By Andrew Warshaw
July 24 – The German Football Association (DFB) has hit back strongly over Mesut Ozil’s claims over racism and disrespect but conceded they could have done more to protect him.
July 24 – Ethiopia and Eritrea, at war for 20 years until a recent peace accord and rapprochement, have agreed to stage an historic friendly in August.
July 24 – Hyundai have added their first club sponsorship in Italy becoming AS Roma’s new Global Automotive Partner in a three-year deral that will see the Hyundai logo on the back of AS Roma shirts.
July 24 – Amazon Prime Video has released a trailer for its Manchester City docu-series that will launch on the streaming service August 17.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – In a remarkable move that has spilled over into the political arena, Arsenal’s German international midfielder Mesut Ozil has quit international football at the age of just 29 claiming he can no longer take the “racism and disrespect” he says he has faced over his Turkish roots.
July 23 – The political in-fighting plaguing Nigerian football has taken another twist with the man ousted as head of the national federation (NFF) being personally endorsed by his confederation.
July 23 – In a rare ruling against football’s authorities, AC Milan have been reinstated into the Europa League next season after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned UEFA’s decision to exclude them for infringing financial fair play (FFP) rules.
July 23 – Cristiano Ronaldo’s €117 million transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus has polarised opinion with car union protests over the ‘immoral’ size of his transfer and wages, and fan excitement at what he will bring to the Italian champions.
July 23 – Aston Villa is under new majority control after billionaire businessmen Naseef Sawiris and Wes Edens bought a reported 55% controlling stake in the club for £30 million from Chinese owner Tony Xia.
July 23 – New Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has been accused of trying to “dismantle” former club Napoli by the Italian club’s president Aurelio de Laurentiis.
July 23 – With broadcast piracy issues increasingly concerning sports rights owners anxious to maintain their TV deals and value in an increasingly disrupted marketplace, the Premier League has won a further blocking order in the UK High Court forcing pirate streams to shut down.
July 23 – Premier League club Manchester United have expanded TV channel distribution platforms to streaming services Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku and Xbox. The club last season launched MUTV on iOS, Android and on the web at MUTV.com.
July 23 – Roma’s American billionaire owner James Pallotta has been handed a three-month suspension by UEFA for comments after their Champions League semi-final defeat by Liverpool.
By Paul Nicholson
July 20 – Overseas fans in Russia for the World Cup spent about €1.3 billion between June 14 and July 16, according to a report by Russia’s Sberbank.
By David Owen
July 20 – The chairman of FIFA’s medical committee has described medical provision during Russia 2018 as the best he has experienced in 10 World Cups.