Puma bounces Mitre out the game with official ball deal in Scotland
May 24 – Scotland’s top men’s and women’s leagues have appointed Puma as the official match ball provider in a multi-year deal starting with the 2023/24 season.
Author: Paul Nicholson
Istanbul warms up for final with UEFA Champions Festival
May 24 – UEFA has launched detail of its Champions Festival that will run alongside the Champions League Final between Manchester City and Internazionale at Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on Saturday June 10.
More monkey chants at Vinicius sparks wider racism row over LaLiga’s failure to act
May 23 – Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr has said La Liga is a league of racists, but Javier Tebas has vehemently defended the way the Spanish topflight deals with racism.
Salman outlines pathway for Syria to return to hosting international matches
May 23 – AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifi has said that he feels comfortable that the security situation in Syria is now safe and that the AFC and FIFA can work toward allowing international football to again be played in the country.
Juventus hit with new 10 point penalty, pushing them out of European club qualification slots
May 23 – Juventus have been pushed back down the Serie A table after an Italian tribunal made a ruling to dock them 10 points for the current season. The points loss puts them outside European club competition qualification with two games left to play.
Newcastle secure Champions League slot, Leicester, Leeds and Everton in final day dogfight
May 23 – Newcastle United secured qualification for next season’s Champions League and Leicester City kept their hopes of remaining in the Premier League alive following a 0-0 draw last night at St James Park.
Midea plug in for another year of Man City promotion
May 23 – Manchester City have extended their global partnership with home appliances producer Midea into a fourth term.
Ukraine’s Shaktar condemn Barca stars’ Russian message; FIFA extends contract suspension rule
May 23 – Shakhtar Donetsk CEO Sergei Palkin has condemned FC Barcelona players after their video message thanking Russian fans for their support on La Liga’s Telegram Channel.
Van Damme joins elite group of female FA presidents as she tackles task of uniting Belgian game
May 23 – Pascale Van Damme has become the first female president of the Belgian FA (RFBA) succeeding Paul Van Den Bulck, who departed after an internal power struggle.
Back to front. BetCity upgrades its shirt deal with Vitesse, the bookie’s 3rd Eredvisie club
May 22 – Dutch online betting brand BetCity.nl, has moved its shirt sponsorship from the back of Eredivisie club SBV Vitesse Arnhem’s shirt, to the front.
Irvine, California, gets second pro team with Zeta FC’s entry into NISA
May 23 – National Independent Soccer Association has approved Irvine Zeta FC’s (IZFC) application to join US third tier professional league.
Botev Plovdiv ultras force players to remove their shirts after loss to Lokomotiv Sofia
May 22 – Ultras from Bulgaria’s Botev Plovdiv stormed the pitch following the team’s loss to Lokomotiv Sofia in the Bulgarian championship, attacking players and stripping them of their shirts.
AFC releases draw detail for U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 Qualifiers
May 22 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has released details of the qualification draw for the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 which will be held Thursday, May 25.
MLS’s new San Diego franchise gets to work immediately with EPP targeting youth talent
May 22 – The acquisition of the new San Diego franchise in the MLS by an ownership group led by Mohamed Mansour has already been followed up with a statement of business intent with a deal announced with Elite Performance Partners (EPP) – a high-performance business that supports teams in elite sport.
Bettson takes shirt sponorship position with Argentina’s Racing Cub
May 22 – While Brazil has been plunged into a betting related match-fixing crisis, Argentinean clubs are moving deeper into the online gambling sponsorship market. Betsson has agreed a short sponsorship with Racing Club de Avellaneda for the 2023-24 season.