February 2 – The ESSA, the sports betting integrity body whose members are regulated bookmakers, has reported in its 2016 annual report just 130 cases of suspicious betting activity with just 16 in football.
February 2 – Sepp Blatter has not always talked favourably about his successor but has surprisingly come out in partial support of Gianni Infantino’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 1 – Football’s Chung dynasty is pitching to return to the top table of FIFA with the news that South Korean FA chief Chung Mong-gyu is running for a seat on the ruling Council.
By Paul Nicholson
February 1 – Hillaren Frederick, president of the U.S. Virgin Islands Soccer Federation, has hit back at the four members of his executive committee who tried to suspend him and two other exco members, saying that the allegations of financial negligence are untrue and that it is “merely an attempted coup”.
By Paul Nicholson
February 1 – The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) has become an organisation. The eclectic grouping of consultants and lobby groups to sports organisers, formalised themselves as a Swiss association at a signing ceremony in London yesterday. They will set up permanent offices in the country.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 1 – Football’s lawmakers are to consider introducing sin-bins in place of yellow cards in what would constitute the most radical step for years to the way the game is played.
February 1 – Major League Soccer has announced that 12 new ownership groups submitted official applications by Tuesday’s deadline to land one of the four franchises that will see North America’s elite league expand to 28 clubs.
February 1 – Dutch brewer Heineken has renewed its sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League for another three years that will take it to the end of the 2021 competition. The deal also includes the UEFA Super Cup 2018, 2019 and 2020.
February 1- Nigeria striker Odion Ighalo has become the latest high-profile export to the Chinese Super League after joining Changchun Yatai for £20 million from English Premier league club Watford.
February 1 – Manchester United broke the 10 million Twitter follower barrier, while Arsenal moved past 9 million last week. In contrast, at the other end of the table Middlesbrough crept past 200,000 followers and Bournemouth hit 250,000.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 31 – Four and a half months into his UEFA presidency, Aleksander Čeferin says he’s having to work far longer hours than he imagined and has denounced those who doubted his ability – even within his own circles.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 31 – The head of the European Club Association, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, is back on the attack over FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams, describing the move as “nonsense” and warning that the balance of power was shifting back towards his members.
By Paul Nicholson
February 1 – Yesterday they held their first Sport Integrity Forum, today the Sport Integrity Global Alliance is holding its Constitutive General Assembly that will seek to formalise its structure as a multi-industry independent coalition of sports focussed bodies (including some international sports federations).
By Paul Nicholson
January 31 – Spending on sponsorship globally is forecast to increase to $62.8 billion in 2017, according to IEG’s 32nd annual forecast of sponsorship growth. This would be a jump of 4.2% on the $60.1 billion spent in 2016.
January 31 – War-torn Aleppo has witnessed its first live game in five years as Al-Ittihad beat city rivals Hurriya 2-1, their first match on home turf since the start of the fighting.