July 4 – With just three days to go before the final of the 2025 Gold Cup in the NRG Stadium in Houston, Concacaf is reporting that there are less than 4,000 tickets left for the 72,200 capacity stadium that will host Mexico and the USA.
England 0 France 2
July 5 – With two quick-fire first-half goals, France stunned England 2-1 in Group D’s blockbuster in Zurich as the Lionesses became the first defending champions to lose their opening match at the European championship.
July 12 – It will hardly register amid the disappointment of semi-final elimination but the English FA has been fined CHF70,000 after three players – Dele Alli, Eric Dier and Raheem Sterling – wore unauthorised equipment at the World Cup.
July 12 – Championship play-off winners Fulham – who in doing so guaranteed themselves a £160 million three-season Premier League income stream – have capitalised further on their promotion with a club record two-year sponsorship with global betting brand Dafabet.
July 11 – As the World Cup reaches its climax in Russia, the FifaGate scandal has reared its head again with The Imagina Group, parent of Spanish broadcaster MediaPro, agreeing to pay $24 million after its US-based affiliate US Imagina pleaded guilty to charges of corruption.
July 11 – FIFA is investigating a new video of Croatia defender Domagoj Vida’s comments in the wake of his side’s quarterfinal World Cup victory over Russia.
July 11 – Online bookmaker Betway, which has just added two top-tier LaLiga clubs to its sponsorship roster, has now signed its first Italian club, AS Roma.
July 11 – A massive self-indulgent risk for a 33-year-old or a masterstroke? The latest phase in the remarkable career of Cristiano Ronaldo has seen him join Juventus from Real Madrid for about €112 million, making him one the four most expensive players of all time.
July 11 – As anticipated, Spain have named former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique as their new head coach after Fernando Hierro stepped down from temporary charge following their shock last-16 World Cup exit to Russia.
July 11 – Manchester City have announced a global multi-year partnership with water technology company Xylem. The company will also partner with Man City’s sister club New York City FC and the Manchester City women’s team.
July 11 – The transfer window is open, but not for everyone, at least theoretically. Birmingham City, who have reportedly been placed under a transfer embargo by the English Football league, have nevertheless continued to pursue players currently under contract at other clubs.
By Paul Nicholson
July 10 – A total of 397 matches in 2017 showed suspicious betting trends – 32 of those matches were friendlies, including international friendlies. Perhaps even more worryingly is that 62 youth matches showed signs of being fixed, according to a new football betting monitoring report.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 10 – Whether Russian football will revert to its pre-World Cup domestic issues of racism and fan violence once the tournament is over remains to be seen. But for the last four weeks the country has bent over backwards to be as welcoming and accommodating to the thousands of foreign visitors attending games.
July 10 – The brutal effect of financial fair play has been exposed by the case of Aston Villa who say they are having have to sell many of those who took the club to the verge of a lucrative return to the English top flight last season.
July 10 – Reports are that Facebook has snapped up its second major European league with a live TV rights deal with LaLiga for the Indian subcontinent.
July 10 – The liaison team formed by FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to secure a road map for the future of Ghanaian football in the wake of the incriminating BBC documentary that exposed widespread corruption is to pay the outstanding salaries to Ghana Football Association employees according to local reports.
By David Owen
July 10 – Belgium will try to keep the Adidas flag flying at Russia 2018 in St Petersburg tonight.