September 23 – The 72 clubs immediately below the English Premier League have ended prospect of Premier League B teams joining them and have also ruled out Scottish giants Rangers and Celtic being included as part of a widespread revamp.
September 23 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against the Scottish Football Association after the country’s under-19s women’s team pulled out of a European Championship qualifier against Serbia, with nine players and eight members of the backroom staff reportedly being hit by a sickness bug in what the federation described as an “exceptional situation.”
By Andrew Warshaw
September 22 – New UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin, in the job for a matter of days, has unwittingly been dragged into a dispute over whether his predecessor Michel Platini is to receive a special financial handout despite his presidential term being cut short by his FIFA ban.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 22 – Isha Johansen, the female head of Sierra Leone’s football association who was detained for 24 hours for alleged misappropriation of FIFA funds, has won the backing of the world governing body which says no such misuse took place.
September 22 – Turkish club Antalyaspor have dropped former Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o from their squad until further notice in a row over controversial comments made on social media which could have been interpreted as implying the club’s chairman was guilty of racism.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 22 – A tiny provincial German club has won a landmark ruling that could have far-reaching consequences for the game as a whole following a nine-year-old legal dispute with FIFA.
By Andrew Warshaw in London
September 21 – The English may have voted for his only rival but in his first overseas assignment since taking over from Michel Platini as UEFA president last week, protocol was duly observed when Alexsander Ceferin today attended the ceremonial unveiling of the official logo for the semifinals and finals of Euro 2020 being staged at Wembley.
September 20 – When professional football teams emerge from the tunnel, usually the mascots are young kids who dream of being on the same pitch as their heroes. But 11-time Swedish champions AIK went for the opposite age group before last weekend’s home game against against Gefle IF, handing the honour to 12 senior citizens aged between 81 and 96.
September 16 – With the Rio Paralympic Games in full swing, the Johan Cruyff Foundation has opened a Special Cruyff Court for blind and visually impaired people on the premises of Urece, an organisation that gives blind and partially sighted people the opportunity to play sports.
By Andrew Warshaw in Athens
September 15 – He said it would be his first priority as the voice of the disadvantaged. But UEFA’s new president, Alexander Ceferin, will almost certainly be unable to scrap controversial changes to the Champions League that have played into the hands of Europe’s most powerful clubs and infuriated major leagues who say they were not properly consulted.
By Andrew Warshaw in Athens
September 15 – The new head of Germany’s football federation says the burgeoning 2006 World Cup scandal that has rocked the country’s image will not stop its pursuit of Euro 2024.
By Andrew Warshaw in Athens
September 14 – Aleksander Ceferin, the left-field candidate who gained pivotal widespread backing in the final weeks of campaigning, was elected UEFA president in succession to Michel Platini today, sweeping into office with a thumping 42-13 ballot victory over his only rival, Dutch football chief Michael van Praag.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 14 – Not many people outside his inner circle had heard of Aleksander Ceferin until the Slovenian launched his candidacy for UEFA president. But everyone knows who he is now and the new kid on the block insists he is well capable of delivering the changes the organisation needs, not least revisiting the hugely divisive Champions League deal that favours a bunch of Europe’s top clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw in Athens
September 14 – It lasted less than 10 minutes, was dignified, personal, at times emotional and ended, tellingly, with the words, “Friends of football, farewell.” Michel Platini, out of the public spotlight for the last 11 months, made his eagerly anticipated but highly controversial goodbye appearance in front of his former lieutenants today before disappearing into the Athens sunlight, never to return as president of UEFA as a result of being banned for financial misconduct.
September 14 – LigaMX clubs Cruz Azul and Club Atlas will play a friendly in San Antonio, Texas, at the Toyota Field October organised under the MoneyGram SocioMX banner.