Mexico 1 Honduras 0
July 2 – The question on the lips of pundits and fans at Levi Stadium, Santa Clara, was “would tonight be business as usual or unusual business?” as Mexico and Honduras met for the right to face the United States in the Concacaf Gold Cup Final on Sunday in Houston.
Switzerland 1 – Norway 2
July 2 – Host nation Switzerland stumbled as they kicked off Euro 2025 with a 2-1 defeat to Norway following a second-half collapse.
By David Owen
October 17 – The new Stade Vélodrome, complete with undulating white roof, has been inaugurated in front of the new French Sports Minister in the southern French city of Marseille.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 17 – The German judge overseeing FIFA’s investigation into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup ballot has re-iterated once and for all that the 430-page report submitted to him cannot be published in full for legal reasons.
By Mark Baber
October 17 – Arsenal’s AGM held on Thursday was a happy affair, following the club’s FA Cup triumph and sound financial figures. Arsene Wenger scotched rumours of a move to Monaco and reiterated he intends to buy a defender in January, but the club was keen to stress suggestions of a £200 million cash pile are well wide of the mark.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
October 17 – Pandurii Targu Jiu has announced plans to invest about €15 million to expand and modernise its stadium. The Romanian club is aiming to launch the project in 2015, and carry out the construction over the following 18 months.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 17 – The race in Asia for a place at FIFA’s top table has been stepped up with the announcement that Malaysian FA president Prince Abdullah Shah will contest next year’s election for a position on FIFA’s executive committee.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 17 – Once again a new venue looks like being needed for the African Cup of Nations after next year’s hosts Morocco reportedly pulled out because of fears over the Ebola virus.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 17 – Albanian football authorities have hit back powerfully at Serb accusations that they were responsible for the politically-fuelled melee that caused this week’s Euro 2016 qualifier between the Balkan rivals in Belgrade to be abandoned after descending into chaos.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 17 – Michel Platini, who has openly admitted he voted for Qatar to stage the 2022 World Cup, says he would have no problem with a revote if proof emerged, as a result of FIFA ethics committee investigator Michael Garcia’s report into possible corruption, that there was any wrongdoing during the bid process.
By Paul Nicholson
October 17 – The fight against match-fixing took the next, and ground breaking, steps in El Salvador this week with meetings to discuss a roadmap that will make match manipulation a crime under the country’s laws. The talks in El Salvador are intended to become a blueprint for discussion with government and agencies region-wide.
By Mark Baber
October 16 – According to a BBC study of 207 clubs, the average price of the cheapest tickets across English football has risen at almost twice the rate of the cost of living since 2011 with the average price of the cheapest match-day ticket from the Premier League to League Two now at £21.49, up 4.4% since last year, over treble the 1.2% rate of inflation.
By Mark Baber
October 16 – The first meeting of the new Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, following the disputed but FIFA-supported election of Amaju Pinnick as President, has sacked national team coach Stephen Keshi (pictured) whilst appointing Dilichukwu Onyedinma, who caused international controversy with her campaign to drive lesbians out of Nigerian football, as Deputy Chair of the Committee of Ethics and Fair Play.
October 16 – The International Football Arena (IFA) has released details of October 30 Berlin conference programme, themed ‘Football’s Digital Transformation’.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – Asian football has been rocked by yet another scandal, with the fallout from former AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam’s disgraced legacy snaring another culprit.
October 16 – The Premier League may be the most popular televised club football in the world but ticket prices at home throughout the English game continue to be cause for concern.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – Amid the furore of claim and counter-claim following one of the worst outbreaks of politically-motivated trouble in recent European football history, UEFA as expected have charged both the Serbian and Albanian federations – and will almost certainly come down hard on both of them.