December 19 – Seoul in South Korea will host the next edition of the Homeless World Cup in 2024, the 19th time the competition will have been played and the first time in Asia.
December 19 – Manchester City has agreed a multi-year partnership with Kellogg’s that will see the cereal brand become theClub’s Official Breakfast Cereals partner for both the men’s and women’s first teams.
December 19 – Bulgaria’s top tier clubs continue to struggle with financial issues with Botev Vratsa being the latest to break financial rules. FIFA have imposed a transfer ban on the club over its failure to pay the wages of former player, Brazilian Lucas Brambilla.
By Samindra Kunti in Jeddah
December 18 – South America is returning to the final of the Club World Cup after Fluminense edged past African champions Al Ahly of Egypt 2-0 with second-half goals from Joao Arias and John Kennedy.
December 18 – Holders Manchester City were handed arguably the easiest tie in the last 16 of the Champions League after being paired with FC Copenhagen, while Spanish heavyweights Barcelona will face Napoli as today’s draw kept Europe’s giant clubs apart.
By James Dostoyevsky
As if football didn’t have other problems – between a Turkish club president assaulting a referee on the pitch and VAR turning into the most hated new tech distorting football results – a novel and stupefying proclamation emanated from Vlad the Impaler’s homeland, Romania this week.
By Samindra Kunti in Jeddah
December 18 – FIFA confirmed that the 2025 Club World Cup will be played across 29 days in June and July that summer in the United States. Both English Premier League’s Liverpool and Manchester United miss out on the new competition while LaLiga’s Barcelona could still qualify.
December 18 – The first edition of the expanded Club World Cup will be staged from June 15 to July 13, 2025, in the United States but the world players union Fifpro has slammed FIFA’s decision.
December 18 – Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer is undergoing tests and scans at hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during a Premier League game at the weekend.
December 18 – Qatar’s national airline has signed a six-year partnership with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that begins in January with the start of the Asian Cup that Qatar in hosting and kicks off 12 January.
December 17 – Fleetwood Haiya (pictured) has been elected the new president of the Malawi FA (FAM), bringing to an end the longstanding reign of Walter Nyamilandu.
December 16 – World champions Spain have secured the top spot in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings for the first time, knocking off ranking leaders Sweden who themselves had only had a short time at the top after displacing the USA in August. The US had held an unbroken six year run at the top.
December 15 – Premier League Aston Villa’s holding company, V Sports, has secured an investment from east coast US private equity firm Atairos.
By Samindra Kunti in Jeddah
December 17 – African champions Al Ahly from Egypt eliminated hosts Al-Ittihad from the Club World Cup with a resounding 3-1 win to set up a semi-final against Brazil’s Fluminense. Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds complete the last-four line-up and will face Manchester City.
December 18 – The AFC has drawn groups for the 8-team finals of the U-20 Women’s Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2024 that will be played March 3 to 16, 2024.