By Paul Nicholson
August 5 –David Beckham’s Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise option of $25 million looks very cheap with league officials indicating earlier this week that they were preparing to double franchise fees to $200 million.
August 2 – The fast expanding United Soccer League (USL), part of the professional tier of US football below the MLS, will play a longer season in 2017. The league that starts matches at the end of March will now run for 30 weeks with teams playing 32 games.
August 2 – With the first round of Scotiabank Champions League fixtures kicking off the 2016-17 season tonight with Trinidad’s Central at home to Canada’s Vancouver Whitecaps and Mexico’s Pachuca at home to Honduras’ Olympia, CONCACAF has announced a significantly expanded Spanish-language TV deal in the US with Univision.
July 26 – Panama will host the 2017 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship April-May next year. The competition is the regional qualifier for the U17 World Cup which will be held in India in 2017.
By Paul Nicholson
July 25 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has elected Antiguan Gordon Derrick to a second four-year term as president.
By Paul Nicholson
July 19 – Trinidad and Tobago FA president David John-Williams, a challenger for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) presidency in elections to be held in Miami July 23, has released his manifesto to Insideworldfootball.
By Paul Nicholson
July 19 – Hillaren Frederick, candidate in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) presidential elections has released his manifest under the banner ‘Building bridges through effective Communication and Good Governance ….31….We are Strong’.
July 19 – They may be among the most revered England internationals of recent years but Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole have not been able to make the MLS All Stars squad to face Arsenal on July 28.
By Paul Nicholson
July 18 – With Caribbean Football Union (CFU) elections taking place July 23, CFU president Gordon Derrick, standing for a second four-year term, has issued an election manifesto with an emphasis on grassroots development and increased competition across the region.
July 14 – Nike’s summer of success has continued with the unveiling of its Ordem 4 ball as the Official Match Ball for the 2016/17 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
By Paul Nicholson
July 13 – The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president David John-Williams was hit with a demand for $300,000 from Metro Hotel Limited yesterday as he enters the final lobbying phase in his bid for the Caribbean Football Union presidency.
July 13 – Premier League Crystal Palace, currently on pre-season tour in the US, will have their second of three friendly matches streamed live on Facebook.
By Paul Nicholson
July 12 – Trinidad and Tobago FA (TTFA) president David John-Williams, who is bidding to become Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president with the apparent backing of CONCACAF’s leadership, FIFA and UEFA, has come under fire from within his own federation for not consulting his own members and for spending TTFA funds to promote his bid.
July 6 – CONCACAF has put its U15 national team championship back into the calendar and will hold the Girls edition August 9-21 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney in Orlando, Florida. Twenty three nations are entered.
By Paul Nicholson
July 5 – The US Soccer Federation has officially announced a new 25-club Girls’ Development Academy that will start matches in the Autumn of 2017. The academy structure is “an initiative designed to accelerate the development of world-class female players” in the World Champion nation.