By Paul Nicholson
September 21 – FIFA sponsor Coca-Cola has teamed up with FIFA 18 video gamemaker EA Sports to sign Alex Hunter as a brand ambassador in advance of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Don’t bother trying to work out who Hunter plays for, he only exists as a virtual athlete in the FIFA 18 game.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 21 – Belgium’s football leaders have been given an end-of-November deadline to convince UEFA they can deliver a stadium to host part of Euro 2020.
September 21 – Having previously been cleared of any wrongdoing, Mark Sampson has been sacked as England women’s head coach following evidence of unidentified “inappropriate and unacceptable” behaviour with female players in a previous job.
September 21 – Cameroon’s most revered player, former skipper Samuel Eto’o has made a last-ditch attempt to convince the leaders of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) that his country is capable of organising the 2019 African Nations Cup.
September 21 – Atletico Madrid’s brand new stadium has beaten off competition from Baku to win the right to stage the 2019 Champions League final.
September 21 – Everton’s plans for a new ground at Bramley Moore Dock has been estimated will give the local economy a £1billion boost, according to projections from property firm CBRE which is working with the club on the stadium project.
September 21 – A ranking of top division clubs in 31 European nations according to the average age of line-ups fielded since the start of the current season shows just 15 clubs from the Big 5 leagues in the top 100 and none from the Premier League.
By Andrew Warshaw in Geneva
September 20 – Four months after the embarrassment of its most powerful sports supremo being blocked from keeping his place at FIFA’s top table, Russia regained its influence in world football politics today when Alexei Sorokin was elected to FIFA’s ruling Council until 2021.
By Mark Baber
September 20 – FIFA have confirmed they are investigating Chelsea for third time in eight years over possible breaches of regulations around signing youth players. Chelsea deny any wrongdoing.
By Andrew Warshaw in Geneva
September 20 – UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has challenged European governments to help bring about greater competitive balance within the game, not least allowing salary caps which has long been close to the Slovenian’s heart.
By Samindra Kunti
September 21 – Brooklyn federal prosecutors have asked for an anonymous and semi-sequestered jury in the upcoming trial of three former South American football executives, but Jose Maria Marin and his lawyers are challenging that motion. Marin faces trial on November 6.
By Paul Nicholson
September 20 – Champagne corks will be popping in Miami, New York, and Zurich following the decision by the FIFA Ethics adjudicatory chamber to ban Gordon Derrick, the president of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and general secretary of the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA), for six years.
September 20 – Kenya looks likely to be stripped of its hosting rights to CHAN 2018 at an African Football Confederation (CAF) executive meeting on Saturday following a final inspection of the proposed venues last weekend.
By Samindra Kunti
September 21 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France to attract a billion viewers as local organisers unveiled the logo, slogan (‘Dare to Shine’) and additional scheduling details. Across Europe, qualifying got underway for the tournament with England trouncing Russia 6-0.
September 20 – The fractious relationship between the North American Soccer League (NASL) and its national governing body, the US Soccer Federation (USSF) has boiled over with the NASL filing a federal antitrust lawsuit against the USSF in Brooklyn federal court.