February 6 – Argentine World Cup winner Mario Kempes has been sacked from his ambassadorial role with Spain’s Valencia for fiercely criticising the team after their 4-0 thrashing at home to Eibar.
February 5 – The inaugural Sportego Celtic eSports League kicks off February 6 with a 14-week season that opens with Linfield against Shamrock Rovers followed by Crusaders vs Dundalk.
February 3 – In a fascinating case that will be noted by all stakeholders in football’s transfer landscape, player power has lost out to contractual obligations after Bayer Leverkusen’s Turkish international midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu had a four-month ban upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport meaning he will miss the rest of the season.
February 3 – In a significant break with the past regime of Michel Platini and as promised by his successor Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA have introduced an open tender process for cities keen to stage its major club finals and have named those interested in hosting in 2019, with formal bidding now under way.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 31 – Four and a half months into his UEFA presidency, Aleksander Čeferin says he’s having to work far longer hours than he imagined and has denounced those who doubted his ability – even within his own circles.
January 31- Premier League managers may have taken the opportunity to give key players a rest this week with the Fourth Round of FA Cup matches, but fans were in no mood to to take a week off. Five of the eight Premier League clubs with home matches sold out more than 95% of their capacities.
January 25 – French club Bastia have banned a supporter who made monkey chants at Nice’s Italian striker Mario Balotelli during last Friday’s Ligue 1 match.
January 25 – Who are the all-time champions of Europe? Not surprisingly it is the two Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona who lead the ranking, with Real edging ahead but only by five points over the 25 years of Champions League competition.
January 25 – Serbia’s appeal against Kosovo becoming a member of UEFA has been rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, finally paving the way for the breakaway state to persue its footballing ambitions without interference from Big Brother.
January 25 – A lower-league English club has taken the rare step of sacking its head groundsman of 27 years – not because of anything to do with team but after a match was postponed because of a frozen pitch.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 19 – UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin sees no “rational or legal grounds” to strip Russia of the 2018 World Cup despite the recent doping scandal combined with persistent instances of racism and the ongoing probe by Swiss authorities into the bid process.
By Samindra Kunti
January 19 – Brussels MP Arnaud Verstraete from the Green party has subpoenaed the region of Brussels over Belgium’s proposed stadium for EURO2020. The process is the latest hitch in the construction of the venue.
January 19 – Sporting Lisbon players were confronted by angry fans and had to be protected twice by riot police after the club’s Portuguese Cup defeat by Chaves.
January 13 – UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin hosted AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa at UEFA HQ in Nyon, Switzerland, with an agenda based on deepening the relationship between the tow confederations.
January 12 – With the English FA Cup having played its first weekend with the Premier League teams in the competition, and Spain’s Copa del Rey being marked by a comeback performance by Barcelona and Messi brilliance to get them though to the quarter finals, the question of whether Cup competitions are a distraction or an opportunity is being asked across Europe.