By Andrew Warshaw
March 19 – Underdogs Morocco may be winning the sympathy vote in the race to land the 2026 World Cup but judging by last Saturday’s globally streamed press conference outlining their credentials, they have considerable ground to make up on the favourites from North America.
By Paul Nicholson
March 19 – Runaway English Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers look certain to be headed back to the Premier League but they will need to head off growing concerns about their ownership and the influence of super agent Jorge Mendes in the club’s signings, an influence that will concern Premier League club owners, many of whom rely on Mendes for key foreign players.
March 19 – Are you watching, Gianni Infantino? Forty-eight hours after the FIFA president triumphantly hailed the official introduction of video technology, hundreds of Lazio supporters demonstrated in front of the headquarters of the Italian football federation to protest about the system whilst there was more controversy in the English game.
March 19 – Russia has issued security guarantees to Arsenal fans planning to travel to Moscow for next month’s Europa League clash with CSKA in the wake of the diplomatic spat over the poisoning of a Russian double agent on British soil.
March 19 – China’s rapidly growing interest in football has seen a new twist to its sponsorship involvement with Hangzhou Wahaha Group becoming an official sponsor of the Portuguese national team and Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. becoming a sponsor of the Belgian team.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 19 – Despite reservations far and wide, as anticipated FIFA’s ruling Council has rubber-stamped the decision earlier this month by football’s lawmakers to approve video assistant referees for the World Cup and beyond.
By David Owen
March 18 – City Football Group Limited, the Abu Dhabi- and Chinese-owned entity that holds investments in various football clubs including Premier League champions-elect Manchester City, has posted a £71 million loss from continuing operations for the 13 months to 30 June 2017.
By David Owen
March 18 – FIFA have reported a net loss of $191.5 million for 2017, the third year in the four-year World Cup cycle that will culminate with Russia 2018 this summer.
By David Owen
March 16 – Watford, the Premier League club based in London commuter-land and controlled by Gino Pozzo, has announced a modest advance in annual pre-tax profit from £3.6 million to £4 million.
By Paul Nicholson
March 16 – The United 2026 World Cup bid have unveiled their 23-city hosting list and while there are a few notable omissions – Vancouver, Chicago, Salt Lake and Minneapolis being the highest profile – it is still an impressive and broad-based power play in the bid battle.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 15 – The head of Morocco’s 2026 bid team says his country is in it to win it and is not simply a stalking horse for the favoured rival North American candidate.
March 16 – UEFA has released ticketing detail for their showpiece Champions League final in Kiev Ukraine, on May 26.
By David Owen
March 16 – The sale of Ashley Williams and the recently-returned André Ayew allowed Swansea City to return to profit last season. A £36.9 million gain on player disposals turned a £23 million operating loss into a £13.4 million profit at the pre-tax level. This compared with a £14.6 million pre-tax loss the previous year.
March 16 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino will ask his Council on Friday in Bogota to approve a global women’s league that will strengthen the growth of the women’s game.
March 16 – Australian FA (FFA) chief executive David Gallop has confirmed that bidding for places in the expanded A-League will begin by the end of March, with 10 groups having already declared their intention to bid for the extra 2 places which will be on offer.