By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – Everyone was appalled by the headline-making events in Sofia recently when England’s black players were verbally abused by a section of the Bulgarian fans.
October 21 – Racism has once more marred Italian football. This time Sampdoria and England U-21 midfielder Ronaldo Vieira was the target of monkey chants from AS Roma fans.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – In another strategic move to preserve football’s geo-political status quo, UEFA have decided to keep apart Russia and Kosovo in European competition because of “security risks”.
October 21 – FIFA is expected to confirm China this week as host for its 24-team Club World Cup in 2021, overcoming opposition from Europe. The revamped tournament will provide the Zurich-based body with a new revenue stream.
By David Owen
October 21 – India’s Reliance Industries is mulling bidding for Indian streaming rights for the English Premier League and other top-notch sports competitions in future. Nita Ambani, a Reliance board member, told the Financial Times: “I would be very interested to get the digital rights of some of these games to be shown on digital in India.”
October 21 – Another weekend, another raging VAR controversy, this time surrounding Liverpool’s high-profile globally televised fixture at Manchester United on Sunday with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp declaring the way the technology is being used in England does not make “too much sense”.
By Samindra Kunti
October 18 – At last, Indian football has a roadmap. After years of dragging its feet the Indian governing body, AIFF has presented a plan to establish a single league by the 2024-25 season.
October 18 – Conmebol has proposed the format for South American qualification route for the revamped club World Cup in 2021, but has met opposition to the proposal from heavyweight regional giant.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 18 – No final decision on the format to revamp the Champions League post-2024 will be taken for at least a year but a closed shop competition is a “no go” area, according to the head of the umbrella body representing Europe’s major leagues.
October 18 – Senegal has denied reports of age-cheating after announcing their 21-man squad for the Under-17 World Cup in Brazil later this month.
October 18 – British politicians from across all parties are urging UEFA to ban teams who do not tackle racism effectively, following Monday’s highly publicised incidents in Sofia when England played Bulgaria.
October 18 – English Premier League clubs have been reassured there are no plans to strip them of their fourth automatic Champions League place.
October 18 – This month’s El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid has been called off because of fears of civil unrest just 24 hours after reports suggested that Spanish football chiefs would reject reversing the two league fixtures between the clubs.
October 18 – Bulgarian police have made six arrests in the aftermath of Monday’s Euro 2020 qualifier against England, which was twice halted for racist chanting and Nazi salutes and led to the Bulgarian football president, Borislav Mihaylov, resigning 24 hours later.
October 17 – South Korea’s players say their World Cup qualifier against North Korea in Pyongyang was physically brutal and included abusive language.