November 21 – UEFA looks set to fast-track the implementation of video assistant referees (VAR) for the knockout stages of this season’s Champions League after growing pressure to fall into line with most of Europe’s domestic leagues and following the system’s success at the World Cup.
November 19 – An open letter calling on the chief executive of England’s Professional Footballers’ Association, Gordon Taylor (pictured), to step down after 37 years in charge has been endorsed by more than 200 current and former players.
November 14 – Claudio Ranieri, the much-travelled Italian who shocked world football by leading unheralded Leicester City to the 2016 Premier League title as 5000-1 outsiders in one of the greatest team sport achievements of all time, is back in the top flight after being appointed manager of Fulham in succession to Slavisa Jokanovic.
November 13 – Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue1 clubs give almost three time more playing time to under 21 players than English Premier League teams.
November 6 – The transfer value of French and PSG star Kylian Mbappé just keeps on rising, having now overtaken Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane and his Brazilian club mate, the most expensive player in the planet, Neymar.
October 30 – Real Madrid have sacked former Spanish national team boss Julen Lopetegui just three months into his first season in charge after last weekend’s 5-1 thrashing by Barcelona in El Classico.
October 30 – Real Madrid are the standout Big 5 club in Europe when it comes to training top quality players, but Ajax lead the way in terms of players trained who are competing in the top divisions across the continent.
October 26 – He didn’t appear on the podium of either the FIFA Best or UEFA’s annual awards but data for the season so far makes Neymar the Most Valuable Player in Europe’s Big 5 leagues.
October 22 – Amateur club organisation US Club Soccer, which has more than 4,000 members across the US, has launched a club certification system based on its Players First philosophy.
October 22 – The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has launched a project to recruit 100 foreign football coaches to work at grassroots centres across the country.
October 12 – The transfer market might bring monetary riches (usually for a very few) but on-field success is not created annually in the transfer money market but in the establishment of long serving and stable squads, according to the latest analysis by the CIES Football Observatory.
October 4 – Club squad sizes are irrelevant when it comes to the Big 5 leagues, according to new research data that found that for the last 13 seasons big-5 league clubs fielded on average 27.5 players per season.
September 28 – The Chinese Football Association (CFA) are looking to Belgium’s Chris Van Puyvelde to help rejuvenate their international ambitions. The technical director of the Belgian Football Association (KBVB) has signed a four-year deal with the CFA joining former players Zhao Junzhe (pictured), Yang Che and Shao Jiayi among others in a bid to professionalise operations.
September 26 – Manchester City are the most exciting team in Europe if goal mouth activity is the measure. City have had a shot on goal every 4’02” so far this season. They are followed by Ronaldo-rejuvenated Juventus who have a shot every 4’33”.
September 26 – Watch out the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Juventus because FIFA have announced ground-breaking plans to limit the number of players a club can loan out each season to prevent top talent being hoarded.