By Andrew Warshaw
May 22 – Gianni Infantino’s hopes of expanding the Qatar World Cup to 48 teams have been dealt a crushing blow with FIFA announcing it has ditched the idea – exactly two weeks before it was due to be debated by the organisation’s entire global membership.
By Paul Nicholson
May 22 – Italian competition regulators have ruled that Serie A missed out on international broadcast revenue because agents MP & Silva, B4 Capital and IMG fixed the acquisition price of the rights from the league over three rights cycles from 2008 to 2017.
May 22 – The decision by Arsenal’s Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan not to travel to Baku in Azerbaijan to play in the Europa League final against Chelsea on May 29 has been described by the Azerbaijan FA (AFFA) as an “unwarranted decision”.
May 22 – LaLiga president Javier Tebas, who first applied the phrase “financial doping” to football to describe how the likes of Manchester City and Paris St Germain allegedly attempt to flout UEFA’s financial fair play rules, is back on the attack, repeating his stance that both should be kicked out of European competitions if found guilty of violations.
May 22 – Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool have taken action over fans trying to sell on Champions League tickets at inflated prices amid fears that thousands of ticketless supporters will converge on Madrid for the final on June 1.
May 22 – Angola have pulled out of the Cosafa Cup, the regional tournament for southern Africa that is due to begin Saturday – the second country to do so after Madagascar, throwing the competition into disarray.
May 21 – FIFA experts expect this summer’s Women’s World Cup in France to produce the fastest matches yet at the tournament as established powerhouses will square off with lightweights and debutants in the 24-team tournament.
May 22 – Tickets for the Jamaican round of this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup on June 17, to be played in the National Stadium in Kingston have gone on sale.
May 22 – The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) have moved to end their kit supply deal with German sportswear giant Adidas seven years early.
May 22 – Mastercard is moving swiftly into the top tier of the women’s club football market in Europe announcing a second team sponsorship in two days.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising chief has confirmed that a decision will definitely be made one way or the other at the upcoming FIFA Congress over possible expansion to 48 teams – but won’t say which way it will go.
May 21 – Initial 40-player team rosters have been announced for the 16 nations playing at the Concacaf Gold Cup that kicks off at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles June 15.
May 21 – Tickets for this summer’s Women World Cup are among the hottest in town, but some fans may find themselves sitting on their own as some group ticket buyers have been given split seating allocation for certain games.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – Amid widespread condemnation of their decision to stage the all-English Europa League final in distant Azerbaijan, UEFA have defended their selection of the capital Baku saying all its member nations deserve a chance to host even though only a small part of the country actually lies within Europe.
May 21 – Significant new tweaks approved earlier this year by football’s lawmakers are will come into effect across the game from the start of next season, designed to reduce a number of grey areas.