When England won the recent under-17 World Cup to add to their under-20 triumph in June, one of my journalist colleagues (I wish I could take the credit) came up with a novel and intriguing idea.
November 9 – The bitter in-fighting over who runs Sierra Leone football has taken a remarkable twist with FIFA intervening to overturn a decision by the country’s national FA to remove Isha Johansen (pictured left) from her role as president – right in the middle of a court case in which she is charged with corruption.
By Samindra Kunti
November 9 – The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its sidelined president Praful Patel (pictured) have challenged the Delhi High Court’s ruling that deemed Patel’s presidential elections invalid and taken the case to the Supreme Court with an appeal.
By David Owen
November 9 – Manchester City, the Abu Dhabi-owned club whose multi-talented squad under Pep Guardiola already look like waltzing off with this season’s Premier League title, have reported a minuscule pre-tax profit of just £104,000 for 2016-17.
November 9 – The 2018 World Cup play off between Peru and New Zealand could be worth at least $1.3 billion to the South American country if they are successful.
By Paul Nicholson
November 8 – Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis is to stand down as chairman of the club while the judicial proceedings regarding the match-fixing allegations against him are completed.
November 9 – A sensitive row has broken out over Spain’s kit for next year’s World Cup with designers Adidas accused of scoring an own goal.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 8 – Having promised to leave no stone unturned in ensuring a corruption-free bid process for the 2026 World Cup after the scandals of the 2018 and 2022 campaigns, FIFA has pledged to publish all votes – traditionally kept secret – by individual federations when the ballot takes place next June.
By Mark Baber
November 8 – Russia has banned 384 citizens from attending sports events, according to Deputy Department Head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Countering Extremism Sergei Pershenkov, who was speaking at a roundtable discussion in the State Duma on Tuesday.
November 8 – England and Germany will wear black armbands bearing poppies for their friendly international at Wembley on Friday in remembrance of members of the armed forces, past and present.
By Samindra Kunti
November 8 – The president of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Ahmad Ahmad has reassured Guinea they are still clear to host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
November 8 – The long running judicial investigation into Greek football has partially been resolved with the Judicial Council of dropping four criminal charges against Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis.
November 8 – The International Labour Organization has halted a potential investigation into Qatar’s employment practises after the government in Doha introduced legislation to protect foreign workers and pledged further reforms.
November 8 – Gulf Cup organisers have set Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain a November 13 deadline to say whether they are prepared to take part in December’s tournament in Qatar with whom they have cut all diplomatic and commercial ties.
November 8 – The New Zealand Professional Footballers Association has become one of the first national governing bodies to publicly state it is looking to achieve a single collective agreement with its players, providing equal conditions for men and women.