start of next season with telecoms company 1&1 taking over for the Bundesliga short position while long running partner Evonik take over for European and other competitions.
February 21 – In a significant move to break through footballing ethnic barriers, 17-year-old Ilija Ivic is set to become the first Serb-kosovan player to represent Kosovo having been named in the country’s under-19 squad.
February 21 – Tickets have gone on sale for what will be one of the oldest historical match-ups in world football history. Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest football club (founded in 1857) will play First Vienna Football Club 1894, the oldest club in Austria (founded in 1894) on June 1, the night before Austria host England in a pre-Euro warm-up.
February 21 – Sports News Television, SNTV, have struck a deal to manage the J League’s new international YouTube channel.
February 21 – Tunisia have become the latest country to officially submit a bid to host this year’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League final on May 29.
By Paul Nicholson
February 20 – The Swiss Attorney General has issued an indictment against the former FIFA secretary general Jerôme Valcke, the chairman of the BeIN Media Group, Nasser Al-Khelaifi (who is also president of PSG and a UEFA executive committee member), and an unnamed businessman.
February 20 – In a rare example of cost cutting among its highest-ranking officials, FIFA have scrapped plans to hold next month’s two-day session in South America and have told members not to travel.
By Paul Nicholson
February 20 – Sport must be given more power to protect its rights and commercial income from criminal piracy in any form, was the overriding demand from a panel at the World Congress on Global Leadership and Anti-corruption in Sport hoisted by SIGA in Rome.
February 20 – India have become the front runners to stage the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup following a recommendation by the continental governing body’s Women’s Football Committee.
February 20 – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has hit back at the president of his former club Barcelona over supporting UEFA’s two-year European ban imposed on the English champions.
February 20 – Everton have appointed construction firm Laing O’Rourke to build the club’s new £500 million, 52,000-seat stadium under a pre-construction services agreement.
February 20 – Spain’s women footballers have signed a historic first collective agreement over pay and conditions, after a battle for rights that led to an unprecedented strike in November.