By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – Asian football supremo Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa’s control over his huge region has been underlined with the surprise decision to hold this year’s 47-nation Asian Football Confederation congress in his native Bahrain.
By Mark Baber
February 5 – Liverpool FC announced on Wednesday that sports apparel manufacturer, New Balance would be the club’s official kit supplier from the 2015/16 football season onwards in a deal described as record-breaking.
February 5 – The English Premier League’s sale of television rights for 2016-19 will go ahead as planned after UK broadcasting watchdog Ofcom rejected complaints from cable operator Virgin Media.
February 5 – English Premier League club West Ham have been fined 100,000 Swiss francs and reprimanded by FIFA but have avoided being thrown out of the domestic FA Cup after fielding Senegalese striker Diafra Sakho just 18 days after he withdrew from his country’s Africa Cup of Nations squad.
February 5 – The referee who awarded the controversial last-gasp penalty decision that helped hosts Equatorial Guinea reach the African Nations Cup semi-finals at the expense of Tunisia has been banned for six months.
February 5 – Neymar’s controversial 2013 transfer to Barcelona is back in the spotlight with the news that Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu is to be questioned over alleged tax fraud in the signing of the Brazilian international striker.
By David Owen
February 4 – A further 80 English grass-roots football facilities are to get much-needed investment from a recently-established fund that draws on money from the Premier League, the UK Government and the Football Association (FA).
By Mark Baber
February 4 – Premier League clubs have spent an estimated £130 million in this year’s transfer window, probably equivalent to last year’s spending (based on figures for individual transfers leaked to the media) with about half the total spending accounted for by Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
“Are there any questions about football?” asked a tired-looking Prince Ali, perhaps more in hope than expectation, after answering yet another about his FIFA presidential credentials as he blinked into a phalanx of whirring cameras.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 4 – The Belarusian government has said it has earmarked funds to provide Dinamo Minsk with a new stadium by the end of 2019. The new arena will have a capacity of 25,000.
February 4 – English Premier League club Liverpool will head for Australia for the second time in three years for their pre-season tour in July, playing games in Adelaide and Brisbane for the first time.
February 4 – Despite repeated protestations of his innocence and a plea to be allowed to get on with his job, Japan’s Mexican coach Javier Aguirre has been sacked over much-publicised match-fixing allegations covering the period he worked in Spain.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – A year after announcing his plans to form a new MLS club in Miami, David Beckham is still searching for a permanent venue amid growing concerns that his dream franchise might be some way off.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – The war of words between Europe’s clubs and the players’ union FIFPro over reforming the transfer system has been stepped up with another hard-hitting exchange of views.
January 4 – Fast growing German media channel SPORT1 has acquired a three-year package of Europa League rights starting next season.