By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – While most of the big guns of Europe as expected qualified for the knockout phase of the Champions League, the draw for which is Monday, Liverpool were left to rue the price of failure.
By Alexander Krassimirov
December 11 – In a co-ordinated strike Bulgarian police have moved in on players, coaches and referees over the past two days, arresting nine players and detaining them for 24 hours for questioning, according to the country’s Ministry of the Interior. The unprecedented scale of the action was conducted in conjunction with the Bulgarian Football Union who were working closely with UEFA.
By Mark Baber
December 10 – FIFA, in an email signed by secretary general, Jerome Valcke, has come down on the side of the “majority” of the members of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Electoral Appeals’ Committee who rebelled against their chairman to uphold the disputed September 30 election of Amaju Pinnick (pictured).
December 10 – Spanish football’s crackdown on misbehaving fans has been criticised by Europe’s main supporters group for being far too strict and indiscriminate.
By Florian Pertsch
December 10 – After four heart operations and 16 months of recovery for most athletes sport would be a thing of the past. Not so for third division Stuttgart Kickers forward Daniel Engelbrecht.
December 10 – Italian Serie A strugglers Parma have been handed a one-point deduction for financial irregularities last season.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 10 – A jury composed of members of the Hungarian architects’ association Magyar Epiteszek Hazabanhas have picked the winning design for the planned new stadium for Budapest-based side MTK. The project is estimated to cost about HUF 6.5 billion (€21.3 million).
December 12 – The president of French Ligue 1 side Bastia, Pierre-Marie Geronimi (pictured), has been arrested and placed in police custody as part of an investigation into the club’s finances.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – UEFA president Michel Platini has given another strong hint that moves are going on behind the scenes to find a suitable challenger for Europe to back at next year’s FIFA presidential election.
By Samindra Kunti
December 10 – European football’s governing body UEFA has announced that it will continue to investigate Monaco under the Financial Fair Play Regulations, while Olympique Lyon has been asked to submit additional information.
By Paul Nicholson
December 9 – CONCACAF has announced Scotiabank as the first official partner of its revamped sponsorship programme. In an initial four-year deal, the bank will become the title sponsor of the CONCACAF Champions League, the official bank of the confederation, and a main sponsor of the Gold Cup.
December 9 – Romania’s most famous club Steaua Bucharest, founded in 1947, have been stripped of their name, colours and emblem after losing a long legal battle with the country’s defence ministry over their trademark.
By Paul Nicholson
December 9 – J-League club Vissel Kobe has been bought by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, the club’s shirt sponsor, for an undisclosed amount.
December 9 – One of the world’s great footballing rivalries has turned ugly after Real Madrid banned 17 of their own supporters for abusive chants about Lionel Messi and Barcelona.
December 9 – Malaysia’s minister of youth and sports, Khairy Jamaluddin, has apologised to Vietnam supporters after they were attacked during the semi-final of the Suzuki Cup in at Malaysia’s Shah Alam stadium.