By Paul Nicholson
January 16 – After a number of government warnings, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has confirmed that it is stepping in to end the gravy train of European-based players’ big money transfers to Chinese Super League clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 16 – An Israeli-based media watchdog has sent a detailed and highly damning file on Palestine football leader Jibril Rajoub to FIFA in the latest tit-for-tat exchange over the sensitive issue over Israel’s treatment of Palestinian players and officials in the occupied territories.
January 16 – The British sponsorship consultant widely acknowledged as one of the pioneers of modern sports marketing has described as “absurd” FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams.
January 16 – When is retirement not retirement? FIFA have been asked by Liverpool to make a ruling over the eligibility of Cameroon defender Joel Matip after the club was forced to leave him out in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United.
The Swiss Prosecutors are investigating the scraps that the US Department of Justice left with them. The DOJ used spooks to identify the bad men at FIFA. They didn’t just do this in the US where super-snitch Blazer was caught in his electric armchair on his way to yet another eatery. They did it throughout Europe, and one would now be permitted to assume also in Russia.
January 16 – Hailed as a Messiah and the most sought-after coach in Europe when he joined Manchester City after blazing a trail at Barcelona and then Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola appears to have conceded that winning the Premier League title in his first season in England is over.
By Paul Nicholson
January 15 – Lagardère Sports have won the international sales rights to CONCACAF events including this year’s Gold Cup, taking over from last international sales reps IMG who held the contract for a year. No details were given on the deal or the size of the guarantee that Lagardère made.
January 16 – A return to Premier League football after FA Cup fixtures marked a return to sell out crowds at seven Premier League stadia. Swansea, West Ham, Man Utd and Leicester again recorded over 99% of their stadiums full.
January 14 – The antics of Nottingham Forest Football Club owner, Kuwaiti businessman Fawaz Al Hassawi, in the protracted (attempted) sale of one of England’s oldest clubs, are taking on ludicrous proportions.
By David Owen
January 13 – José Mourinho and his team look to have received payments totalling more than £8 million from Chelsea after parting company with the West London club in December 2015 following a string of poor results.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 13 – Christopher Steele, the man who it is claimed wrote the explosive raw intelligence dossier on compromising material Russia allegedly collected on US President-elect Donald Trump, worked with the FBI in investigating FIFA as well as England’s 2018 World Cup bid team, according to unconfirmed reports.
By Samindra Kunti
January 13 – Hosts Gabon and debutants Guinea-Bissau will kick off the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations this weekend, the biennial men’s football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
By Paul Nicholson
January 13 – Major League Soccer has unveiled its 2017 regular season which for the first time will take a break during the CONCACAF Gold Cup group stages July 7-17, a significant move by the league to give the region’s premier international competition a clear window of media profile in the US.
January 13 – Is Morocco secretly planning to put a spanner in the works of a 2026 CONCACAF World Cup bid?
January 13 – UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin hosted AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa at UEFA HQ in Nyon, Switzerland, with an agenda based on deepening the relationship between the tow confederations.