By Paul Nicholson and Samindra Kunti in Abu Dhabi
January 16 – Palestine’s football team is unavoidably and inextricably linked with their national struggle, frankly, the Israelis have made it so. With their border blockades of players, equipment and even visiting national teams, the Israelis have few friends in Asian football, and probably wouldn’t even be part of the football world if FIFA president Gianni Infantino hadn’t controversially saved them from a vote to exclude them last Congress.
January 16 – Bundesliga boss Christian Seifert has warned UEFA and FIFA not to even think about using weekends for any future expansion of international competitions.
January 16 – This season’s Big 5 European league champions will be Manchester City, Barcelona, PSG, Juventus and Bayern Munich, according to a set statistical model developed by the CIES Football Observatory.
January 15 – The Asian Football Confederation the AFC has fined Lebanon coach Miodrag Radulovic for comments about the referees after his team’s 2-0 defeat by Qatar in their opening game last week. The Montenegrin will have to pay $7,500 for his remarks.
By Paul Nicholson
January 15 – The issue of broadcast piracy has arisen at the Asian Cup in the UAE where the AFC has issued a statement condemning Tele Liban for rebroadcasting matches without having paid for the rights.
January 15 – Italian match officials will be told to follow international guidelines in dealing with racist behaviour from fans following the outcry over the treatment of Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
January 15 – Banned Afghan football boss Keramuddin Karim has lost the first crucial stage in his effort to clear his name over allegations of sexual abuse.
January 15 – The trial of two men facing allegations related to the 1989 Hillsborough stadium tragedy got under way today including that of the officer in command of the match, now retired chief superintendent David Duckenfield, on a criminal charge of gross negligence manslaughter.
January 15 – As widely anticipated UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings into alleged racist chanting by Chelsea fans in last month’s Europa League game with MOL Vidi in Hungary.
January 14 – Defending champions Australia, Palestine and Syria will battle on Tuesday for the remaining knockout spots in Group B. Jordan, the surprise package of the tournament so far, have already qualified as group winners.
By David Owen
January 14 – West Ham United, whose star striker Marko Arnautovic is being linked with a big-money move to China, have reported a halving of profits after a “difficult” year.