Canada 2-0 El Salvador
June 24 – Fresh from emerging from a Concacaf-imposed timeout, Canadian head coach Jesse Marsch returned to the technical area at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, knowing any more misbehaviour would send him back to the naughty room. He needn’t have worried as their opponents El Salvador simply imploded in a red mist.
By Paul Nicholson
October 10 – The idea of an enlarged World Cup to 40 teams, or even 48, is gaining momentum with Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa adding his voice, with some caution, to the debate. But caution or not, Salman said that in any enlarged World Cup the AFC would expect to be a major beneficiary.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino says a joint British Olympics football team would not endanger the four home nations’ independent status.
By Paul Nicholson
October 10 – For the regular season just finished, the USL, the third tier of the US professional leagues, hit record aggregate attendances of 1.5 million for the season, a 40% increase on previous years. But it is not just attendances that are growing for this challenger league in the US.
By Paul Nicholson
October 10 – Finding ways to monetise digital engagement and turn digital eyeballs into value-holding data is a holy grail for clubs as their digital teams increase in size alongside their digital followers.
October 10 – Bob Bradley, the first American appointed to coach a top-flight European team, says he aims to disprove those who believe he will find the Premier League too hot to handle.
October 10 – Spanish international defender Gerard Piqué says the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be his final tournament with the national team because he feels he is no longer wanted.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 7 – Leading leagues across Europe say they have won vital concessions from UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin over plans to revamp the Champions League.
By Paul Nicholson
October 7 – In what can be a positively perceived next step for an organisation still working through ways to define itself, the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) has announced a set of Universal Standards that underpins its philosophy, perhaps the longest mission statement ever issued.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 7 – In an extraordinary move given the significance of the occasion and the media interest worldwide, FIFA have scrapped staging a press conference following next week’s eagerly awaited first full meeting of its new 36-member ruling Council.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 7 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino seems unlikely to face an ethics prosecution over his role in a loan to the Slovenian Football Association while he was UEFA general secretary.
Who would have thought that a group of Norwegian bloggers could shatter the glass walls of FIFA, UEFA, etc. What they delivered in terms of conspiracy theories about UEFA’s new boss, and FIFA’s new Audit and Compliance chief is pretty cool – time will prove how correct their suppositions are but questions have been asked.
There is a very important fact worth bearing in mind when seeking to make sense of Gianni Infantino’s FIFA: the 46-year-old Swiss-Italian new boy faces re-election in less than three years’ time.
October 7 – If they’re good enough, they’re old enough goes one of football’s well-known sayings.
October 7 – Sadly the result did not match the anticipation. Kosovo’s first competitive home fixture since being admitted by FIFA and UEFA ended in a 6-0 defeat by Croatia that leaves them bottom of their World Cup qualifying group.
By Paul Nicholson
October 7 – As a marketing tool football delivers though sponsorship sales are now more often referred to as ‘partnerships’ with exclusive ‘content’ options part of the package. The days of selling board signage, shirt positions and brand exposure as standalone package may not be entirely over, but they almost are.