February 26 – French-trained players dominate a ranking of players who dribble the most in the Big-5 Leagues but Lionel Messi is still the master with the ball at his feet and tops the ranking over the past year.
February 26 – Sports technology innovator Fantastec has launched an app for Arsenal fans aloowung them to own and trade genuine digital Arsenal collectibles.
February 26 – Ticket sales for the U-20 FIFA World Cup began on Monday as Visa cardholders got an exclusive window to apply for matches at the first-ever FIFA competition to be staged in Poland.
February 26 – So much for a mere misunderstanding. Chelsea’s Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has been fined a week’s wages and apologised for refusing to be substituted during Sunday’s English League Cup final defeat by Manchester City, an incident which made global headlines.
February 25 – The high-profile trial of Sandro Rosell, the former Barcelona strongman who is accused of money laundering related to television rights and sponsorship of the Brazilian national football team, finally got under way today with Spanish prosecutors seeking an 11-year prison sentence plus a fine of nearly €60 million.
February 25 – Yet another country has been stripped of hosting rights but this time it is not a regional competition but, unusually, FIFA’s very own under-17 World Cup due to be staged in just eight months’ time.
February 25 – Brazilian elite football has adopted VAR for the upcoming 2019 season after a unanimous vote in favour of the video review technology. Next year the Supercup will be reintroduced, but a measure to limit teams to firing one coach per season was rejected.
February 25 – The end of an era in Russian football has been confirmed with Alexander Dyukov, chief executive of oil giant Gazprom, named as Vitaly Mutko’s replacement as president of the Russian Football Union (RFU).
February 25 – Beach Soccer Worldwide, organisers of FIFA’s Beach Soccer World Cup, have signed LaLiga as an Official Global Partner until the end of the 2020/2021 season.
February 25 – Australian club Western United’s decision to not incorporate ‘Melbourne’ in its name could cost Football Federation Australia (FFA) A$5 million in annual TV rights as Fox Sports seeks to challenge its obligation to increase future payments for the broadcasting deal.
February 25 – Malaysia, Singapore, Solomon Islands and Oman will compete in the inaugural Airmarine 2019 Cup in Malaysia in March.
February 25 – Have you ever seen anything like it? That was the widespread reaction to the extraordinary scenes that marked the climax of Sunday’s English League Cup final won by Manchester City, who retained the trophy on penalties following a goalless draw with Chelsea.
February 25 – Germany and Russia are going head-to-head for the hosting of the 2021 Champions League finals with Munich and St Petersburg as the candidate cities.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 22 – The former head of women’s football in Afghanistan says she would be killed if she ever returned to the country for lifting the lid on the abuse of women players.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 22 – Big-spending Chelsea, in the headlines for much of the season for all the wrong reasons, have been slapped with a two-window transfer ban by FIFA and fined CHF600,000 after being found guilty of illegally signing no fewer than 29 under-age foreign players.