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.
January 31 – Chinese conglomerate Suning Group has made a €9 million offer to acquire Belgian top flight club Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.