By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – If there was a World Cup for mergers and acquisitions in football, China would win it. Over the last three years Chinese investors have spent €2.1 billion acquiring non-Chinese football assets outside the country. Second placed USA spent just €313 million over the same period.
By Mark Baber
June 12 – A busy weekend of international football saw African Cup of Nations qualification under way in earnest, with all 48 teams in contention having now completed their first game in the Group stage, whilst European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup have passed the halfway stage.
By Samindra Kunti
June 12 – German broadcaster ARD has aired a documentary revealing possible connections between a doping doctor and Brazilian elite football. Former star Roberto Carlos, who is among those accused, has denied all allegations.
By Mark Baber
June 12 – This weekend’s qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 2018 has seen all 52 teams vying for the 13 World Cup spots allocated to UEFA reach six matches completed in the first round group stage.
June 12 – Paris Saint-Germain have reshuffled their sporting directors with the arrival of Antero Henrique and the departure of Patrick Kluivert as the club seek to reboot after a season of regression.
June 12 – England won their first FIFA world title for 51 years in Suwon, South Korea after their U20s overcame Venezuela in the final 1-0. Venezuela, in their first ever FIFA World Cup final, had a 75th minute penalty saved in the second half that would have levelled the game.
June 12 – Fabio Capello is back in team management having signed a deal to take charge of Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning. Capello extends the Italian connection with Suning Sports, owners of Jiangsu and majority owners of Italy’s Internazionale.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 9 – One month after suspending the elections of the Sudan Football Association (SFA) at the request of the incumbent SFA officals, FIFA have now threatened to throw out the African country altogether if a controversial government decree is not revoked within the next 24 hours.
June 9 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has moved swiftly to suspend Malaysian Mohd Farizal Bin Marlias for 12 months and fine him $40,000 after a violent conduct incident in an AFC Cup. The AFC have re-issued their warning that they have a zero tolerance policy on abuse towards match officials.
June 9 – Four years after starting proceedings, a consortium headed by David Beckham has cleared a crucial hurdle in bringing a Major League Soccer franchise back to Miami.
June 9 – Saudi football officials have apologised after their national team failed to properly observe one minute’s silence for victims of the recent London terrorist attack before the start of Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against Australia.
By Paul Nicholson
June 9 – The CIES Football Observatory have taken a step away from their number crunching analysis of the Big 5 men’s leagues in Europe to examine the composition of playing squads in the four most developed women’s league in Europe (Germany, Sweden, France and England), as well as the Women’s National Soccer League in the United States.
June 9 – Executives of Swiss bank Julius Baer have told US prosecutors that a former employee acted alone when he allegedly helped funnel kickbacks and bribery payments to a soccer official in the Americas, according to Reuters.
By Samindra Kunti
June 9 – Dick Advocaat begins his third reign as Netherlands coach with the mission of taking Oranje to the World Cup in Russia. Holland lie in fourth position in their World Cup qualification group and play Luxembourg on Friday.
June 9 – Scottish Premiership treble winners Celtic have announced that they have “smashed the 50,000 barrier for season tickets sold for the coming 2017/18 season.” The club did not lose a league game under new manager Brendan Rodgers last season.