June 24 – With the afternoon sun dropping in Austin, Texas, Panama put an end to Jamaica’s Gold Cup challenge with a composed performance and three goals from standout forward Ismael Diaz.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 5 – The FIFA presidential election may not be until May 29 but as 2015 gets into its stride, Insideworldfootball identifies a number of key dates over the first quarter of the year that could shape the direction of football politics.
By Mark Baber
January 5 – The request of Leo Iyke Igbokwe for an arbitration committee to be set up to examine the validity of the September 30 Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) elections is expected to be presented to the NFF Board on January 8, offering another chance for football in Nigeria to bring the current leadership crisis to an end, without the involvement of civil courts.
There was a time, when Beckham’s Miami project was first gathering pace and New York and Manchester City first joined forces, that I suggested in this column a crucial period for club football was emerging in the States. Or more accurately franchise football.
But three thirtysomethings from over the Atlantic indicate things haven’t actually changed that much from the 70s. The idea back then was to hire legends like Pele, Beckenbauer and Moore to sprinkle their stardust over the league.
January 5 – An English lower-league club is under pressure not to offer a convicted rapist a contract as debate over whether he should be given a chance to resume his footballing career after serving a jail sentence intensifies.
January 5 – Former England captain Steven Gerrard says his decision to leave Liverpool and become the latest footballing icon to further his career in the United States was the toughest decision of his life.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 5 – Preparations for this week’s Asian Cup in Australia, the continent’s flagship competition, have been plunged into controversy after a warm-up game between two of the finalists was called off just moments before kickoff.
By David Owen
January 4 – Hundreds of pages of documents relating to the British Government’s handling of the football hooliganism problem before and after the Heysel Stadium disaster in Brussels in May 1985 have been released by the National Archives.
By Paul Nicholson
January 5 – President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, has repeated his assertion that Qatar’s 2022 World Cup has been the subject of a “racist campaign”. He also questioned the independence of an American investigator to lead the FIFA ethics investigation into the world cup bidding.
By Samindra Kunti
January 5 – French football fans will have to fork out more money in 2015 if they want to watch Ligue 1 action following an injunction by the European Commission, asking for the nationwide implementation of VAT for sports tickets.
Remember the stock line about England World Cup winner Martin Peters? He was, they said, “ahead of his time”. This for the way he would ghost into the opposition penalty area unremarked.
Steven Gerrard always struck me as the opposite: a player “behind his time”; a throwback.
By David Owen
January 4 – West Ham United, the east London club gearing up to move to the Olympic stadium in 2016, has become the latest Premier League outfit to report substantially improved financial results on the back of increased broadcasting revenue.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – The increasing practise of experienced European, especially Premier League, stars moving across the pond to Major League Soccer for a final career hurrah has come under fresh scrutiny as a result of Frank Lampard’s controversial decision to temporarily snub New York City.
By Mark Baber
January 2 – Electronic Art’s FIFA15 has been unveiled by The Entertainment Retailer’s Association as the UK’s biggest video game of 2014 after selling 2,663,296 copies, ahead of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and only coming second in the chart of the 20 best-selling video games, movies and albums of 2014 to Disney’s movie Frozen.
January 2 – The powerplay turmoil in the Rangers boardroom battle continued over New Year as the largest shareholder Laxey Partners sold their 16.32% stake to consortium of wealthy fans for £2.6 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – Stung at having its FIFA-imposed transfer ban upheld by the highest judiciary body in sport, Barcelona have struck back by denouncing the verdict and refusing to accept what it has described as a “disproportionate” and “excessive” ruling.