By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
May 31 – In what is one of the more bizarre performance-related sackings of a top manager, irritable president of Egyptian club Zamalek Murtada Mansour fired Swiss coach Christian Gross soon after his side drew 1-1 against Al-Entag in an Egyptian Premier League tie on Thursday.
May 31 – Las Vegas will decide next week whether it will make a bid to be the 30th MLS franchise when its City Council meet to discuss a proposal for a downtown stadium.
May 31 – The expanded Concacaf League club tournament, the baby brother of Concacaf’s leading regional Champions League competition, has held the draw for its second edition in Guatemala.
May 30 – BeIN Sports will broadcast the Women’s World Cup after striking a deal with FIFA to air the tournament in more than 30 countries across Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
May 30 – Major League Soccer from the US and Mexico’s Liga MX have released details of their new Leagues Cup to be played between eight teams from the two leading professional leagues in the Concacaf region.
May 31 – The English Football League has extended its deal with the Carabao energy drink brand for a further two years.
May 30 – With FIFA’s ruling Council meeting in Paris on Monday, UEFA have been quick to bring their representation on the decision-making body up to its full quota of eight by electing veteran Frenchman Noel le Graet to replace the disgraced Reinhard Grindel.
By Samindra Kunti in Baku, Azerbaijan
May 30 – Chelsea demolished London rivals Arsenal to win the Europa League 4-1 after a soporific first-half and a 23-minute second-half onslaught that left Arsenal reeling and reflecting on a failed season. The North Londoners will miss out on Champions League football for a fourth consecutive season.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 30 – Supporters of African football chief Ahmad Ahmad are rallying around their under-fire president ahead of next week’s Confederation of African Football regional summit in Paris and the full FIFA Congress the following day.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 30 – Yet another high-profile former FIFA bigwig has been thrown out of the game, making a mockery of the suggestion that corruption is over among those who have served football’s world governing body.
May 30 – Just days before he takes his place among the great and the good (and not so good) of African football – if he turns up, that is – Nigerian FA chief Amaju Pinnick, a strong ally of FIFA president Gianni Infantino and a constant figure of controversy, has been ordered to appear in court on July 1 along with four colleagues to answer charges of alleged misappropriation of funds.
May 30 – Switzerland’s 20 first and second division clubs have unanimously turned their backs on much-publicised plans to overhaul the Champions League as fears over a split between leagues and clubs intensifies.
May 30 – Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Ahmad says a special committee has been set up to deal with security issues at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt next month.
By Paul Nicholson
May 30 – The European football business has never had it so good. Latest data from Deloittes puts the overall market value at a record €28.4 billion, driven primarily by a 6% rise in revenues across the increasingly dominant Big 5 European leagues and their ‘super’ clubs to €15.6 billion.
May 30 – The line-up for the Edinburgh Sports Conference, September 5-6 – titled ‘The Future of Football Transfers and Players’ Agents’ – will have Neymar Snr as one of its keynote attractions.