By Samindra Kunti in Stockholm
May 24 – Amid heightened security in the Swedish capital the Europa League final between Manchester United and Ajax may have lost some of its lustre, but the stakes remain high for Jose Mourinho’s team with a season-defining Champions League ticket on offer.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 23 – The great survivor has done it again. Angel Maria Villar, one of the last remaining members of FIFA’s old guard, has been re-elected as head of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for the eighth consecutive time after standing unopposed.
May 23 – UEFA have confirmed that the Europa League final between Manchester United and Ajax in Stockholm on Wednesday will go ahead and that there is no intelligence to suggest that the showpiece fixture could be targeted following the bomb blast in Manchester that tragically killed at least 22 concert-goers.
May 18 – Trepca ’89 will make history next month when they become the first Kosovan club side to compete in Europe after winning a spot in the Champions League qualifying draw.
May 18 – Winning team captains will no longer lead their players up to the VIP area of stadiums to receive European club trophies.
May 17 – Federal investigators in Germany say they have not found any indications that there was a “terrorist background” to the attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus on April 11.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – The former Portuguese government minister unceremoniously ditched by FIFA in its clearout of senior governance experts looks set to make an immediate return – down the road at UEFA, FIFA’s biggest rival.
May 7 – Sulley Muntari has had his controversial one-match ban for protesting against racist abuse overturned by Italy’s football authorities but says he was “treated like a criminal” for complaining.
May 5 – Italian football’s reputation around the world has been damaged by the Sulley Muntari affair, the Italian Football Federation’s anti-racism advisor has charged.
May 4 – The Czech football federation says it has been raided by police and its chairman Miroslav Pelta detained in the presence of his lawyer.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 4 – Two months after football’s lawmakers gave the green light to experiment with a new tennis-style penalty shootout system, UEFA are employing it at the European under-17 championship, which began in Croatia today.
May 5 – The English Football Association has agreed to trial rugby-style ‘sin bins’ in lower part-time leagues from next season.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 3 – How short-sighted can you get? Pescara’s former Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Muntari has been banned for one game by the Italian FA for walking off the pitch complaining of racist abuse despite being praised by the United Nations’ top human rights official.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 2 – Turkey’s chances of ending years of disappointment by finally landing the European Championship finals in 2024 could be scuppered by a new human rights provision in UEFA’s hosting guidelines.
By Samindra Kunti
May 1 – OGC Nice have all but ended Paris Saint-Germain’s title aspirations in Ligue 1, winning an ill-tempered game 3-1. Thiago Motta and Angel Di Maria were both send off. PSG trail Monaco by three points with three match days left. PSG have been Ligue 1 champions for the past four seasons.