Guatemala 0-1 Panama:
June 20 – Friday night at Q2 Stadium bore no resemblance to the venue that hosted football just 24 hours earlier. The transformation was complete, and the catalyst was simple: unbridled passion provided by the hordes of Guatemala supporters who descended on Austin. Stark contrast to the lack of interest shown by US fans on Thursday.
By Samindra Kunti
June 17 – The Belgian National Study Commission has approved a new league format that will be introduced in the 2016/17 season. Only 24 clubs will continue to play professional football with 16 clubs in the top-flight and eight clubs in the second division.
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 17 – One of Bulgaria’s leading clubs looks set to disappear from the country’s football map if ownership negotiations over the franchise and its name are completed. Litex Lovech owner Grisha Ganchev is currently in discussions to rename the club ‘CSKA’.
By Paul Nicholson
June 17 – You can’t win the Champions League unless you lash out at least €200 million in wages, according to the first set of figures and analysis released from the new Football Benchmark database launched by accountancy giants KPMG’s sports team.
June 17 – South Korea-based Hankook, one of the world’s biggest tyre production companies, has renewed its sponsorship of the UEFA Europa League for a further three years it was announced on Tuesday.
June 17 – Updated figures for the CIES Football Observatory show the numbers of home grown players at clubs and getting first team playing time is at an all-time low, with Italy and England having the lowest amounts of local talent in their teams.
By Mark Baber
June 16 – A new stadium for AS Roma has moved a significant step closer with a media briefing to mark the submission of the master plan for the development of the Tor di Valle-Stadio della Roma construction project to the Rome municipality.
By Mark Baber
June 16 – Fresh from securing a third place finish in the South East Asian Games with a 5-0 victory over Indonesia, Vietnamese football has been hit by scandal as two officials are accused by a disgruntled ex-employee of receiving bribes from him and then sacking him.
By Samindra Kunti
June 16 – The 2014 World Cup did not only bring tears to Brazil on the field, but a year later the tournament has left a questionable legacy.
June 16 – Digital developer Chroma Sports has built a new user interface for the launch of new TV and online gambling service Win Cash Live.
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 16 – Clubs from Bulgaria’s elite A group recorded cumulative financial losses amounting to BGN60 million (€30 million) over the past two seasons. The figures were calculated from documents provided by the clubs to the Bulgarian Football Union’s club licensing committee.
By Paul Nicholson
June 16 – Disgraced former Brazilian FA president and FIFA vice-president Ricardo Teixeira, being pursued in Brazil for money laundering and tax evasion, has been linked to payments from Qatar which have been found in a bank account in his name.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 16 – Any move by Sepp Blatter to consider changing his mind about stepping down as FIFA president in the wake of the current corruption crisis engulfing his organisation is being firmly discouraged by Domenico Scala, the official who has emerged as the key figure in pushing through much-needed reforms.
By Mark Baber
June 15 – In an ironic twist to the FIFA corruption scandal, given the grandstanding by FA Chairman Greg Dyke and vice-Chairman David Gill, British newspapers were full of reports at the weekend of how the FBI had the FA “in its sights.”
June 15 – The confederation may be in turmoil but the battle against match-fixing is on-going. This weekend CONCACAF hosted its Integrity Workshop training session in Guyana for the first time.
If only the crooked bankers, as the criminal individuals they are, had caused so much excitement in the corridors of the EU.