By Paul Nicholson
December 20 – The Gold Cup 2017, CONCACAF’s top event for national teams, will be played in a total of 14 stadiums in 13 metropolitan areas, four of them first-time hosts, as the confederation expands the competition to support emerging football markets in the US.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – Three months after disgraced former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb – not so long ago touted as a possible successor to Sepp Blatter – was banned for life, two more once all-powerful officials of the same confederation have suffered the same fate with Hondurans Alfredo Hawit (pictured) and Rafael Callejas thrown out of the game by FIFA’s ethics committee for taking bribes as part of the US-led football corruption scandal.
December 20 – Nigeria’s sports minister has called for a “reputable audit” of the national FA, constantly embroiled in financial troubles, over claims of irregularities in the use of FIFA grants.
December 20 – Bayern may dominate Munich and Germany, but they are facing challenges. RB Leipzig, backed by Red Bull cash, is now a realistic challenger at the top of the Bundesliga, while locally 1860 Munich are showing signs re-emerging from the shadows thanks to the deep pockets of Jordanian investor Hasan Ismaik.
By David Owen
December 19 – The short-term impact of the early termination of Chelsea’s kit deal with Adidas has been made apparent, with the West London club announcing a big net loss of £70.6 million for the year to 30 June 2016.
By Paul Nicholson
December 16 – It took a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo to wake up the European football ‘world’ to FIFA’s often unloved Club World Cup in that region. The significant story of this competition, however, is perhaps not Real Madrid’s extra time win but that the European Champions were pushed by another team from Asia making a mark in world football.
By Samindra Kunti
December 19 – Didier Quillot is the executive director of the LFP, the body presiding over professional French football. In an exclusive interview with Insideworldfootball Quillot addressed the challenges Ligue 1 faces.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 19 – Danny Jordaan, the public face of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and head of the country’s national association (SAFA) has missed out on the same role with the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) after withdrawing from presidential elections before a vote was cast.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 19 – Former German football supremo Wolfgang Niersbach has conceded defeat by agreeing to step down from his senior posts at FIFA and UEFA after failing to win his appeal against his one-year ban.
December 19 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino still hopes to see video technology used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia if teething problems can be ironed out in time.
December 19 – When FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura (pictured right) visited Sierra Leone last month on a working trip that was partly to mediate in the ongoing dispute between the national association and the government over the way football there is run, she somewhat surprisingly suggested that the country bid for the under-17 women’s World Cup.
December 19 – Court papers filed by prosecutors in the US allege that an affiliate of a major broadcasting company in Latin America paid millions of dollars in bribes to obtain the rights for the next four World Cup tournaments in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
December 19 – Chinese brewer Tsingtao has renewed its sponsorship of the fast developing and increasingly commercial AFC Champions League for another four years, no figure was announced for the deal.
By Paul Nicholson
December 19 – The hunting down of Jack Warner by the US Department of Justice suffered a second setback in six months when a judgement at the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, refused the US access to join the legal team making the case for his extradition from the island.
December 19 – Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) has renewed telecoms giant Orange as a major sponsor of its competitions for another eight years. The deal has been finalised just a couple of weeks before the start of the Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon in January.