October 22 – The international window at last saw a return to a significant numbers of national team matches with FIFA reporting 120 games played in October, the bulk of them in the UEFA and Conmebol region. The top five nations in FIFA’s men’s national team ranking all remained the same.
October 20 – The group stages of the UEFA Champions League kick off tonight with a congested calendar and the threat of the coronavirus looming large.
October 19 – English champions Liverpool have been a dealt a massive blow after it was confirmed that central defensive talisman Virgil van Dijk will endure a long layoff after suffering a serious cruciate injury in Saturday’s hotly contested Merseyside derby draw against league leaders Everton.
October 19 – Gareth Bale’s much-anticipated homecoming to Tottenham Hotspur was overshadowed by his team squandering a 3-0 lead with just minutes remaining against London rivals West Ham on Sunday.
October 15 – Christian Eriksen’s penalty on his 100th appearance for Denmark earned his side a 1-0 upset win over England in their Nations League clash at Wembley on Wednesday as the hosts ended up with nine men.
October 13 – Manchester United and England legend, and Salford City co-owner Paul Scholes, has been appointed interim head coach of the League Two club after the dismissal of manager Graham Alexander.
October 12 – Heavyweights Portugal and France lost their perfect records in this season’s Nations League after playing out an underwhelming 0-0 draw against each other on Sunday, while Belgium saw its 13-match unbeaten run ended by a 2-1 defeat against England.
October 8 – More than 200 national association members of FIFA have signed up for the Arsene Wenger-led Talent Development Programme.
October 7 – Les Reed will leave his post as technical director of the English Football Association at the end of the year, the governing body has announced.
October 6 – The transfer window may have slammed shut but the biggest deal of all could involve a possible new manager at Manchester United.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 5 – It was, as one national newspaper put it, the day football went crazy. What a shame there were no fans to see it live.
October 2 – AC Milan, the fallen giants of European football, needed a nerve-wracking 24-penalty shootout against unheralded Portugal side Rio Ave on Thursday to squeeze into the Europa League group stage.
October 2 – Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski has been named UEFA men’s Player of the Year for 2019-20 after a remarkable 55 goals in 47 games.
September 30 – Ferencvaros, one of great old names of European club football, have reached the group stage of UEFA’s top competition for the first time in 25 years.
September 29 – Cristiano Ronaldo, aged 35, tops a ranking of the world’s most effective strikers, followed by Lazio’s Immobile, Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski, Dortmund’s Erling Haland and Liverpool’s Mo Salah.