By Paul Nicholson
May 9 – The unrelenting piracy of TV rights in the middle east by Saudi Arabia-based broadcaster BeoutQ has ultimately forced a radical rethink of broadcast rights sales in the region with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) having announced it is retendering media rights for the country for the 2021-24 period.
May 9 – Banned former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, out of the spotlight in recent months, has revealed he plans to sue world football’s governing body and his successor Gianni Infantino for allegedly spreading “false information” and damaging his reputation, according to reports in Switzerland.
May 9 – Barcelona, who have plans to enter a professional team in the US National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), have hit a stumbling block over their kit supply deal with Nike.
May 9 – Concacaf have unveiled details of their restructured 2020 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship which will be played over three rounds by 32 nations.
May 9 – Arsenal have added a content layer to their ‘Visit Rwanda’ sleeve sponsorship via a deal with National Geographic.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 8 – A “vast majority” of European clubs are against the idea of overhauling the Champions League and introducing a system of promotion and relegation.
May 8 – Nigerian FA chief Amaju Pinnick, a strong ally of FIFA president Gianni Infantino and a constant figure of controversy, has been charged along with four others by a federal court on allegations of corruption and suspended, according to local reports.
May 8 – Chelsea have had partial success with their appeal against the two-window transfer ban given to them by FIFA but not enough to allow them to buy new players in either of the next two transfer windows.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 8 – Impossible, unthinkable, sensational, miraculous. The superlatives are still pouring out of every footballing corner of the world to describe arguably the greatest comeback in European football history as Liverpool beat mighty Barcelona 4-0 on Tuesday to overturn a three-goal first-leg deficit and advance to their second successive Champions League final.
May 8 – The enmity of the economic blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia has spilled over on to the football pitch again with the AFC this time forced to intervene over the behaviour of Venezuelan striker Gelmin Rivas in an Asian Champions League group game for Qatar’s Al Rayyan SC against Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad.
May 8 – The experience of being in the stadium and experiencing the match live will be replicated tomorrow night in Las Vegas using virtual reality for the Liga MX play-off game between Club América vs. Cruz Azul.
May 8 – Within days of being slapped with a $50,000 fine for their failure to honour an agreement to host this year’s edition of the COSAFA Cup, Zimbabwe have refused to say whether they will comply with an order to stage the next edition in 2020.
May 8 – Bulgarian top-flight club Vereya have been thrown out of their domestic league after repeated warnings from UEFA over suspected match-fixing.
May 7 – Europe’s major leagues are set to meet with UEFA officials in Switzerland on Wednesday in the latest talks over radical plans to overhaul the format of the Champions League post-2024.
May 7 – For the only eighth time in Premier League history, the title will be decided on the final day of the season on Sunday with Manchester City in pole position to retain their crown following one of the iconic goals in recent memory.