By Paul Nicholson
July 5 – The US Soccer Federation has officially announced a new 25-club Girls’ Development Academy that will start matches in the Autumn of 2017. The academy structure is “an initiative designed to accelerate the development of world-class female players” in the World Champion nation.
July 5 – FIFA’s attempt to patch up differences between Israel and Palestine, overshadowed by ongoing corruption and reform issues, has been stepped up with the latest visit by former presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale who leads the Monitoring Committee to the region.
July 5 – How much is a player worth and will he do the job required are the perennial questions facing club owners and managers. There is no exact calculation that answers either of these questions for buyers, and no guarantee of value for money. A new player ratings tool might go some of the way to providing at least peace of mind to those splashing the cash.
July 5 – Manchester City have relaunched their website with a number of new features and at a new url, mancity.com. The new site is the result of a long consultancy process involving multiple rounds of focus groups, surveys, prototype designs, and user.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – Speculation that the net could be closing in on FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been intriguingly stepped up following the publication of an explosive leaked memo, seemingly on official FIFA letter-headed paper, that accuses Infantino of a series of ethics violations.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – Fourteen countries have signed a potentially ground-breaking convention between the 47-member Council of Europe and UEFA designed to prevent any repetition of hooliganism at future European Championship finals.
July 4 – There are still some tickets left for the World Football Forum later this week (July 7-8) in Paris. The two-day meeting opens Thursday with an iSportconnect Directors’ Club and WFF Cocktail Reception. Conference sessions are on Friday at the Hotel du Collectionneur.
July 4 – Germany and a combined bid from Nordic nations are possible candidates to host the 2024 European Championship, according to UEFA interim general secretary Theodore Theodoridis.
July 4 – Arguably the two most powerful confederations in world football, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and UEFA, have taken steps to improve their collaboration across a range of areas.
July 4 – BetVictor have signed a new three-year deal to become a principal partner of Premier League club Liverpool. No figure was announced for the sponsorship.
July 4 – Defending world champions Germany’s preparations for the heavyweight Euro 2016 semifinal clash with France on Thursday have been seriously disrupted by injury and suspension.
July 2 – Germany have a fully-fit squad to chose from for the clash of the familiar heavyweight foes after Jerome Boateng, Julian Draxler and Sami Khedira recovered from minor injuries. Italy will assess key midfielder Daniele De Rossi, who was forced off against Spain with a thigh injury and who has been crucial for Antonio Conte’s side as they upset pre-tournament predictions.
By Paul Nicholson
July 1 – Controversial Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president, David John-Williams, has officially declared his candidacy for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) presidency, amid claims that he has misused TTFA funds to finance his campaign and that he has been given significant political backing from CONCACAF and FIFA in return for his support of their new presidents Victor Montagliani (pictured) and Gianni Infantino.
By Paul Nicholson
July 1 – Spain’s LaLiga has officially rebranded itself for the 2016/17 season with the ending of the BBVA title sponsorship deal. LaLiga and LaLiga2 are now the official names for the top two tiers of the league.
The largest corruption threat to football is the one that its administrators frequently seem most reluctant to face aggressively. Match-fixing cannot be swept under the carpet but the anti-match-fixing fight does need more funding and the acceptance of objective benchmarks to evaluate the independence of the governing bodies in the front line.