By Paul Nicholson
August 7- Yesterday the European Club Association (ECA) triumphantly claimed the new UEFA Champions League qualification format a big success for the future of (big) club football in Europe, today the first voices of dissent declare the decision to automatically qualify the top four clubs from the top four European leagues a “detrimental” decision for European football.
September 5 – With focus generally on Europe’s Big 5 leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, Football Benchmark have turned their analytical attention to life outside of these leagues and the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.
August 7 – With the international break it might be reasonable to assume a drop-off in Twitter activity, and in terms of tweets across the Premier League that was the case with the total number dropping to 2,412 against 6,214 the previous week. But the number of new Twitter followers across the league was up.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 7 – FIFA’s ethics watchdog has opened formal proceedings against one of the Qatari FA’s highest ranking officials, vice-president Saoud Al-Mohannadi, but much intrigue surrounds what he has specifically done wrong.
September 7 – British-based anti-racism body Kick it Out has warned of the increase of hate incidents surrounding football, saying it received 402 reports of discrimination last season, up from 393 in 2014-15. Of those, 135 were in the professional game.
By Paul Nicholson
September 6 – Aleksander Čeferin has dismissed as “insulting” reports that he has made a series of promises to the Nordic federations in support for their votes in the election for the successor to Michel Platini to the UEFA presidency on September 14 in Athens, Greece.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 6 – Europe’s leading clubs say the new Champions League format being introduced by UEFA in two years’ time has ended the threat of a breakaway league but reject the suggestion that the essential romance and nostalgia of football will evaporate in the process.
September 6 – El Salvador have been plunged into a match-fixing scandal after revealing they turned down the offer of a bribe to lose to Canada in tonight’s World Cup qualifier in Vancouver.
September 6 – The Hero Indian Super League, that will start play in its third season at the beginning of October, has brought on Sportradar’s Integrity Services division in the battle against match-fixing.
September 6 – Bundesliga side SV Darmstadt 98 have taken the unusual and laudable step of renaming their stadium in memory of a supporter who died in March from cancer at the age of 26.
September 6 – Valon Berisha became an overnight hero as he carved his name in footballing history by equalising for Kosovo in their first ever competitive international fixture on Monday.
September 6 – German legend Franz Beckenbauer is recovering in hospital after undergoing open heart bypass surgery – arranged before the FIFA ethics investigation surrounding the 2006 World Cup was announced.
August 6 – With the transfer window closed, now comes the financial reckoning. Who snagged a bargain and who was ripped off? Much of that analysis can only be done once the players start putting in performances on the pitch, but it doesn’t prevent some benchmark valuations.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 5 – In a bizarre case of possible deliberate deception, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have suspended United Arab Emirates-based Wanderley Santos Monteiro Junior for 60 days as they investigate whether the Brazilian-born forward has been using a forged Indonesian passport.
September 6 – Jordan, who are hosting the FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup later this month, will become the first Middle East nation to host a senior Asian women’s football championship when it holds the next Women’s Asian Cup in 2018.