Greece’s PAOK unveils plans for new €200m stadium
July 14 – Greece’s PAOK FC is moving forward with a project to construct a new, state-of-the-art stadium in Toumba, Thessaloniki, replacing their historic current ground.
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FIGC greenlights Serie A’s Milan-Como regular season fixture to be played downunder
July 11 – Italy’s football federation has given the OK for AC Milan’s Serie A clash with Como to be played in Perth, Australia, in what would be European football’s first competitive domestic fixture staged abroad.
Real Madrid asks LaLiga to postpone opener as CWC fixtures compound player welfare crisis
July 9 – La Liga President Javier Tebas has been one of the most vehement critics of FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup, denouncing the tournament as a disruptive force that fundamentally “upsets the ecosystem of football”.
French league confirms launch of own streaming platform
July 2 – France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) has announced it will launch its own television channel to broadcast Ligue 1 matches from next season, following the collapse of a short-lived agreement with streaming platform DAZN.
Sheffield Wednesday turmoil as unpaid players hand-in notices
July 2 – Struggling Championship club Sheffield Wednesday’s financial turmoil has deepened even further, with several senior players now moving to terminate their contracts and leave the club on free transfers following a third instance of delayed wage payments in four months.
Liga Portugal agrees €31.8m budget as Arena Liga Portugal comes on-line
June 28 – The Portuguese league – Liga Portugal – has approved a budget for the next season which forecasts record revenue of €31.8 million.
Greeks plan a football ‘Renaissance’ from grassroots upwards
June 30 – The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) has unveiled it new grassroots development programme, dubbed ‘Renaissance’, aimed at nurturing young talent across Greece. The program emphasises a structured organisation of football academies and is set to usher in a new era for the sport in the country.
UEFA hold WCL draw with a brand new look for the new format
June 254 – Manchester United will face Dutch club PSV Eindhoven in the second round of UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifying.
UEFA’s men in black get a uniform upgrade with Macron
June 24 – In a world where football partnerships often feel like hollow branding exercises, there’s something refreshingly substantial about Macron’s continued relationship with UEFA. The Italian sportswear brand has just secured their third consecutive contract as Official UEFA Referee Match Kit Supplier.
Romania’s FC Rapid resolves name dispute
June 25 – Romania’s FC Rapid 1923 Bucharest has changed its name to Fotbal Club Rapid. The new name of the club will be used officially from the start of the 2025/2026 season in Romania.
EA Sports reports double reach of FC Futures grassroots initiative
June 25 – EA Sports is hitting the mark with its FC Futures programme, doubling its global reach in year two of the project. What started as a £8 million (US $10 million) commitment to grassroots football back in April 2023 has now impacted over 340,000 people -bringing the overall tally to more than 500,000 participants across communities worldwide.
Kevin Durant stake signals strategic shift at PSG
October 24 – NBA icon and serial sports investor Kevin Durant has taken a direct minority ownership stake in Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), deepening his involvement with the European Champions and signalling a wider strategic shift by the club’s Qatari ownership.
Excluded by FIFA, European Leagues build EU political alliance
June 20 – Increasingly sidelined and excluded by FIFA in discussions concerning the international calendar and how it impacts the operations and financial structures of domestic leagues in Europe, the European Leagues organisation has instead moved closer to the European Union in a move to help protect the Europe’s football eco-system.
European Leagues president Claudius Schäfer, vice-president Mathieu Moreuil, and general secretary Alberto Colombo met today (Friday) with Glenn Micallef, the European Commissioner for Youth,
Charai and Hubert in at Belgium’s Westerloo and OH Leuven
June 18 –Belgium’s Pro League clubs are ringing the management changes with Issame Charai replacing Timmy Simons as manager of Westerloo, while at OH Leuven, David Hubert (pictured centre) succeeds Chris Coleman.
Divide and conquer. FIFA’s obese CWC has so far failed to ignite, but could ECA deliver the real paydirt
June 15 – The European Club Association (ECA) held a boarding meeting in Miami last Friday, ahead of the kick off of the Club World Cup on Saturday.
After the meeting ECA board members and the 11 ECA member clubs that will play in the tournament met with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his closest FIFA apparatchiks, plus Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez in what was described as “a high-level gathering with key global stakeholders”.