October 22 – The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has launched a project to recruit 100 foreign football coaches to work at grassroots centres across the country.
October 22 – The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) has announced Philadelphia as the second city to have a team in the third tier league when it kicks off play in 2019. While the location in the City of Brotherly Love has been announced, the club’s home venue, ownership and team name is still to be released.
October 22 – The proposed £600 million sale of Wembley stadium that would have helped fund the development of grass-roots football in England collapsed because of “old men” who are “living in the past” according to former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 19 – Having failed with two attempts to land the FIFA presidency, Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein had decided he has had enough of being involved at the top end of football’s often bitter and divisive political bureaucracy in order to concentrate on trying to use the game as a tool for social development to help deprived communities.
October 19 – Tickets for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France go on sale this afternoon on FIFA’s website.
October 19 – Internet sports broadcaster Eleven Sports says it is reluctantly dropping screening European football matches in the UK on Saturday afternoons.
October 19 – An eagerly awaited meeting between high-ranking FIFA officials and Sierra Leone’s warring football factions has failed to produce the necessary breakthrough and provide a clear way forward.
October 19 – The US has the opportunity to install a “best in class” integrity framework around betting regulation and match-fixing following the PASPA ruling that opened up the online gambling market across the country.
October 19 – International Turkish midfielder Arda Turan, on loan from Barcelona, has been fined €370,000 by Istanbul Basaksehir following his part in an alleged nightclub altercation with well-known Turkish pop singer Berkay Sahin.
October 19 – Big-spending Paris Saint-Germain, desperate to finally land the Champions League after years of trying, could face sanctions from UEFA after European football’s governing body announced it was opening an investigation into crowd trouble at the group match against Red Star Belgrade earlier this month.
October 19 – Mexican football is mourning the loss of one the pioneers of the women’s game in the country following the murder of Marbella Ibarra.
October 19 – UEFA’s get-tough policy on financial fair play has snared one of Russia’s best-known clubs, with Rubin Kazan banned for a season after they were found to have broken spending rules.
October 19 – Alisports, the sports arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has signed a deal with Happy Valley (HVAA), a Hong Kong first division club, to promote Alisports’ esports World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) event.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 18 – Would it have been a national disgrace or was it vital for developing the country’s grass-roots game? The jury was out but now it makes no difference after the English Football Association’s proposed £600 million sale of Wembley stadium to Pakistani-American billionaire Shahid Khan unexpectedly fell through on Wednesday when the owner of Premier League Fulham and the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team suddenly withdrew his offer.
October 18 – Any hopes that Iran might permanently relax its ban on women attending football matches have been well and truly dashed, with the country’s prosecutor general saying such a move would “lead to sin”.