By David Owen
June 29 – Exactly half – 368 – of the players who started Russia 2018 have now had their World Cup dreams shattered. But where do these dearly departed play their club football? Who employs the most squad members eliminated from the competition in the group stages?
June 29 – FIFA’s strict rules on government interference in the affairs of its member federations has been called into question in Ghana where reports suggest only government representatives – and not footballing officials – were called to today’s meeting in Zurich to discuss the corruption crisis in the African country.
June 29 – Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) has signed a four-year partnership with streaming platform mycujoo that will see more than 1,500 matches live-streamed between 2018 to 2021.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 29 – Fair play, what fair play? If ever FIFA needed to have a hard look at the rules in terms of the criteria used for teams advancing to the knockout stage, Japan’s shameful tactics against Poland on Thursday – shades of Germany versus Austria way back in 1982 – provided ample evidence.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 29 – Over a generation has gone by since Pele famously predicted than an African team would win the World Cup by the year 2000. But if anything African football, which has long been clamouring for more World Cup slots, has gone backwards.
By David Owen
June 29 – Nike turned the tables on arch-rivals Adidas in the latest round of Insideworldfootball’s World Cup Battle of Brands; but the swoosh brand was unable to overhaul Puma at the top of the increasingly congested cumulative table.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – The recriminations are in full flow and the inquisition has already begun. But Germany’s fall from grace is not without precedent judging from recent World Cup history.
By Samindra Kunti in Moscow
June 28 – Brazil progressed to the knockout phase of the World Cup following a routine 2-0 win against Serbia on Wednesday, but the Brazilian Football Confederation, the CBF, remains an isolated body.
June 28 – Any suggestion that UEFA only imposes hard-hitting sanctions on smaller clubs for breaching financial fair rules has been well and truly dashed by the announcement of a one-season European ban on Italian giants AC Milan.
June 28 – Ticket sales have opened for the AFC’s blue riband national team competition, the Asian Cup, to be played in the UAE in early 2019. The expanded tournament has opened up group ticket sales reporting strong interest from local businesses.
June 28 – Tunisia have been forced to start their final World Cup game with third-choice goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi, with a striker as backup, after FIFA rejected their request to add a replacement keeper to the squad.
June 28 – Online bookmaker and gaming sponsors have been active in Germany sealing deals Bundesliga clubs before the new season start. Hertha Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart have all agreed deals in the past two days.
June 28 – Premier League Liverpool have added a new international academy initiative in Asia via a partnership with PNH Soccer Academy in Hong Kong.
June 28 – Premier League Leicester City have signed a two-year sponsorship with online gaming site W88 who will become the club’s Official Betting Partner for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Premier League seasons.
June 28 – Former Ghana Football Association chairman Nana Sam Brew-Butler has pulled out of crisis talks with FIFA over the future of the game in the African country.