PSG and Moroccan star Achraf Hakimi charged with rape
March 3 – Paris St Germain’s Moroccan international Achraf Hakimi is facing a criminal investigation in France following an allegation of rape, prosecutors have confirmed.
News
Spanish refs demand justice as probe into Negreira’s Barca payments gathers pace
March 3 – Spain’s referees have jointly defended their reputation and profession in the wake of the burgeoning scandal involving Barcelona’s alleged payment of £1.4 million to a company run by a former referee who at the time was acting as one of their top representatives at the Spanish FA.
Newcastle ownership under scrutiny as report identifies Saudi’s PIF as a government body
March 3 – The English Premier League has been urged to re-examine a legally binding promise made by Newcastle United’s Saudi owners that the Middle East state would not have control of the club.
Former athlete Charmaine Crooks takes over as Canada Soccer interim president
March 3 – Charmaine Crooks has been appointed interim president of Canada Soccer in the wake of Nick Bontis’ resignation while agreement has been reached with the women’s national team on an interim funding agreement that should go a long way to ending a festering dispute.
Angel City opens business account with second banking sponsor PNC
March 3 – Financial institutions are lining up to get involved with the women’s game, targeting an increasingly empowered and powerful market.
Montagliani says 2026 World Cup is not about winning but building a regional platform
March 3 – Hosting the 2026 World Cup in the Concacaf region is a chance for the confederation to build new opportunity for all its nations, said Concacaf president and FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani.
Yves Jean-Bart says he is returning to run Haitian football now CAS has lifted FIFA ban
March 2 – Haiti’s former FA president Yves Jean-Bart, whose lifetime FIFA ban from the sport over sexual abuse allegations was overturned last month, says he is reclaiming his position.
FIFA’s supermodel ambassador sends the wrong message, says former exco member Dodd
March 2 – FIFA’s choice of Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima as its first global fan ambassador five months before the Women’s World Cup has been lambasted as “tone-deaf” by Moya Dodd, a former FIFA executive committee member and one-time leader of the organisation’s taskforce for the women’s game.
Bulgarian top tier club debt leaves six battling to meet efbet Liga pro license criteria
March 2 – Six clubs from Bulgaria elite division, efbet Liga, have combined debts due to the National Revenue Agency (NRA) of BGN 14.5 million (€7.25 million). The news was part of a naming and shaming announced by the NRA through Bulgarian National Television.
Best behaviour: Under fire Alaba says vote for Messi over Benzema was a team decision
March 2 – Austria captain David Alaba says it was a team decision for him to vote for Lionel Messi over his own Real Madrid team-mate Karim Benzema as men’s player of the year at the recent Best FIFA Awards.
French World Cup legend Just Fontaine dies, aged 89
March 2 – Just Fontaine, the French football legend who in 1958 scored a record 13 goals in the World Cup finals in Sweden – a remarkable feat that has withstood 16 editions since and seems unlikely ever to be matched – has died, triggering an outpouring of tributes.
Fan Festivals to be rolled out for first time at a WWC with Australia/New Zealand 2023
March 2 – FIFA is sticking with its Fan Festival format for this summer’s Women’s World Cup but has lengthened its name from ‘fest’ to ‘festival’.
Disgraced Le Graet still looks set to be Infantino’s right hand man in Paris office
By Andrew Warshaw
March 1 – Disgraced former French FA president Noel Le Graet looks as if he will still be given carte blanche by FIFA to oversee its office in Paris despite being forced to resign over a series of allegations including sexual misconduct.
Fans’ return helps to ring up £7.5m profit for Fenway’s Liverpool
By David Owen
March 1 – Liverpool’s remarkable 2021-22 season has helped to restore the Merseyside club to profit. The Reds have served notice that pre-tax profit weighed in at £7.5 million in the year to end-May 2022; this compared with a loss of £4.8 million the previous year.
James Dostoyevsky: C’est à vomir
This is the tale of ‘The Old Man who can’t See’: a French autocrat, adorned with Napoleonic complexities, was handed his Waterloo by two women. At 81, after 12 years at the helm of French football, he resigned yesterday, only to assume a new assignment next week. You guessed it: at Infantino’s FIFA.