May 18 – Grenada has been named as hosts for the 2016 CONCACAF Women’s U17 Championship next March. The regional confederation has also announced the four US cities that will host the men’s Olympic qualifying tournament in October – Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.
At the end of a season in which no Premier League representative made it as far as the quarter-finals of either major European club competition, it seems most odd to be thinking in terms of a new era of English dominance in European club football. Yet, recent developments look to be conspiring to make this all but inevitable.
By Mark Baber
May 15 – MP&Silva will reportedly not be stumping up more cash for the Kenyan Football Federation’s (FKF) attempt to set up a new Premier League in its own name, in a week in which the Kenya Premier League (KPL) moved to lay down the basic rules for player participation in the Kenyan national team games.
By Matt Scott
May 15 – Major Greek clubs are in open revolt over the corruption scandal that has put the owner of Olympiacos in the dock over allegations of extortion, bribery and arranging a bombing.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 15 – Despite his indefatigable globetrotting as FIFA president, Sepp Blatter has avoided setting foot in the United States for fear of being caught up in an FBI investigation into the organisation he has run for 17 years.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 15 – If the FIFA presidency was awarded to the candidate with the best human rights approval ratings, Michael van Praag would be looking forward to a single four-year term of office come May 29.
By Paul Nicholson
May 15 – Manchester United’s third quarter financial results announcement was all about looking to the future as the club looks forward to the financial importance of a return to Champions League football and an expectation that it will be competitive in all competitions.
By Samindra Kunti
May 15 – The president of RC Lens Gervais Martel has insisted a new investor will inject €15 million in the much troubled club to keep Lens afloat in France’s second division Ligue 2 after majority shareholder Hafiz Mammadov defaulted.
May 15 – Despite the Spanish courts lifting the threat of an end-of-season La Liga strike over the imposition of a collective TV rights bargaining agreement, the unsavoury war of words between the various parties shows little sign of abating.
By Samindra Kunti
May 15 – Ajax Amsterdam failed to win the Dutch title this season, finishing second behind champions PSV, but the club wants to reestablish itself as Holland’s number one team through the construction of Ajax City, a state of the art training complex. At the same time the Amsterdam Arena may seek a stadium naming rights deal.
May 15 – After a season in which his club has been at the forefront of a series of racist incidents, the president of Torpedo Moscow, instead of apologising, has indulged in an outrageous piece of self-denial.
“Since Arsene Wenger arrived in north London, Arsenal are the only team Spurs have not finished above in the whole Football League.” Opta
It was 20 years ago, pretty much, that Arsène Wenger walked through the door at Arsenal. In two of the previous four seasons they had finished 10th and 12th in the Premier League. Located in a beloved but ageing arena hemmed in on all sides by houses preventing stadium expansion,
By Andrew Warshaw
May 14 – It isn’t every day that a club in the eighth tier of its country’s football pyramid makes national headlines. But such is the gross injustice meted out to tiny Enfield Town in England’s Ryman Premier League that the club received nationwide support in their fight to avoid being sanctioned by the English FA for no other reason than showing integrity and good governance.
By Mark Baber
May 14 – Another milestone in the downward spiral of Turkish football has been reached with a statement by the Turkey Football Federation that six Süper Lig clubs have failed to meet UEFA’s requirements to participate in European football in the 2015-2016 season.
May 14 – Former Birmingham City chairman Carson Yeung (pictured) has lost an appeal against a six-year Hong Kong jail sentence for money laundering. Yeung moved HK$720 million (£55 million) though his accounts between 2001 and 2007.