By Osasu Obayiuwana
August 20 – With 24 hours to FIFA’s August 21 deadline – for the 54 nations of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to sign an “irrevocable” mandate, giving the world governing body the exclusive power to sell their media and marketing rights for the 2022 and 2026 World Cup qualifiers – it appears that the continent has fallen in line with the demand.
August 20 – The Belgian FA (KBVB) has denied that it will bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup after FIFA announced that the Belgians had expressed an interest in staging the 32-team tournament.
No sooner has the video assistant referee system been implemented in the Premier League after two years of experimentation than there has been an outcry over whether it is being used properly – or in fact whether it should be employed at all.
August 20 – The Nigeria Football Federation is standing by its former national coach Samson Siasia saying it is “shocked” by the life ban for bribery meted out by FIFA and vowing to help overturn it.
August 20 – The demise of one of the most iconic clubs in English football who were in the Premier League only seven years ago has taken another damaging turn with Bolton Wanderers forced to postpone tonight’s match against Doncaster Rovers in the third-tier League One.
August 20 – Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has become the third player in a week to be the subject of racist abuse on social media in England after missing a penalty.
August 20 – In a move to combat age fraud, the Indian FA (AIFF) is introducing an app to build a database of youth players.
August 20 – AC Milan launched their mobile app with the a live stream of their pre-season friendly against Cesena last Saturday with dual language commentary in Italian and English.
August 20 – Online betting firms are mopping up last minute club sponsorships as the European season kicks off with French bookmaker Betclic partnering with Poland’s Lechia Gdansk, and VfL Bochum 1848 of the 2. Bundesliga becoming the first German betting partner of Stockholm based operator LeoVegas.
August 20 – LaLiga’s Real Betis has secured a three-year shirt sponsorship with foreign exchange broker easyMarkets, who take over from Green Earth, an environmentally-friendly cryptocurrency company.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 19 – European clubs have re-iterated their opposition to the current format of the Champions League but have welcomed UEFA’s decision to postpone a summit meeting between all stakeholders that had been scheduled for September 11.
August 19 – Three people were killed and 10 injured, three critically, in rioting between fans of bitter rival clubs in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, at the weekend.
August 19 – The Guinea Football Federation (Feguifoot) has slapped a life ban on the country’s former Belgian coach Paul Put and issued a seven-year suspension on the federation’s vice president, Amadou Diaby.
August 19 – Chelsea fans are once again back in the spotlight all the wrong reasons after their own striker Tammy Abraham was racially abused online following last week’s Super Cup defeat to Liverpool when he missed the decisive penalty in the shootout.
August 19 – The US women’s national team may hold the attention and hearts of the nation but their women’s professional league has never enjoyed anything like the same profile. A new deal with ESPN could be a step towards changing that.