By Paul Nicholson
June 7 – The final Premier League TV rights packages for the UK have been awarded with Amazon swooping in with a groundbreaking deal that breaks Sky and BT’s grip on the broadcast of live games in the UK.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 7 – The questions came thick and fast. How do you justify an apparent discrepancy in your projected figures? To what extent will Donald Trump’s global unpopularity work against you? Is your bid simply about budgets rather than passion and pedigree?
By Andrew Warshaw
June 7 – The tit-for-tat row over the cancellation of Argentina’s friendly with Israel this coming Saturday has intensified with the Israelis demanding FIFA investigate what it said were threats against Argentina players and laying the blame squarely at the feet of the Palestinian authorities.
June 7 – A Croatian court has sentenced the former boss of Dinamo Zagreb, Zdravko Mamic (pictured right with brother Zoran), to six-and-a-half years in prison for tax evasion and siphoning off profits from player transfers, allegedly including that of Luka Modric to Tottenham Hotspur and Mateo Kovacic to Inter.
June 7 – England manager Gareth Southgate (pictured) says his squad have a plan to deal with any outbreaks of discrimination at the World Cup after fullback Danny Rose said he had told his family not to come to Russia for fear of racism.
June 7 – Dinamo St Petersburg will move to the Fisht Stadium in Sochi next season as the World Cup venue seeks to shed its tag of white elephant.
June 7 – The European football market in 2016/17 was worth a record €25.5 billion with the Big 5 leagues accounting for €14.7 billion.
June 7 – Neymar may hold the record as the most expensive transfer in football history, but he isn’t the most valuable player in the world. Tottenham’s Harry Kane holds that position, valued €3.7 million higher than the Brazilian money machine, according to a new ranking of the Top 100 players in Europe’s Big 5 leagues.
June 7 – Manchester City, one of the first English Premier League clubs to embrace esports with the signing of professional gamers to play under the club banner in tournaments, have taken a step deeper into the competitive video gaming sector with the set up of an EA Sports FIFA Online team in Beijing, China.
June 6 – Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, whose arm wrestle on Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah put the Egyptian striker out of the Champions League final, has hit back at widespread criticism of his action and says Salah could have played on instead of leaving the field in tears.
June 6 – FIFA has filed a criminal complaint in Switzerland against the ticket website Viagogo on the eve of the World Cup as part of a crackdown on unauthorised sales.
June 6 – When European clubs complain about their highly paid players being stretched to the limit by too much international competition, they often receive scant sympathy.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – It has taken a tournament for unaffiliated nations, stateless peoples, breakaway diasporas, indigenous communities and ethnic minorities to launch what is being hailed as one of football’s most refreshing innovations to cut down on dissent and improve respect for officials.
By Samindra Kunti
June 6 – Argentina has cancelled a World Cup warm-up match with Israel following political pressure from Palestine. The cancellation of the highly controversial friendly has thrown Argentina’s World Cup preparations further into disarray.
June 6 – Iran were the first team to arrive in Russia ahead of the 2018 World Cup, which kicks off next week. The Iranians have been paired in group B with Spain, Portugal and Morocco, but their preparations have been blighted by logistical problems.