May 1 – The humble football has become serious business. French soccer’s LFP league organizing body has renewed its official match ball deal with sporting goods retailer Decathlon for another five seasons.
May 1 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino was declined a request for a police motorcade escort by the Vancouver Police Department during this week’s FIFA Congress in the city, the department confirmed Wednesday.
April 30 – Viaplay Group has extended its exclusive rights deal to men’s UEFA Champions League football in Denmark, along with the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League in Norway and Finland, in a four-year renewal running through to 2031.
April 30 – Betano has signed on as an Official Regional Sponsor of the Argentina national team, extending Kaizen Gaming’s footprint in international football in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup this summer.
April 30 – The latest release from the CIES Football Observatory focuses on one of the game’s less desired markets – young goalkeepers – and highlights how valuation and reality do not always move in step.
April 30 – FIFA and the Local Organising Committee for Football Events (LOC) have confirmed that the 2026 edition of its expanded U-17 World Cup will return to Qatar, with the tournament scheduled to run from 19th November to 13th December.
April 30 – Heat is the variable nobody at the 2026 FIFA World Cup can control. Officials from host cities and stadiums are working with FIFA on heat risk assessments, expanded shade, cooling zones, water access, and on-site medical teams across all 16 venues in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
April 30 – The U.S. National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has confirmed that its current spring-to-fall calendar will run through at least the 2030 season, ending months of speculation that it would follow Major League Soccer (MLS) in flipping to a fall-to-spring schedule aligned with Europe and FIFA’s international match calendar.
April 30 – Brighton & Hove Albion are building a stadium for their women’s team – the first of its kind in the United Kingdom or Europe. The proposed 10,000-capacity ground will sit next to the Amex on a site at Bennett’s Field, acquired by the club in 2025, and connect via a bridge link to the men’s stadium.
April 30 – English Premier League side Chelsea have signed a multi-year deal with Moët Hennessy UK, naming the LVMH-owned drinks group as the men’s team’s Official Champagne Supplier.
April 30 – A potential wave of Ukrainian investment is stirring excitement and debate among Hajduk Split fans. According to reports, Volodymyr Nosov (pictured), a prominent Ukrainian billionaire and founder of the cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT, is seriously considering a major investment in the Croatian football giant.
By Samindra Kunti in Vancouver
April 30 – Just over a month out from the World Cup finals and on the eve of the FIFA Congress in Vancouver, FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino have showered World Cup finalists with money to assuage fears over costs, ‘unite’ the football family and reinforce the FIFA president’s position ahead of next year’s elections.
April 30 – FIFA is on course to ensure a federal tax exemption for the 48 World Cup finalists after talks with US officials.
By Paul Nicholson in Vancouver
April 29 – With less than 45 days to go to the kick-off of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA and its member nations have gathered in Canada, one of the three host countries, for their annual congress.
April 29 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has reported $292.7 million for its last financial year, a $32 million+ improvement on its budgeted revenue figure of $259.9 million.