October 15 – When Arsene Wenger rolled out the bought and paid-for FIFA legends in Qatar to sycophantically support FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s unrelenting push for a biennial World Cup, he probably wasn’t expecting quite the backlash from football’s biggest stakeholders.
October 15 – Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland has overtaken PSG’s Kylian Mbappé as the most valuable player in the world with a market value of €144 million, according to new analysis by the KPMG Football Benchmark.
October 15 – With UEFA reportedly about to rule on whether to punish English football for the disgraceful scenes that marred last summer’s delayed Euro 2020 final when scores of ticketless fans rampaged through Wembley, new figures show that 92 football-related arrests were made at England’s home matches during the 2020-21 season – all but two them at the Euros.
October 15 – The Qatari owners of Paris Saint-Germain have injected another €171 million into the club to help ease the financial burden created by the global health crisis.
October 15 – The Albanian FA says it deplores the violent behaviour of its fans at this week’s World Cup qualifying defeat to Poland but in an attempt to gain the moral high ground blamed visiting Polish fans for provocation.
October 15 – Conmebol wants to stage the Copa Libertadores final in Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario in front of 45,000 fans, a quarter more than the stadium capacity anticipated by local authorities.
October 15 – With the global pandemic having decimated the global Women’s competition calendar in 2020 and seen the cancellation of both FIFA U17 and U20 age-group tournaments, the AFC Women’s Football Committee has rolled forward teams from its 2019 competitions to represent the confederation in the rearranged 2022 finals.
October 15 – Scores of female players, including members of the national team, were evacuated from Afghanistan on Thursday on a flight to Doha in the latest move to escape Taliban rule.
October 15 – The Portuguese Professional Football League (Liga Portugal) has committed to going through SIGA’s Independent Rating and Verification System (SIRVS), as well as committing to become a member of the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA), via a co-operation agreement.
October 14 – Next week, FIFA scrutineers will return to conduct World Cup 2026 bid city inspections, visiting all of Kansas City, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Monterrey, San Francisco and Seattle.
October 14 – Denmark, which qualified for the World Cup this week, will go to the finals even though it was the “wrong decision” to allow Qatar to be hosts according to Danish sports minister Ane Halsboe-Joergensen.
October 15 – Russian owned Ligue 1 club AS Monaco has announced a partnership with Russian sports betting firmLiga Stavok, who will become a regional partner for the 2021-22 season.
October 14 – The French league has voted to oppose FIFA’s plans to stage the World Cup every two years, slamming the proposal as “irreparably negative for the domestic leagues”.
October 14 – The Belgian government has revised the fiscal regime for domestic clubs, targeting capped social security contributions with the aim of bringing in €30 million.
October 14 – Arsene Wenger, Zurich’s ultimate salesman in his role as FIFA’s development director, believes automated, electronic offside calls can be introduced by the time of the World Cup finals in Qatar.
