By Andrew Warshaw
March 14 – One of the key components of Gianni Infantino’s project to change the landscape of football’s global competitions has been ditched just 24 hours before it was to be put to the decision-making FIFA Council.
March 14 – Former Guatemala football chief and one-time FIFA executive committee member Rafael Salguero, who avoided a jail term for his role in the FifaGate corruption scandal, has been banned by FIFA for seven years.
March 14 – For the first time in 10 seasons, half the Champions League quarterfinalists are from one single country, with the Premier League providing four clubs in Friday’s eagerly awaited draw.
March 14 – The international players union FIFPro has called on FIFA to abandon plans for a revamped Club World Cup and expansion of the 2022 World Cup until it has reviewed the game’s “crowded” international match calendar.
March 15 – Budweiser has expanded its English football sponsorships becoming an Official Partner and the Official Beer of the England Women’s Football Team, a moniker it already holds for the men’s team.
By Paul Nicholson
March 13 – Africa’s leading football official, Ahmad Ahmad from Madagascar, has been refused a visa to travel to the US to attend the crucial FIFA Council meetings in Miami at the end of this week, according to African sources.
By Paul Nicholson
March 13 – The streaming of the Asian Champions League match involving Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli Saudi away to Uzbekistan’s Pakhator was watched by close to 1 million people in Saudi Arabia on the AFC’s YouTube and Facebook Live channels.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 13 – European members of FIFA’s all-powerful 37-strong ruling Council look set to express their continued opposition to Gianni Infantino’s $25 billion plan to change the landscape of global competitions when the body meets in Miami on Friday for arguably its most crucial summit since it replaced FIFA’s scandal-tarnished executive committee.
By Samindra Kunti
March 13 – Colombian women’s football players have won a first battle in their fight for an equal playing field by saving the pro league which the Colombia Football Federation (FCF)wanted to disband.
March 13 – Conflicting stories have emerged over the reasons behind the head of the Somalia Football Federation (SFF) travelling to FIFA headquarters in Zurich amid allegations that monies due to the country’s women’s team have gone missing.
March 13 – Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, whose infamous blunder partly cost his club the Champions League title against Real Madrid and who left for Turkey on loan last August, is reportedly seeking assistance from FIFA having allegedly gone without his salary for four months.
March 13 – Nike has signed a five-year exclusive deal with UEFA Women’s Football to supply their ball to all UEFA women’s competitions and become an official partner of the Together #WePlayStrong campaign.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 12 – They are number six and number eight, respectively, on an 11-point agenda but will they come to a conclusion? Gianni’s Infantino’s $25 billion pet project to change the face of competitive football by revamping the Club World Cup and Nations League will be put to the 37 members of the governing FIFA Council in Miami on Friday, along with the idea of expanding the Qatar World Cup to 48 teams.
By Paul Nicholson
March 12 – Football fans in Saudi Arabia will be able to watch tonight’s Champions League match involving Al Ahli Saudi FC away to Uzbekistan’s Pakhator FC legally and without having to resort to beoutQ’s piracy of BeIN Sport’s broadcast.
March 12 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has reportedly promised Oceania a guaranteed place in an expanded Club World Cup if his proposal is approved by the FIFA Council in Miami this week.