China’s Suning eyes up Belgium’s Mouscron with €9m bid
January 31 – Chinese conglomerate Suning Group has made a €9 million offer to acquire Belgian top flight club Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz.
Hyperion ensures Manchester and New York hook-up with CFG deal
January 31 – City Football Group, the holding company that owns Manchester City and New York City football clubs, has unveiled a new sponsor partnership with insurance group Hyperion that will cover both clubs, but not CFG’s other two clubs in Japan and Australia.
London’s Premier League giants all named in child sex scandal
January 31 – All five of London’s Premier League clubs have been caught up in English football’s historical child sex abuse scandal according to police.
Andrew Warshaw: Cup fever has caught pneumonia. It isn’t right and it must be cured
Call me old-fashioned but this has simply got to end. A year ago I wrote on this website about the FA Cup, football’s oldest – and greatest – domestic knockout competition being totally disrespected and devalued by top-flight clubs more interested in money than glory.
Islands in a storm. Frederick battles to hold on to power at USVISF
By Paul Nicholson
January 31 – U.S. Virgin Islands FA president Hillaren Frederick is fighting for survival as head of his federation after rejecting a suspension by his own executive committee, saying that they did not have the authority to suspend him. A delegation from FIFA and CONCACAF is expected in the islands this week to investigate the situation.
Mane’s miss sends Cameroon through with Egypt, Ghana and Burkina Faso
By Samindra Kunti
January 31 – Liverpool’s Sadio Mane missed the decisive spot kick as Cameroon beat Senegal 5-4 on penalties to reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals. Seven-times winners Egypt also progressed to the last four with a narrow 1-0 win against rivals Morocco.
Gulati sits on the wall over US World Cup 2026 bidding and immigration issues
January 31 – As global condemnation of Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration intensifies, U.S. Soccer president and FIFA powerbroker Sunil Gulati says his country still hasn’t yet made up its mind whether to bid for the 2026 World Cup.
Man Utd, Spurs and Chelsea fans show FA Cup is still full, at least for fans
January 31- Premier League managers may have taken the opportunity to give key players a rest this week with the Fourth Round of FA Cup matches, but fans were in no mood to to take a week off. Five of the eight Premier League clubs with home matches sold out more than 95% of their capacities.
Aussie clubs cry foul over fears that FFA power play at FIFA will slow reform
January 31 – Debate is raging in Australian football circles over an apparent refusal to implement FIFA reforms and make the national association (FFA) more democratic.
CAS’s Skenderbeu decision opens doors to prosecutors in war on match-fixing
By Paul Nicholson
January 27 – The full text of the decision on the dismissal of the appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by Albanian club Klubi Sportiv Skenderbeu to have their UEFA Champions League ban lifted has been published. It makes interesting reading and could become a landmark decision in the battle against match fixing.
Andrew Warshaw: Will Trump cast a towering shadow over football?
It’s still early days of course but legitimate questions are starting to be asked about the effect Donald Trump’s US presidency might have on the landscape of world football and specifically two huge issues: the 2026 World Cup and the FifaGate scandal.
Lander’s £200m deal for Saints still on, but Chinese money is struggling to get over the wall
By Paul Nicholson
January 27 – The timing could not have been better. Just as Southampton were celebrating their EFL Cup semi-final win over Liverpool, so Chinese stadium constructors turned would-be club owners Lander Sports Development, were announcing to the financial markets that they had agreed a deal for the English south coast club.
Transfer spending report charts speed of China’s ambition and the power of English clubs
January 27 – Eye-watering figures have been released by FIFA which show exactly why Chinese authorities have agreed to reign in spending, impose restrictions on foreign players and help local talent develop.
Brazil’s World Cup beacon Maracana stadium plunged into darkness
By Samindra Kunti
January 27 – Rio de Janeiro’s famous Maracana stadium, which hosted the 2014 World Cup final and the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics and is one of football’s spiritual homes, was plunged into darkness on Thursday after Light, the energy provider for the stadium, cut off the electricity supply due to unpaid bills that reach back to October last year.
Jeonbuk appeals AFC Champions League 2017 ban for match-fixing at CAS
January 27 – AFC Champions League holders Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors from South Korea have filed an urgent request for provisional measures at the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a bid to overcome the ban from Champions League competition imposed on them by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for match-fixing.