Cypriot FA rejects Karmiotissa and AEZ denials and issues €50,000 matchfixing fines
February 7 – The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) has fined two top flight teams €50,000 each after they were implicated in suspicious betting activity.
AFC build technical team with addition of Koervermans
February 7 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has boosted its technical development team with the addition of Dutchman Wilhelmus Koevermans as AFC Deputy Technical Director.
Hull turn up the tweet volume, Man City break the 4m mark, Man Utd just keep on rolling
February 7 – The Hull City resurgence is in full flow and they are talking it up. The club were the most active tweeters this week with 435 tweets, producing the second largest percentage growth of the week at 1.25%.
Shorn of stars and dubbed the ‘worst team ever’, Cameroon beat Egypt to win AFCON 2017
By Samindra Kunti
February 6 – Cameroon defeated Egypt 2-1 in the final of the African Cup of Nations to win the tournament for a fifth time. Vincent Aboubakar scored the winning goal in the 88th minute.
Beckham claims hacked emails were doctored. Unicef lend support
February 6 – David Beckham’s reputation as a globally respected icon has been called into question by a series of unsubstantiated and reportedly hacked emails alleged to have been acquired by Football Leaks, sport’s equivalent of WikiLeaks, which claim the motivation for his renowned humanitarian work was partly in order to obtain a knighthood.
The FA faces ‘no confidence’ vote from UK parliament
February 6 – The English Football Association’s image as an anachronistic body of blazer-wearing conservative officials resistant to reform will come under renewed scrutiny this week when a group of parliamentarians debate a motion of ‘no confidence’ in the governing body.
Dortmund apologise for violent attacks on Leipzig fans
February 6 – Borussia Dortmund have issued an apology after fans of RB Leipzig were attacked before the two sides met on Saturday leaving several supporters injured including women and children.
Frederick remains in charge in USVI as FIFA bangs heads and grant money arrives
By Paul Nicholson
February 6 – The row between stakeholders in the US Virgin Islands that triggered a visit from a FIFA and CONCACAF delegation has calmed but the storm may not be over.
Valencia lose Kempes after ‘lost’ tweet over 4-0 loss
February 6 – Argentine World Cup winner Mario Kempes has been sacked from his ambassadorial role with Spain’s Valencia for fiercely criticising the team after their 4-0 thrashing at home to Eibar.
FIFA turn down Bolivia World Cup points appeal
February 6 – Bolivia’s appeal against being docked points for fielding an ineligible player in two World Cup qualifiers has been rejected by FIFA’s appeals panel.
Chelsea top attendance table whilst Hull’s conscientious objectors put football first
February 5 – Round 24 of Premier League fixtures saw Chelsea, Spurs and Leicester top the attendance capacity table, while Hull matched their resurgence on the pitch with stay-away fans returning to the KCOM.
Celtic eSports League kicks off with Sportego as main sponsor
February 5 – The inaugural Sportego Celtic eSports League kicks off February 6 with a 14-week season that opens with Linfield against Shamrock Rovers followed by Crusaders vs Dundalk.
Calhanoglu ban ends his season and leaves Leverkusen’s Voeller fuming
February 3 – In a fascinating case that will be noted by all stakeholders in football’s transfer landscape, player power has lost out to contractual obligations after Bayer Leverkusen’s Turkish international midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu had a four-month ban upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport meaning he will miss the rest of the season.
Man City keep Facebook lead over Man Utd, Arsenal more ‘likeable’ than Chelsea
February 3 – The past week of social media stats in the Premier League has seen a rare win for Twitter over Facebook or Instagram in terms of growth number.
FIFA shelves Early Warning System in favour Sportradar for war on match-fixing
By Andrew Warshaw
February 3 – The role and reputation of Sportradar in detecting global match-fixing and irregular betting patterns has received a major boost after FIFA decided to hire the specialist firm in place of its own detection division.