By Andrew Warshaw
February 23 – When the previously little-known Aleksander Ceferin gained a stunning victory to win the presidency of UEFA last September, his landslide 42-13 triumph over Michael van Praag was a giant statement for the smaller European federations like his own Slovenia.
February 23 – Jersey’s appeal against UEFA’s rejection of their membership bid will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on June 28.
February 23 – The regional fight for more slots in an expanded World Cup from 2026 is already under way with Africa stating it is looking for 10 places, double its current quota.
February 21 – Issa Hayatou’s rival in next month’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) presidential election says he intends to totally overhaul the Continent’s financial transparency as he bids to bring to an end to the long autocratic reign of Issa Hayatou.
February 21 – The Brazilian at the centre of the latest disgraceful outburst of racist abuse in Serbian football says he wants to forget the incident as soon as possible despite being in floods of tears at the final whistle – pictures that were flashed across the world.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 20 – The tension ahead of next month’s potentially game-changing Confederation of African Football (CAF) presidential election is mounting after South African president Jacob Zuma was reported – apparently wrongly – to have formally given his government’s backing to Issa Hayatou despite the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) executive committee officially endorsing Hayatou’s rival, Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad (sic).
February 20 – No sooner had Serbia’s top flight resumed at the weekend after a two-month winter break than the same familiar racism-fuelled trouble re-occurred, with Rad Belgrade’s match against visiting city rivals Partizan marred by a player brawl.
By Samindra Kunti
February 20 – RSC Anderlecht have announced that the club will not move to the Eurostadium, dealing another blow to the construction of the EURO 2020 venue.
February 20 – Any doubts that the FA cup, the world’s oldest and most prestigious domestic knockout competition, has lost its romance were swept away at the weekend when Lincoln City – four divisions below the Premier League – became the first non-league side in 103 years to reach the quarter-finals.
February 17 – Following tentative research published in the UK earlier this week which suggested that repeated headers during a player’s career may be linked to brain damage, UEFA has commissioned its own research project examining links between dementia and playing football.
February 17 – Clubs in English football’s second-tier Championship clubs have agreed “in principle” to use goalline technology from the start of next season.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – Issa Hayatou’s quest to hang on to power at the helm of African football has taken another jolt with the news that the highly influential Nigerian FA is backing his rival for the leadership.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – One of the longest-serving figures among European football’s old guard elite is exploiting an historic loophole in UEFA’s age restrictions to try and retain a place at the organisation’s top table.
By David Owen
February 16 – The Football Association, which is facing mounting pressure to reform from British MPs, has released figures detailing cost savings made as a result of an organisational restructure announced in July 2015.
February 16 – The CBF, the Brazilian Football Confederation, and coach Rogerio Micale are poised to part ways following Brazil’s failure to qualify for the U20 World Cup in South Korea. Micale coached the Brazilians to the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.