By Paul Nicholson
March 17 – The New York Cosmos, one of the world’s most iconic football club names, has announced that they will travel to Cuba for a friendly match against the Cuban national team on June 2. The Cosmos will be the first professional sports team to play in Cuba since 1999.
March 13 – The final and third-placed play-off for this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup will be played in Philadelphia. The tournament kicks off July 7 in Dallas and travels through 12 North American cities before reaching Philadelphia for the finals weekend on July 25-26.
March 5 -Major League Soccer will kick off its 20th campaign as scheduled on Friday after a new collective bargaining agreement was finally put in place at the 11th hour to end the threat of a players’ strike.
By Paul Nicholson
March 4 – Jeffrey Webb is set to be re-elected unopposed to the presidency of North and Central American and Caribbean confederation CONCACAF. The XXX Congress on April 16 will see one contested election with a battle for the FIFA Executive Committee post for the Central American region.
February 17 – When CONCACAF launched its U15 Boys championship in 2013 with 22 teams, it became the first confederation to hold an U15 championship. In 2014 it broke new confederation ground, hosting an U15 Girls tournament.
By Ben Nicholson
February 16 – Las Vegas’ expansion bid has received a fatal letter from MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Addressed to Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman the letter said that the MLS would be unable to consider Las Vegas for an expansion franchise until 2018, due to “the uncertainty as to when we might be able to move forward in Las Vegas”.
By Ben Nicholson
February 16 – The MLS is facing a player strike that could result in a delayed start to the season unless the league can appease the MLS Players Union in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the 2015 season. The issue circles around the MLS’ approach to free agency.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – A year after announcing his plans to form a new MLS club in Miami, David Beckham is still searching for a permanent venue amid growing concerns that his dream franchise might be some way off.
February 4 – Major League Soccer (MLS) has extended its deal with Sportradar Security Services to monitor the global betting market in relation to MLS matches for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
January 31 – The shadow of Jack Warner and his dealings as president of CONCACAF has made a reappearance in Trinidad where a tribunal has been appointed to investigate his assets and registered interests as part of the integrity checks on the island for public officials.
January 26 – The steps towards a professional league in the Caribbean took another pace forward with the second meeting of the Caribbean Premier League Task Force which reviewed regional stadium infrastructure study with a view to identifying which countries could host league matches.
January 21 – Beach Soccer fever is building across the CONCACAF region. With a record number of 16 nations heading to El Salvador for the regional championship in March and a Beach Soccer World Cup qualification place at stake, the confederation has unveiled its tournament logo and announced January 27 as the date for the draw.
By Sam Nicholson in Philadelphia
January 15 – The world’s largest coaches association is holding the world’s largest convention for coaches in Philadelphia, USA. The five-day National Soccer Coaches of America Association (NSCAA) opened yesterday with more than 4,000 coaches and 10,000 attendees from around the country expected to attend.
January 13 – The 2014 World Cup in Brazil is fading into the distance as CONCACAF gathers in Miami, Florida on Thursday, January 15 for the preliminary draw for the qualification rounds for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Games will be played March 23-31.
January 12 – The US appetite for big tournament soccer is growing with 24 cities in 18 states having indicated an interest in hosting matches in the 2016 Centennial Cup America (Copa America Centenario).