Canada 5 Honduras 0
June 17 – Canada over the past six years have forced their way into Concacaf’s elite but have so often flattered to deceive. They are the team everyone quite likes but have never delivered the championship title their talent screams for. Re-adjust everyone.
December 14 – Tickets for the Euro 2016 finals went on sale this morning following the draw of the championship schedule in Paris on Saturday. 800,000 tickets are on sale to fans in this window which closes January 18.
By Paul Nicholson
December 14 – The Swiss government has responded to questions over whether it plans to shut down FIFA saying that it was not “currently” considering a state intervention at FIFA but fell short of ruling this out as a possibility.
By Mark Baber
December 14 – US prosecutors have used a leak to the Financial Times newspaper to pile pressure on the banks, central to the FIFA corruption scandal, to provide more information of use to their corruption probe.
By Ben Nicholson
December 14 – The MLS has committed near an additional $37 million for clubs to spend on player salaries. In both the 2016 and 2017 seasons, $125,000 per season will be dedicated to clubs to use on signing Homegrown Players, and $800,000 per season will be made available to all MLS clubs in the form of Targeted Allocation Money (TAM).
December 14 – UEFA president Michel Platini may have long been opposed to goal-line technology but his organisation now realises it can no longer resist its implementation.
By Ben Nicholson
December 14 – The 2015 MLS season came to an end last week with the MLS Cup final between Portland Timbers and Columbus Crew. And while the league’s lofty ambitions have been creating international stir in recent months, the cup final failed to generate much of a domestic stir, according TV viewership figures.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – The failed joint 2018 World Cup bid by Belgium and Holland, hitherto untouched by the corruption allegations that have struck at the heart of FIFA and its related confederations, has suddenly become unwittingly embroiled in the saga.
By Ben Nicholson
December 14 – The United Soccer League Players Association (USLPA) – consisting of those players employed in the United Soccer League (USL), which is considered the third tier of US soccer – is coming close to formal unionisation.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – Just days after being arrested as part of the new wave of US justice department indictments in the FIFA corruption scandal and then suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee for 90 days, Paraguay’s Juan Angel Napout has tendered his resignation as president of CONMEBOL.
For years we have speculated about when China will host a World Cup. In 2030 maybe? Or 2034? Perhaps even 2026 in the (unlikely) event that the United States (or A.N.Other) somehow wrests the endlessly controversial 2022 competition away from Qatar.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – UEFA’s top brass have given Michel Platini as much time as possible to try and clear his name to run for FIFA president – but could have a new chief in place themselves at the start of May if he is banned from the game.
December 11 – Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, arguably the most powerful official in Asian sport and a recently elected member of FIFA’s top brass, has vowed to fight a six-month jail term imposed in his native Kuwait for allegedly insulting the judiciary.
December 11 – Sierra Leone, which has only just returned to organised football activity having been declared ebola-free, has had its FA board dissolved by the National Sports Council (NSC), though the Sierra Leone FA (SLFA) is refusing to acknowledge the ruling.
December 11 – Legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo says he would not rule himself out of running for the presidency of his country’s beleaguered federation to restore is battered credibility.
By Mark Baber
December 11 – Turning a blind eye to the corruption scandals swirling around Nike, as they have to years of sweatshop and child labour by the same company, the Premier League announced on Wednesday a three-year extension to their long-term official ball partnership with the Eugene, Oregon-founded sportswear brand.