By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – The simmering dispute over proposed changes to the Champions League escalated dramatically today when Europe’s major leagues threatened to rip up their working relationship with UEFA next spring unless the governing body meets their demands for the controversial deal to be either scrapped or tweaked.
October 21 – New UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has given the biggest hint yet that a bidding process will be put in place for staging UEFA’s major club finals.
October 19 – As footballing stories go, few are more uplifting. Two years ago, Gambian refugee Ousman Manneh fled his dictator-led country, leaving behind his entire family, to seek asylum in Germany.
October 18 – UEFA’s ‘No to Racism’ campaign is again under way with the backing of star names, top clubs and – for the first time ever – the Women’s Champions League.
October 18 – The English Football Association has been accused of “institutional failure” by a group of parliamentarians for failing to conduct proper due diligence into Sam Allardyce, the England manager who lasted only 67 days and one game in charge following a newspaper sting that led to him stepping down but which he described as entrapment.
October 17 – European leagues unfairly disadvantaged by the controversial revamping of the Champions League could receive special financial aid from UEFA to offset the three-year deal that favours the Continent’s most affluent clubs.
October 14 – After eight match days the French top flight Ligue 1 has attracted almost 5% less spectators than last season. The downward trend is worrying for French football that had hoped to build on the success of Euro 2016 in terms of attendances to club matches.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 14 – Talks about an Atlantic League featuring clubs from Scotland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Sweden – first floated over a decade ago – are back on the table, seemingly in response to UEFA’s decision to revamp the Champions League in favour of Europe’s biggest clubs.
October 13 – At the age of 83, Roger Blanpain, one of FIFPro’s founding fathers and its first president, has passed away in Leuven, Belgium.
October 13 – UEFA have rejected Legia Warsaw’s appeal against a Champions League stadium ban meaning the Polish club will have to play Real Madrid behind closed doors on November 2.
October 12 – Outspoken Spanish league president Javier Tebas, who has refused to condemn third party ownership despite widespread opposition to the practise, has been handed a second four-year term.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 7 – Leading leagues across Europe say they have won vital concessions from UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin over plans to revamp the Champions League.
October 7 – Sadly the result did not match the anticipation. Kosovo’s first competitive home fixture since being admitted by FIFA and UEFA ended in a 6-0 defeat by Croatia that leaves them bottom of their World Cup qualifying group.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 6 – The boss of one of Italy’s major top-flight clubs has issued a scathing attack on the role of agents in the wake of the English newspaper sting that saw Sam Allardyce lose the national manager’s job after just 67 days and which quoted agents boasting about how many managers had been paid off in transfer deals.
October 6 – Two players with Czech side Sparta Prague who caused outrage with their sexist comments have been told to train with the women’s team.