By Andrew Warshaw
March 4 – Almost a year after resigning as head of the Oceania Football Confederation citing “personal reasons”, David Chung has been banned from the sport for 6.5 years for financial wrongdoing, reportedly over the awarding of contracts for the construction of the OFC headquarters in New Zealand.
March 4 – Football’s lawmakers have agreed on a new definition of handball in order to end confusion over what constitutes deliberate contact
March 4 – Former FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan and former Barcelona player and Bulgarian national team legend Hristo Stoichkov will be among the speakers at the SIGA Sport Integrity Forum, March 26, at the New York Athletic Club, New York.
March 4 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has hinted at a potential joint Korean bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Australia, Japan, South Africa and New Zealand have already expressed their interest in hosting the tournament.
March 4 – Manchester City are under the spotlight off the field once again amid fresh allegations suggesting they bent the rules over Financial Fair Play following a new wave of leaked emails reported by German publication Der Spiegel.
March 4 – Defending champions Atlanta United opened the 24th Major League Soccer season and coach Frank de Boer’s reign with a 2-0 loss away at DC United. MLS new boys FC Cincinnati had a difficult first day in the league, while MLS commissioner Don Garber said the league could introduce legalised sports gambling.
March 4 – A statue of former England captain David Beckham was unveiled outside the stadium of LA Galaxy before their opening game in the new MLS season at the weekend.
March 4 – LaLiga reinforced its commitment to Chinese expansion over the weekend with president Javier Tebas in the country for the opening day of the Chinese Super League (CSL) season.
March 4 – Japan’s J.League is the latest big league to announce it is entering the competitive esports arena with it clubs lined up to play in tournament on Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) game. Other leagues have generally opted for the EA Sports FIFA 19 platform.
By Paul Nicholson and Samindra Kunti
March 1 – South American governing body Conmebol looks to be following the FIFA line and keeping the international calendar open for the world governing body’s proposed global competition revamp by rejecting U.S. Soccer’s offer to discuss participation in a cash-rich continental tournament in 2020 in the US.
By Samindra Kunti and Paul Nicholson
March 1 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has confirmed the final list of candidates who will stand for election at the 29th AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur in April.
March 1 – The president of Turkey’s FA, Yıldırım Demirören (pictured), has resigned amid questions over his business empire’s anticipated acquisition of the country’s only legal sports betting company, according to local reports.
March 1 – Cheats never prosper – as Sergio Ramos has found to his cost after being handed a two-game ban by UEFA “for clearly receiving a yellow card on purpose” during Real Madrid’s Champions League tie at Ajax.
March 1 – Chelsea will be breathing a huge sigh of relief at escaping the possibility of having to play behind closed doors after UEFA decided no action would be taken against the club for alleged anti-Semitic chanting by their fans in a Europa League game in Hungary in December.
March 1 – Claudio Ranieri, the manager who captured the imagination of the world by guiding Leicester City to one the most miraculous league titles in the history of English football just three years ago, has discovered to his cost that lightning rarely strikes twice after being sacked by relegation-threatened Fulham.