By Mark Baber
November 1 – Across the top Europe leagues, club trained players have hit a new low, with only 18.5% of players trained by the club they are currently with, expatriate players are at a new high of 39.7% and the percentage of new signings in each squad has hit a new high of 44.8%.
November 1 – Malaysia has been fined US$30,000 by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after the national team’s fans described both Singapore and Brunei fans as “dogs” during matches at the South-East Asian (SEA) Games.
November 1 – War-ravaged Somalia is celebrating the prospect of having its own federation premises after having operated in rented offices for over half a century.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 31 – The full extent to which FIFA washed its hands of football’s Israeli-Palestinian impasse by throwing out a detailed report from its chief mediator for the region can today be exposed.
October 31 – Isha Johansen, Africa’s only female football federation president, pleaded not guilty when she appeared in court Monday charged with 10 counts of corruption and abuse of office.
October 31 – Round 10 of Premier League fixtures saw just 9,766 seats unfilled out of 361,131 tickets available. Crystal Palace topped the capacity chart for the third time this season, just beating Manchester United for the top slot.
October 31 – Professional football clubs are under a growing threat from organised crime. Only 25% of clubs in top leagues worldwide produce publically-available financial reports. And only 40% of national associations are financially viable without the help of FIFA, an organisation whose top officials are being chased down by the US Justice Department under their RICO laws that are used to investigate mafia-style crime rings.
October 31 – South Africa’s Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha says he cannot act on claims of sexual assault against South African Football Association chief Danny Jordaan unless they are reported officially by the alleged victim.
October 31 – Big is beautiful if you are West Brom, but small is more perfectly formed if you are Man City, Barcelona, Real Madrid or Olympique Lyonnais.
October 31 – The four British associations will request permission from FIFA to wear the poppy symbol on their kit during November’s international matches to honour the victims of World War 1 and II.
October 31 – Cologne have been fined €60,000 by UEFA after crowd trouble marred their Europa League group match at Arsenal in September.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – As anticipated, last week’s astonishing decision by FIFA to close down its Middle East mediation initiative has prompted an angry backlash with Palestinian sports officials accusing world football’s governing body of deceit and leaving them in the lurch.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 30 – The president of the African Football Confederation Ahmad Ahmad has queried CONCACAF’s unity for the region’s 2026 World Cup bid. CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani downplayed the United States’ elimination from the 2018 World Cup as a destabilising factor for his confederation’s bid. Last August Morocco joined the race to land the first 48-team tournament.
Saudi Arabia may be breaking through a long criticised barrier to allow women to watch sports in stadiums, but the real questions should perhaps be around what sports they will be able to watch.
By Samindra Kunti in Kolkata
October 30 – At the close of the U-17 World Cup in India, All India Football Federation president Praful Patel pitched the country’s bid to stage the U-20 World Cup to the FIFA Council. FIFA president Gianni Infantino dubbed the tournament “a resounding success” but didn’t offer clues about the next U-20 World Cup host. The Bureau of the Council will take a decision early next year.