By Mark Baber
April 22 – FC Barcelona have unveiled the designs for their revamped home – the Nou Camp Nou – at a ceremony attended by Barca board members, the first-team squad and media representatives. Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the new stadium will become “an icon for the city,” though most would argue it already is in global opinion.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – In his eagerly awaited first book since leaving FIFA, Sepp Blatter has revealed that he was once asked by Switzerland’s foreign ministry to persuade an African leader to quit office in exchange for an ambassadorial role.
April 22 – With scores of their players repeatedly unpaid, Romanian football authorities have eased contract restrictions that will now allow them to move on and not be retained by clubs against their will.
By Paul Nicholson
April 21 – Gordon Derrick, the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president who was banned from running for the presidency of CONCACAF after FIFA’s Independent Audit and Compliance chief Domenico Scala ruled he had failed the integrity test, did in fact clear all the CONCACAF integrity hurdles before the file was passed to FIFA.
By James Dostoyevksy
April 21 – Double jeopardy, denial of the most basic due process and defamation of character seems to be the latest modus operandi of a FIFA compliance outfit that makes statements about the person’s life and livelihood with an acute and present danger of destroying not only his career in football but his ability to make a living.
April 21 – Not many clubs sack their coach with the domestic league title about to be won. But in Scotland, where Celtic are by far the biggest fish in a relatively small pool of winners, expectations go much further than perennial success in the top flight.
By Mark Baber
April 21 – Speaking at a press conference to announce cooperation between the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) and France’s FC Metz academy over youth training, AIFF President Praful Patel (pictured) argued the blanket ban on sporting activities in Maharashta was unfair on football and revealed that the Indian Premier League (IPL) and I-League are to be merged in the near future.
April 20 – A match-fixing inquiry conducted by the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) has announced that “10 persons of interest” are to be quizzed and investigated over long-standing allegations.
April 20 – New Zealand club side Wellington Phoenix have signed what they claim is the largest sponsorship deal in New Zealand football history with China’s Huawei. The deal is estimated to be worth $2 million a season, though no official figure was given.
By Paul Nicholson
April 19 – Larry Mussenden, one of the last two standing candidates in the election to the presidency of CONCACAF, has launched his election manifesto promising to chase down the $190 million of corruption cash collected by the US justice department, to push for a Caribbean professional league and to get back the Trinidad training centre from Jack Warner,
By Andrew Warshaw
April 19 – The US federal judge overseeing football’s sweeping corruption scandal is reported to have conceded that February next year will be too early to start proceedings.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 19 – Jeffrey Webb, the former CONCACAF leader who fooled the world as the self-proclaimed arbiter of morality and good governance, says he “deeply regrets” taking bribes on his way to the top of football’s political ladder before falling dramatically from grace.
April 19 – The European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) has spoken out against the idea of a European Super League and backed the current UEFA-based system.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 18 – Michel Platini is facing a race against time to be able to resume his role as UEFA president before the 54-nation confederation’s annual congress in Budapest at the start of next month.
By Paul Nicholson
April 18 – Wonderful as the Premier League Leicester City story is, are we seeing an English return to long ball football? Could we soon be crying out for more of the same and a demand for the likes of the old Wimbledon to return to the top flight? Could Sam Allardyce be right after all?