December 6 – After all the criticism about playing on neutral ground thousands of miles from Buenos Aires, Boca Juniors and River Plate have both arrived in Madrid for the eagerly anticipated twice postponed Copa Libertadores final second leg.
December 6 – The big are getting bigger and the small are falling further behind. That is the conclusion of a study into the competitive balance within European club fooball by the CIES Football Observatory.
December 6 – British gambling companies have struck a ground-breaking deal which will see the end of their tv adverts during live matches.
December 6 – The seemingly annual Christmas talk of the sale of Premier League Newcastle United is now in full swing with former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon leading discussions in the US to create a consortium of buyers who will put up the £300 million needed to buy the club from Mike Ashley.
December 6 – With the roots of global football match-fixing embedded in parts of Asia, The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Kuala Lumpur.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has stuck another barb into FIFA’s $25 billion proposal to change the landscape of world football with its plans for an expanded Club World Cup and a revamped Nations League, saying the whole of European football is against the idea.
By Samindra Kunti
December 5 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has criticised La Liga’s intention to stage a league match in the United States, but called the proposed Copa Libertadores final in Madrid an ‘exceptional’ one-off.
December 5 – The Afghan government has now followed the lead of the AFC and FIFA and opened an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against the national women’s football. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called the allegations of abuse by male coaches and officials ‘shocking’.
December 5 – Diego Maradona has waded into the row over switching the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final between Boca Juniors and River Plate to Madridwith some choice words against Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez.
December 5 – Former Guatemala football chief and one-time FIFA executive committee member Rafael Salguero (pictured left) will be sentenced by a judge in New York this week in the latest move in the FifaGate scandal.
December 5 – The average lifespan of a Premier League manager is less than 1.5 years. Mark Hughes, who was sacked by Southampton after their draw with Manchester United at the weekend, lasted just 8 months and is Saints’ 23rdmanager in the past 20 years.
December 5 – The still unresolved power battle within Sierra Leone football administration has had a significant damaging on effect on the field with the country thrown out of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign because of government interference in the running of the federation.
By Paul Nicholson
December 5 – FIFA has released details of more than $209 million in payouts to clubs worldwide for use of their players at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – The race to host the 2030 World Cup, still in its early stage, has taken a potentially important twist with UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin saying he would be against a cross-continental bid between, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
