By Andrew Warshaw
July 16 – Long before the World Cup got under way, FIFA president Gianni Infantino was unequivocal. It was unthinkable, he said, for the destiny of the world’s greatest sporting occasion to be decided by a refereeing mistake.
July 16 – International Champions Cup organisers Relevant, has expanded its tournament footprint into youth competition with the ICC Futures event that kicks off today at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.
July 13 – It’s been one of the biggest open secrets of the footballing summer. But it still begs the question as to why a club would sack a manager who, in his first season, wins the Premier League and in his second the FA Cup.
July 13 – FIFA’s technical director Marco van Basten, arguably the greatest striker of his generation, has a word of advice for Neymar: cut down on the play-acting.
July 12 – Africa will never fulfil their potential on the World Cup stage unless they develop their youth properly and have strong enough characters on the field.
July 11 – As anticipated, Spain have named former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique as their new head coach after Fernando Hierro stepped down from temporary charge following their shock last-16 World Cup exit to Russia.
July 9 – The Brazilian FA (CBF) wants to maintain Tite as head coach of the Brazilian national team until the 2022 World Cup in Qatar even though Brazil crashed out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage following a 2-1 defeat against Belgium.
July 9 – He was only a stand-in but he has already stepped down. Fernando Hierro, forced at the 11th hour into leading Spain at the World Cup, has given up the post and will not return to his former role as sporting director.
July 9 – He may be 40 and have retired from international football but Gianluigi Buffon is about to enter a new phase of his stellar career.
July 6 – Clubs who reach the knockout stages of the Champions League and Europa League and other elite competitions will be allowed to make a fourth substitution if the match goes into extra time from next season.
July 4 – Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande, on a training visit to Europe, have joined Austria’s FK Austria Wien who are currently in pre-season preparations at their new Generali Arena.
June 28 – Premier League Liverpool have added a new international academy initiative in Asia via a partnership with PNH Soccer Academy in Hong Kong.
June 27 – Internazionale have launched their first Inter Academy project in Australia in Brisbane in partnership with Fullshare Holdings and Sparrow Early Learning, as the Club’s Official Education Partner.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 26 – You win some, you lose some and it’s all about interpretation. That seems to be the upshot so far of VAR’s introduction at the World Cup that reached new levels of confusion on Monday evening and continues to throw up more questions than answers.
June 21 – FIFA have been taken to task by the international players’ union FIFPro for allowing Morocco to field Nordin Amrabat against Portugal on Wednesday too soon after the player suffered concussion.