December 15 – Manchester United and Manchester City players played more times for their countries than any other players at clubs in the Big-5 European leagues, according to research from the CIES Football Observatory.
By Samindra Kunti
December 15 – Brazilian club Santos will face a 2016 season of austerity after missing out on qualification for the Copa Libertadores.
By Samindra Kunti
December 15 – Brazilian football needs its own 1992 Premier League moment – with Bom Senso that moment may have finally arrived in the country that lit up the world stage with its teams and players.
By Andrew Warshaw in Amsterdam
December 15 – The head of the international players’ union FIFpro says football is facing its “worst ever crisis” because of the imbalance between rich and poor and has urged his members to stick together to safeguard the sport.
By Ben Nicholson
December 14 – The MLS has committed near an additional $37 million for clubs to spend on player salaries. In both the 2016 and 2017 seasons, $125,000 per season will be dedicated to clubs to use on signing Homegrown Players, and $800,000 per season will be made available to all MLS clubs in the form of Targeted Allocation Money (TAM).
December 14 – UEFA president Michel Platini may have long been opposed to goal-line technology but his organisation now realises it can no longer resist its implementation.
By Ben Nicholson
December 14 – The United Soccer League Players Association (USLPA) – consisting of those players employed in the United Soccer League (USL), which is considered the third tier of US soccer – is coming close to formal unionisation.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – UEFA’s top brass have given Michel Platini as much time as possible to try and clear his name to run for FIFA president – but could have a new chief in place themselves at the start of May if he is banned from the game.
December 11 – Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, arguably the most powerful official in Asian sport and a recently elected member of FIFA’s top brass, has vowed to fight a six-month jail term imposed in his native Kuwait for allegedly insulting the judiciary.
December 11 – Sierra Leone, which has only just returned to organised football activity having been declared ebola-free, has had its FA board dissolved by the National Sports Council (NSC), though the Sierra Leone FA (SLFA) is refusing to acknowledge the ruling.
December 11 – Legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo says he would not rule himself out of running for the presidency of his country’s beleaguered federation to restore is battered credibility.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – One of the most bizarre cases of alleged foul play has led to Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema being suspended by his national team until an investigation into a blackmail case involving a sex tape has been resolved.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Without being able to rely on the majority support of his own confederation, FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein has been lobbying intensively in Africa, trying to swing some of its 54 votes his way ahead of the election on February 26.
December 11 – Honduran international Arnold Peralta was tragically shot dead in a parking lot on Thursday by unknown assailants while on holiday in his hometown.
By Paul Nicholson
December 10 – Benchmark Sport’s latest report looks at the UEFA Champions league and the spread of representation of nations and clubs. The findings are that the competition has been increasingly – and perhaps worryingly – centralised around the big leagues and the big clubs.