July 11 – Being a convicted tax fraud with a custodial sentence hanging over your head is bad for business, just ask Lionel Messi and his father Jorge. The FIFA, Argentina, and Barcelona golden boy – winner of five Ballon d’Or world player of the year awards – has been dropped from the cover of the upcoming FIFA 17 video game packaging.
July 11 – Within days of the shock custodial sentence handed down to Lionel Messi and his father even though they won’t in all probability actually go to jail, a Spanish court has dismissed a fraud and corruption case against his Barcelona superstar teammate Neymar – and his father too.
July 11 – The head of the Euro 2016 organising committee wants better collaboration at future finals to prevent the kind of hooliganism that marred the early stages of the competition in France.
July 11 – In the battle of the appareil brands US firm Nike is claiming major summer success over its European rival adidas at both the Copa America Centenario and the European Championships.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 11 – They only won one game in regulation time and didn’t have shot on target in the final until the 80th minute. Yet what Greece did to them 12 years ago in Lisbon, Portugal have now done to France: upsetting the host nation to become European champions and wrecking a nationwide party in the process.
11 July – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s last-ditch appeal against his ban from football will be heard at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on August 25.
By Bernd Fisa
July 9 – Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese superstar and captain of his national squad, has invited the widow of the former Italian striker Stefano Borgonovo to attend Sunday’s Final of the European Championship, which will see Portugal go head to head with tournament hosts France.
By Andrew Warshaw in Paris
July 8 – A former FIFA ticketing partner says he is suing the organisation for $40 million “for business losses” in a dispute over World Cup packages.
By Paul Nicholson in Paris
July 8 – The World Football Forum opened in Paris this morning – the night after Parisiens had celebrated their victory over Germany in the Euro semi-finals with a long and hard street party – with a focus on the ‘new geography of football’. It seemed to be a case of while the ‘old’ football world is recovering from its hangover, the new football landscape is putting its marker down for the future.
By Paul Nicholson in Paris
July 8 – With 705 days to go to the opening of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, organisers have said that stadia will be completed on time and that Russia will be ready to host “the best World Cup ever”.
By Samindra Kunti
July 8 – Les Bleus players stand to receive €300,000 each from the French Football Federation FFF if they win the European Championship against Portugal on Sunday.
July 8 – Car manufacturer Nissan has expanded its football media sponsorship as the weekend sponsor of Sky Sports’ Premier League action in a three-year partnership.
July 8 – No side ever wins a major football tournament without a modicum of good fortune and France arguably had theirs in the semifinal against Germany when they were outplayed for large parts of the game and were awarded a soft penalty.
By David Owen
July 8 – We will have to wait and see whether hosts France or Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal lift the European Championship trophy at the Stade de France on Sunday. But we can already say with absolute clarity that the US mark Nike has won Euro 2016’s Battle of the Brands.
July 8 – Seven people suspected of match-fixing – including players, coaches, agents and club presidents – have been arrested in Brazil.