By David Owen
April 14 – Neymar and his team-mates have been drawn against South Africa, Iraq and Denmark in this year’s Olympic men’s football tournament, while the Brazilian women have been bracketed with South Africa (again), Sweden and China, the global game’s new hot-bed at least in terms of business interest.
April 15 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has yet again shrugged off any wrongdoing for signing a contract, when he was at UEFA, with two of those since indicted in the US-led football corruption probe, describing allegations in the infamous Panama Papers documents as a “non-story”.
By Mark Baber
April 15 – Southampton FC has agreed a 7-year partnership with US-based global sports brand Under Armour which will come into effect on July 1. No figure was announced for the deal.
By Samindra Kunti
April 15 – The tug of war between FC Barcelona and the Brazilian FA (CBF) over where Neymar plays this summer is continuing with the CBF insisting on Neymar playing both the centenary Copa America in the US and the Olympic Games in Rio.
April 15 – Newcastle United, battling for their top-flight survival on the pitch, have suffered a serious blow to their image off it after an employment tribunal ruled that their former Argentina midfielder Jonas Gutierrez had been dropped from the team because he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
April 15 – Manchester City have been charged by UEFA after fireworks were set off during their 1-0 Champions League quarter-final, second-leg win over Paris St Germain on Tuesday night.
By Paul Nicholson
April 14 – Caribbean Football Union president Gordon Derrick, barred yesterday from participating in the CONCACAF presidential election in May by FIFA’s ethics supremo Domenico Scala, could take his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
By Andrew Warshaw
April 14 – Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has finally learned that he will not be selected for France at this summer’s Euros after months of claim and counter-claim over his role in an alleged sex tape blackmail case that has overshadowed his international record on the field.
April 14 – The US federal judge overseeing the sweeping football corruption scandal says he will rule within days on a prospective trial time scale after state prosecutors set a target of February next year to begin the process of sentencing a raft of disgraced powerbrokers snared by the massive corruption investigation.
By Mark Baber
April 14 – Lionel Messi tops ‘France Football’ magazine’s annual ranking of the highest paid footballers, becoming the first footballer in history to earn more than €70 million in a year.
April 14 – For the first time, Germany’s cartel office has approved a plan to stop any one single pay-TV broadcaster from buying up live television rights for top-flight games, mirroring the UK where Sky and BT Sport share Premier League live coverage.
April 14 – How many times have you seen elite players emerge from the team bus with headphones clasped to their ears, oblivious to the outside world, or twiddling with the latest software on their mobile phones?
After the seemingly endless rumors came the official announcement: at the end of the next European Championship the coach of the Italian national team will not be Antonio Conte. It is no surprise. The offer from Chelsea (about €21 million for three years) was too good once it arrived, while the not so good prospects for the Blues (Italian national team, not Chelsea) were not helped by Serie A giving the coach too little room for maneuver in preparing the team.
April 14 – Premier League Swansea has commissioned digital agency Rippleffect to overhaul its official web platform with a re-launch planned for the start of the 2017/18 season.
By Paul Nicholson
April 13 – The battle for the presidency of CONCACAF has been reduced to two contenders – Canada’s Victor Montagliani and Bermuda’s Larry Mussenden – after clear favourite Gordon Derrick was removed from the running after being ruled out by CONCACAF’s legal advisors Sidley Austin, supported by FIFA’s Ethics chief Domenico Scala.