When Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chinese government, allowed Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero to take a selfie with him and David Cameron last year, the message was loud and clear: China loves football.
By David Owen
September 12 – The impact of a new kit deal with Adidas combined with reduced finance costs as a consequence of a refinancing of the club’s sizeable debt have triggered a turnaround in Manchester United’s financial fortunes. The Old Trafford club today kicked off the 2015-16 Premier League full-year financial reporting season by unveiling a pre-tax profit of £48.8 million for the year to June 30. This compared with a prior-year loss of £3.6 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 12 – In a staggering ruling that will only serve to undermine its credibility and fuel accusations of double standards, FIFA’s ethics committee today gave Michel Platini permission to make a farewell speech at Wednesday’s election to replace him as UEFA president.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 12 – As UEFA’s 55 federations converge on Athens for Wednesday’s presidential election, the Iberian vote looks set to be split after Portugal announced publicly it was backing Aleksander Ceferin to take over from Michel Platini.
September 12 – Amidst the wave of anger among European leagues to UEFA’s proposed changes to its two major club competitions to avert the possibility of a Super league outside its jurisdiction, one major league boss has actually had the temerity to come and conditionally support a breakaway competition.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – It will hardly come as a surprise since he was not planning on making a comeback. The question is, why did it take so long? The life ban imposed last week on former FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF boss Jeffrey Webb, the toughest possible FIFA sanction, was the final damaging blow to the Cayman Islands banker who was once held up a bastion of fair play and touted as a possible president of world football’s governing body.
September 12 – Brazilian-born Santos Monteiro Junior Wanderley’s lust for international football travel seems to have caught up with him and his latest club, UAE’s Al Nasr, with the club being forced to forfeit their AFC Champions League quarter-final first-leg match against Qatar’s El Jaish.
September 12 – West Ham United’s move to London’s 60,000-capacity Olympic Stadium has not been the smooth process the club would have hoped for with the club’s fans clashing with stewards and opposition Watford fans last weekend.
September 12 – The seemingly never-ending saga surrounding of the build of the Krestovsky football stadium, also known as the Zenit Arena, in St Petersburg, may at last be coming to a conclusion with Russia having given guarantees to FIFA that the stadium will be completed by the end of this year.
September 12 – Kyrgyzstan became the third Asian federation to launch its Live Streaming Platform during a recent friendly match against the Philippines. This follows the launch of the video platform in Bhutan and Oman.
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
August 9 – FIFA’s ethics investigators have opened a formal investigation into the $80 million in pay rises and bonuses that former FIFA top brass Sepp Blatter, Jérôme Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves over a five year period until they were suspended or fired by the governing body.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – Europe’s top leagues have stepped up their opposition to UEFA’s plans to revamp the Champions League by angrily accusing the governing body of giving in to the demands of the wealthiest and most successful clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – Authorities in Sierra Leone stand accused of harassment and intimidation after detaining Isha Johansen (pictured), one of the few women in the world to head a national football federation, for 24 hours and then releasing her on bail without charge.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – Michel Platini has been invited to say farewell to colleagues at next week’s UEFA presidential election, potentially violating his four-year ban imposed by FIFA.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – European powerhouses Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have lost their respective appeals against a transfer ban imposed by FIFA for breaching regulations on the acquisition of non-Spanish minors under the age of 18 and are taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.