By Andrew Warshaw
February 28 – With the corona virus crippling sports events across the globe, UEFA’s executive committee seem certain to discuss the potential effect on Euro 2020 when they meet in Amsterdam on Monday ahead of their full 55-nation Congress 24 hours later.
February 28 – UEFA is releasing 10,000 tickets for the 2020 UEFA Europa League final in Gdańsk, Poland, at 2pm today, and introducing for the first time a ‘Flexi-Final’ ticket for fans who only want to attend if their team makes the final.
February 28 – David Beckham and his Inter Miami headline the landmark 25th season of Major League Soccer, which kicks off on Saturday with the curtain raiser between D.C. United and Colorado in the American capital.
February 28 – Kovoso’s football supremo Agim Ademi has been sentenced to nine months in prison by the country’s Appeals Court over attempted coercion.
By Andrew Warshaw and Samindra Kunti
February 27 – The international match calendar, which has divided stakeholders throughout the game – all with vested interests – is to undergo its biggest ever review by FIFA.
February 27 – A top-level FIFA committee is discussing whether to prevent domestic league games being played in another country.
February 27 – Zimbabwe has been barred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from hosting any international matches until further notice after its main stadiums failed to meet required standards, throwing an upcoming African Nations Cup fixture and home World Cup qualifiers later in the year into jeopardy.
February 27 – For a partnership between two of the biggest companies and football clubs on the planet, details of the new deal between Bayern Munich and Google are pretty thin.
February 27 – Spare a thought for Italian coach Giuseppe Sannino who has done nothing wrong on the pitch but has been temporarily stood down by his team, Honved of Hungary, because of his nationality given the effect of the coronavirus in his homeland.
February 26 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin (pictured left) has signed an agreement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (pictured right) aimed at cleaning up Greek football, which for years has been marred by corruption, match-fixing, attacks on referees and crowd trouble.
February 26 – European governing body UEFA has said it is monitoring the spread of the Coronavirus closely, but potential consequences for Euro 2020 remain unclear.
February 26 – Egypt’s top-flight club Zamalek face strong sanctions after failing to show up for their hotly anticipated Cairo derby against Al Ahly, causing the game to be abandoned.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
February 26 – Repairs being done to the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali will knock out Rwanda from staging May’s CAF Champions’ League final.
With just days to the start of the knockout stages of the CAF Champions’ League and the Confederation Cup, with eight very tough quarter-final matches in both competitions, the quality of officiating from the referees, as well as the pre-game preparations of CAF’s match co-ordinators, and their support staff, will be key in ensuring that the matches go without incident.
February 26 – Despite efforts to shake off its tarnished image, Conmebol has been rocked by yet more scandal after its former FIFA Council member Wilmar Valdez (pictured) was banned for one year for breaking his duty of loyalty.