By Paul Nicholson
October 19 – Football in Canada is crossing a threshold. With a Gold medal at the Olympics for the women’s team and the men’s team showing they are real contenders for a 2022 World Cup slot, there is a positivity you can almost touch coming from the country that so often lives in the sporting shadow of the US, and, in football terms, Mexico.
October 19 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino is continuing to bang the drum for a biennial World Cup, this time promoting the idea at a news conference in Buenos Aires where, he claimed, the proposal would help spread funds more fairly and away from handful of super clubs.
October 19 – The European Court of Justice will examine UEFA and Belgium’s quota for homegrown players and its compliance with the freedom of labour and competition law following a lawsuit by Royal Antwerp.
October 19 – English hopes of staging the World Cup in 2030 have been dealt a potentially damaging blow after UEFA slapped a stadium ban on the country following the disgraceful scenes that marred the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
October 19 – Hosts the Netherlands have been drawn alongside world and European champions Portugal as well Ukraine and Serbia/Belarus in the draw for Euro 2022.
October 19 – UEFA is reporting that its just completed Nations League final tournament in Italy delivered a 30% growth in TV audience figures from the inaugural edition in 2019, helo in Portugal.
October 19 – A man involved in the arrangement of the fatal flight that carried Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala to Cardiff to sign for the Welsh club almost three years ago admitted to one charge in court on Monday.
October 19 – 2026 World Cup bid city Houston has launched plans for a Soccer Innovation Institute as part of its Spirit of Houston campaign and legacy programme.
October 18 – FIFA has increased the pace of its lobbying for a biennial World Cup announcing two online video conferences for men’s national team coaches this week to discuss the proposals for a potential new calendar that would start from 2024.
October 18 – Poland and England have become embroiled in an unsavoury spat over racism allegations the Poles insist are totally unjustified.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 18 – It was the start of a fresh era, the club’s new Saudi owners all smiles and decked out in black and white, an electric, expectant atmosphere and a tickertape welcome for the players.
By Paul Nicholson
October 18 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has formally noted the concerns of other sports and football’s own stakeholders and has called for a “wider consultation…which has obviously not taken place.”
October 18 – With opposition to the biennial World Cup snowballing, the Nordic football associations confirmed they won’t support Zurich’s calendar revolution, arguing the proposal would “cannibalise” existing competitions.
By Paul Nicholson
October 18 – With EA Sports review of its FIFA license increasingly looking like bringing an end to its FIFA branded game at the end of the current rights cycle, FIFA has issued a statement saying that it will be widening its own gaming and eSports portfolio.
October 18 – The idea of increasing halftime breaks to 25 minutes to provide the kind of entertainment that exists in US sports will be discussed this month by the game’s lawmaking body, the International FA Board.