Inside World Football - Page 1288 of 2273 - For the Business of Football

Gold Cup 2025

USA clinch last four slot with penalty win over Costa Rica

USA 2 Costa Rica 2 (USA win 4-3 on pens)

June 29 – You’d hate to use the word ‘sterile’ to describe a Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-final, but following the drama and passion of Guatemala versus Canada, it all felt a little flat as the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) and Costa Rica kicked off for the right to face Guatemala in St. Louis. After 90 minutes and the drama of penalty kicks,

Guatemala dump man-down Canada in penalty shoot-out

Mexico find the way to San Jose despite Saudi road blocks

Honduras stun Panama with penalty shoot-out win for spot in semi-finals

Gold Cup’s breakthrough strikers make case for Golden Boot and glory

Panama-Honduras in Glendale and Canada-Guatemala in Minnesota complete Gold Cup quarter final line-up

News

Fixtures

Match previews

Match reports

Stadiums

Teams

Pressure on FIFA bigwig Chung grows as rival PNG federation takes football high ground

David Chung

By Paul Nicholson

September 7 – David Chung, president of the Oceania Football Confederation and the second highest official at FIFA as senior vice president, is under increasing pressure from football stakeholders in his home country Papua New Guinea, where a breakaway group of top clubs is running its own league and development programmes already with greater numbers and participation than Chung’s FIFA-backed organisation.

Finance

Transfer window of shame. Arsenal return player trading profit of €26m

money go round

September 7 – The CIES Football Observatory has published a full list of the transfer balances in of the 98 clubs from Europe’s Big 5 leagues. Just 40 clubs had a credit balance with Monaco at +€289 million topping the list and French compatriots Paris St-Germain bottom at a whopping -€343 million.

Partnerships

Inter Milan and Japan’s iCure link for Inter Health Academy project

September 7 – Inter Milan have hooked up with Japanese company iCure to share best practices in the field of physiotherapy and rehabilitation as part of the Inter Academy Health project.

Finance

Neymar peeing from the top board, gas taps of money: Tebas slams financial doping

By Andrew Warshaw at Soccerex, Manchester

September 6 – Controversial Spanish league boss Javier Tebas says he will continue to speak out until the likes of Paris St Germain and Manchester City are properly held to account by UEFA for what he terms “financial doping.”

Africa

Johansen crony Bility heads FIFA Task Force to establish election platform

By Paul Nicholson

September 6 – He failed FIFA’s integrity test that prevented him running for the presidency of the world governing body, but Liberian FA president Musa Bility is considered to have high enough moral standing to lead FIFA’s Sierra Leone Task Force that has the job of preparing the way for new elections in the country’s football association.

Football Asia

Syria gives itself a half chance of World Cup qualification after a night of Asian high drama

By Mark Baber

September 6 – On an evening of high drama, World Cup qualifiers across seven time zones saw Saudi Arabia and South Korea qualify for the World Cup in Russia, whilst Australia and Syria will now face each other for a place in the AFC-CONCACAF play-off.

Finance

Smart traders: Benfica and Porto top Euro ranking, Man City, PSG, Man Utd come bottom

money and football

September 6 – Portuguese clubs Benfica and FC Porto top a ranking of clubs that have traded most profitably over the last year. Manchester City, PSG and Manchester United come bottom of the table.

Europe

Euro leagues body next for ascencion to UEFA’s increasingly crowded top table

By Andrew Warshaw at Soccerex, Manchester

September 6 – The election of two new club representatives as members of UEFA’s inner sanctum has not been lost on Europe’s major leagues who are now anticipating similar treatment.

Europe

Agnelli promises calm after the storm of clubs vs UEFA battle

September 6 – The new boss of Europe’s top clubs is expecting “no more soap operas” when it comes to Champions League allocation and has played down all talk of a breakaway super league under his leadership.

Integrity

Marinakis and Olympiacos lead call for clubs to act on refugee and inclusion issues

By Paul Nicholson

September 6 – Olympiacos president Evangelos Marinakis, speaking at the Athens conference ‘Reinforcing, Crossing, and Transcending Borders: Soccer in a Globalized World’ sent a message to the world’s leading clubs saying “it is vital that they now accept their social responsibility towards their communities, and the world, by means of promoting specific actions and initiatives that can change the lives of everyday people.”

FIFA

FIFA to review ranking after report says WC seedings are being gamed

September 6 – FIFA says it will review its ranking system after qualification for the 2018 World Cup is finished. The announcement comes in the wake of criticism of how countries can play the system to improve their tournament seedings.

Europe

Juve’s Agnelli takes top job at ECA, Gunner Gazidis fired on to UEFA’s top table

By Andrew Warshaw

September 5 – European club football entered a new era today as Juventus president Andrea Agnelli (pictured) took over from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as only the second ever head of the European Clubs Association, bringing to an end the German’s nine-year reign.

Concacaf

Moggio makes the case for 2026, three host spots and an expanded Gold Cup

By Paul Nicholson at Soccerex, Manchester

September 5 – CONCACAF wants three automatic places at the 2026 World Cup if the US, Mexico and Canada bid wins the hosting rights, said general secretary Philippe Moggio (pictured right). He also said that the confederation’s blue riband Gold Cup may be expanded to 16 teams in future editions as well as potentially being hosted outside the US.

Integrity

Europe is clean on doping accusations, says UEFA integrity chief

By Andrew Warshaw at Soccerex, Manchester

September 5 – The UEFA official in charge of anti-doping procedures has played down alarming figures provided by the notorious Fancy Bears hacking group by insisting professional footballers are clean.

Football Asia

Kyrgyzstan v Myanmar postponed Kygyz PM warns of ‘security threat’

September 5 – With Myanmar’s army and Buddhist extremists having allegedly stepped up a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Muslim-minority Rohinga, Kyrgyzstan has scrapped its home game against Myanmar in qualifying for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup over “security concerns.”