December 21 – A record audience of more than 3.5 billion people watched this year’s World Cup in Russia, with the final between France and Croatia attracting 1.12 billion viewers, according to FIFA.
December 21 – Greek football, which lurches from one crisis to another, is back in the doldrums with all Super League games scheduled for this weekend suspended after referees went on strike following a “cowardly attack” on one of their colleagues outside his house.
December 21 – Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have been fined a total of £95,000 for failing to control their players during this month’s hotly contested Premier League derby.
December 21 – A fresh player power dispute is making headlines in France where Paris St Germain are refusing to select midfielder Adrien Rabiot for “disrespecting” the club by refusing to sign a new contract.
December 21 – Jadon Sancho, Kylian Mbappé and Raheem Sterling head al list of players whose market value increased most in the past four months, according to data from KPMG Football Benchmark.
December 21 – The Chinese FA has slapped a comprehensive set of financial controls on its Super League and professional clubs covering money that can be spent owners on their teams, player salaries and even player bonuses for winning competitions.
December 21 – A US investor has taken a controlling stake in Scottish Championship side Dundee United in a deal estimated to be worth £1 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – German football boss and FIFA Council member Reinhard Grindel has renewed his attack on the FIFA leadership and Gianni Infantino in person saying Infantino is fuelling international prejudice against his own organisation over his controversial plans to reshape the landscape of world football,
December 20 – India were the first team to arrive for the 24-nation Asian Cup when they landed today in Abu Dhabi and were greeted with a fervent reception from their supporters thanks to the staggering 3.3 million Indian community who live in the United Arab Emirates.
December 20 – Despite a pre-match appeal to both sets of supporters following a number of high-profile cases of discrimination in recent weeks, police are investigating an incident that saw Tottenham Hotspur’s England midfielder Dele Alli struck on the head by a plastic bottle during their 2-0 League Cup quarterfinal win against arch-rivals Arsenal on Wednesday.
December 20 – After travelling nearly 25,000kms across Asia, the new Asian Cup trophy has finally landed in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, one of the four host cities of the region’s pinnacle tournament that starts early next month.
December 20 – After weeks of conjecture about whether he is back in favour, Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, has finally thrown in the towel at the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU).
December 20 –Germany’s DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga has agreed a broadcast deal with the ProSiebenSat.1 Group to air the federation’s new launch eFootball VBL Club Championship.
December 18 – Wolves are more likely to win maximum league points if Diogo Jota is in the starting line-up than if he isn’t. The same for Chelsea if Ross Barklay and/or Pedro Rodriguez starts.
December 20 – Major League Soccer is revamping its playoff format from next season to include more teams in the post season MLS Cup and end the season nearly a month earlier.