USA 1 Saudi Arabia 0
June 19 – American comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “I don’t get no respect.” The same could be said for the United States Men’s Soccer Team as barely 10,000 fans showed up for a supporter friendly 8.15 pm kickoff versus Concacaf Gold Cup, Group D opponents, Saudi Arabia in a 1-0 win that again raised more questions than answers.
February 16 – Allegations of widespread drug-taking have rocked Algerian football with one international Youcef Belaili (pictured) reportedly suspended by the Confederation of African Football along with three others players.
February 16 – Owners and chairman are notoriously impatient with coaches when things go wrong. But Palermo surely take the biscuit having made no fewer than seven managerial changes this season.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – Banned UEFA president Michel Platini says he is confident of clearing his name in time to take centre stage at this summer’s European Championship finals in his native France.
By Mark Baber
February 16 – Carlsberg, the Official Beer of UEFA EURO 2016 and the England team, has launched its campaign for this summer’s Euros and claims the tournament will be worth £60 million to pubs in the UK.
February 16 – The Champions League restarts tonight with Round of 16 matches. Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich are reckoned to be nailed on qualifiers for the last eight, while Chelsea, Manchester City and Barcelona will join them, according to analysis of data from the CIES Football Observatory.
February 15 – FIFA presidential candidate Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has issued fresh denials that he had anything to do with suppressing pro-democracy protests in his native Bahrain four years ago.
February 15 – Manchester United is to name Old Trafford’s South Stand to the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand 60 years after the England and United legend made his debut for the club.
By Mark Baber
February 15 – As Chinese New Year is celebrated across the globe, it is increasingly clear that the 2015-16 transfer window, closed in Europe but still open in China, marks the emergence onto the world stage of a major new football superpower and the beginning of the concrete realisation of the aims expressed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2011: for the People’s Republic to qualify for, host and finally win the World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 15 – As he begins a 12-year ban from football, in contrast to flying round the world and staying in luxury hotels as FIFA’s most senior day to day administrator, Jerome Valcke’s lawyer insists the organisation’s former number two has done “absolutely nothing wrong” despite being punished for abusing FIFA’s money and a host of other misdemeanours.
By Samindra Kunti
February 15 – The Dutch FA, the KNVB, have confirmed that the 2009 Eredivisie match Utrecht vs Willlem II was subject to match-fixing after a year-long probe. A charity match between Willem II and the Sierra Leone national team may also have been manipulated.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 15 – The latest move in Michel Platini’s efforts to resume his shattered career as UEFA president was taking place today with FIFA’s appeals committee considering his eight-year ban from all football-related activity.
February 15 – Thirteen more European federations have pledged unanimous support to Gianni Infantino in his bid to become FIFA president, according to the Serbian FA (FSS).
February 15 – Liverpool’s ticket prices weren’t the only activity at the club that stopped rising last week. A ‘topping out’ ceremony was held at Anfield to mark the new Main Stand having now reached its maximum height.
Manchester United exec Ed Woodward sees the newly-acquisitive Chinese Super League (CSL) as “another useful market if we are looking to sell players”. And the recent £20 million-plus deal that took Ramires to Jiangsu Suning, to the considerable benefit of Chelsea’s bottom-line, surely demonstrates that he is right.
The sorry Liverpool saga about season ticket prices, increasing prices, fans walking out, then price rise rescinded, has once again raised the question of what is the place of fans in modern football.