August 17 – After losing his appeal against a five-match ban for pushing a referee during Sunday night’s Spanish Super Cup 3-1 first-leg victory over Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo, used his Instagram account to claim “This is what you call persecution.”
August 16 – The Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) has brought in Sportradar to implement its Fraud Detection System across all matches in the country’s national leagues. At the same time the CBF has also launched its own in-house Integrity Department, putting in place an Integrity Officer who will work closely with Sportradar.
August 11 – In a move which prompted fans – presumably from outside of the country – to take to social media to express their anger, two Iranian internationals have been banned for life from their national team as punishment for playing for their Greek club against an Israeli side.
August 10 – Mexico’s national team captain Rafael Márquez has been sanctioned by the US treasury department for allegedly being a “front person” for a drug-trafficking cartel.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 9 – Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is the latest footballing figurehead to express concern over the €222 million world record transfer of Neymar, saying all major stakeholders should “sit round the table” to discuss the whole question of inflated fees in order to prevent fans switching off from football.
August 9 – Diego Maradona is at it again – not making a comeback but coming up with yet more madcap comments, this time pledging to be a “soldier… until death” for embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
By Paul Nicholson
August 8 – Rochell Woodson, the Liberian FA executive committee member who was removed from her position at the LFA Congress in December 2016 while she was on maternity leave, has won her appeal against the decision at the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS).
August 8 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against Aberdeen and Apollon Limassol following crowd trouble at their recent Europa Cup tie.
August 8 – The manager of the England women’s team, Mark Sampson (pictured), has been cleared of any wrongdoing after one his star players Eniola Aluko made a complaint to the Football Association about “bullying and harassment”.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – The bitter divisions within Sierra Leone football have taken an intriguing twist with FIFA giving Isha Johansen the green light to remain as interim federation president even though her mandate has expired.
August 7 – In another depressing illustration of how political ideology infiltrates football, Iran’s FA has denounced two Iranians contracted to a Greek side for competing against an Israeli team.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – Time after time when quizzed on the subject, former UEFA president and later FIFA presidential candidate Michel Platini repeatedly denied suggestions he had voted for Qatar to stage the 2022 World Cup under pressure from the French government.
August 7 – Leading Greek club Olympiacos FC has renewed its support of UNICEF and particularly its contribution to UNICEF’s immunisation programme for children to help prevent child mortality from preventable diseases.
August 4 – Amidst the wave of reaction emanating from Neymar’s blockbuster transfer from Barcelona to Paris, the international players’ union FIFPro has called on the European Commission to do something to stop the game rapidly being destabilised by the deep pockets of a select few clubs.
By Mark Baber
Albania’s Football Federation (FAA) has issued a statement of support for Ismail Morinaj, the man who famously flew a drone with a nationalist banner into a Belgrade stadium during a Euro 2016 qualifier, sparking riots around the Balkans, igniting nationalist fervour and, thanks to the reaction of some Serbian fans, greatly assisting in Albania’s qualification for their first major international tournament.