By David Owen
December 14 – Footballers in Brazil were again more likely to pick up anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) than those in any other country, according to statistics relating to samples collected in 2018 made public this month by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
December 14 – The English Football League has appointed one of the country’s most sought-after and widely-travelled administrators, Trevor Birch (pictured), as its new chief executive.
December 14 – Kenyan media are boycotting the country’s top flight in response to authorities there selectively banning individual journalists from selected games.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Gianni Infantino’s increasingly bitter war with the Swiss justice authorities over whether he is guilty of corruption has taken another significant twist with a special prosecutor recommending a criminal investigation against the FIFA President for using a private jet in 2017.
By Paul Nicholson
December 11 – Concacaf, whose member associations have so often trailblazed in the women’s game, has restructured its senior women’s national teams calendar “with the aim of transforming women’s national team football across the entire confederation”.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – The umbrella body representing all of Europe’s major leagues has re-iterated its concern over the Continent’s financial haves and have-nots and has urged UEFA to hand more of its Champions League cash to those not participating in its elite competition.
By Paul Nicholson
December 11 – Addressing the CAF General Assembly today, FIFA president Gianni Infantino spoke of a priority within global football to “project” Africa on the world stage. It was his second Congress address, having spoken to the AFC earlier in the week.
December 11 – The much-maligned and financially challenged Confederation of African Football (CAF) has said it is projecting a loss of $13 million for the 2020-21 season.
December 11 – A loan of €67 million has been agreed with 11 clubs, most in LaLiga’s second tier, to help them financially manage their way through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
December 11 – Barcelona’s French international forward and World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann, who has been an ambassador for tech giant Huawei, has cut commercial ties with the company citing China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims.
December 11 – Robinho’s appeal over a nine-year prison sentence for rape has been thrown out by a court in Milan.
December 10 – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter was interviewed yesterday by the Swiss Special Prosecutor Stefan Keller who is investigating the criminal charges against FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
December 10 – Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir players took a knee and wore ‘No to racism’ t-shirts before their rescheduled Champions League game on Wednesday, 24 hours after the original fixture was abandoned after 14 minutes when both teams walked off in protest after the Turkish club accused a match official of racism.
December 10 – The Cayman Islands Government has restored its financial support of the Cayman Islands FA for the first time since the arrest of former Concacaf and CIFA president Jeff Webb in the FIFAgate raids of 2015 in Zurich.
December 10 – Northern Mariana Islands Football Association (NMIFA) became the 47th full Member Association of the Asian Football Confederation at the 30th AFC Congress yesterday.