UEFA opens up Women’s Football sponsor categories for 2018-21 cycle
October 26 – UEFA has gone to market with a new set of sponsorship categories for its Women’s Football properties for the 2018-2021 cycle.
Neymar proves his worth topping Europe’s MVP data charts
October 26 – He didn’t appear on the podium of either the FIFA Best or UEFA’s annual awards but data for the season so far makes Neymar the Most Valuable Player in Europe’s Big 5 leagues.
European Leagues slam Infantino’s half-baked $25bn competition sell-off
October 25 – Gianni Infantino’s controversial $25 billion plan for two new international tournaments has come under further attack, this time from the umbrella body representing Europe’s major leagues.
News Analysis: Will $25bn of new money and cross confederation bids kill FIFA’s World Cup golden ticket?
By Paul Nicholson
October 25 – The FIFA Council meeting this Friday in Rwanda will look again at the proposed revised competition structure for the international calendar – a new Club World Cup competition, and a move towards some kind of Nations League. All underpinned by the elephant in the room of $25 billion of Saudi money.
Local investors take control of Parma back from China’s struggling Desports
October 25 – The group that re-founded Parma after the Italian club’s bankruptcy in 2015 and started again in Serie D under the banner ‘Nuovo Inizio’ (New Beginning) have re-taken a majority shareholding, wresting control from Chinese investors Desports.
Morocco jails 14 fans for protesting naval killing of student fleeing for Spain
October 25 – During their 2026 World Cup campaign, Moroccan officials were at pains to stress how human rights were not an issue – just as Turkey did for the 2024 Euros.
Bangoura handed jail sentence and fines for French benefit fraud while playing in Saudi
October 25 – Former Guinea international Ismael Bangoura has been handed a six-month suspended jail sentence and fined more than €130,000 after being convicted of fraud by a court in France.
African women’s team set for AFCON 2018 in Ghana with sights set on France 2019
October 25 – Defending champions Nigeria were paired with South Africa, Zambia and Kenya in Group B as the eight participants in the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations learned their fate at the draw in Accra.
Boavista FC is 5th club to join e.Football.Pro’s PES league
October 25 – New eSports league e.Football.Pro has signed Portugal’s Boavista as the fifth participating team for Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer platform.
Spurs open biggest club shop in Europe and plan on getting a Stadium for Christmas
October 25 – Tottenham Hotspur have made a statement of intent with the opening of the largest club shop in Europe at their new stadium.
Arsenal launch AI ‘Robot Pires’ to boost fan engagement
October 25 – Arsenal have launched a new chat tool, powered by artificial intelligence and operating across social media channels including Facebook Messenger, Slack, Sky and Telegram, that will give supporters easy access to the latest news, fixtures, results, videos, player stats and ticket information.
Lokeren coach Maes is charged by Belgian police in money laundering scandal
October 24 – Police have arrested Lokeren coach Peter Macs (pictured) in the latest move linked to the wide-ranging investigation into the damaging match-fixing and money laundering scandal hitting Belgian football.
Saudi partners SoftBank pull out of Riyadh summit raising questions over ‘morality’ of Infantino’s $25bn
October 24 – The geo-political financial partnership between Saudi Arabia and Japanese financiers SoftBank, rumoured to be the operators of the financial vehicle behind the $25 billion FIFA international calendar sell off, looks like it might have run into difficulties over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
Spanish FA boss Rubiales calls on FIFA to stop LaLiga’s Miami-bound caravan at the border
October 24 – The head of the Spanish FA, Luis Rubiales, hopes FIFA will try to block the controversial La Liga fixture scheduled to be switched to the United States in January when its Council meets this Friday in Rwanda.
Raji begins post-Bility Liberian FA financial clean-up and puts focus on youth programmes
October 24 – Newly elected Liberia Football Association (LFA) president Mustapha Raji (pictured), who took over from the controversial Musa Bility, says the country badly needs to step up youth development – starting with schools.