May 25 – FIFA’s members have passed a projected budget based on $4.666 billion of revenue for 2022, the first year of a new four year cycle that has the financially underpinning World Cup in Qatar – albeit at the end of the year.
May 25 – With Europe’s five big league season complete the CIES Football Observatory have released Best XIs for each of them. The selections show players from the winning clubs in all leagues dominating, but not all football’s biggest names.
By David Owen
May 24 – For years, cost control has proved elusive in football. While revenue growth was the envy of most other industries, the issue was manageable. But with the covid crisis coinciding with pressure on the broadcasting rights valuations that have been football’s gold-mine for so long, the reckoning has arrived.
May 24 – Three years after staving off relegation, Lille won their first French title in a decade at the weekend and prevented Paris St Germain sealing a record-equaling 10thstraight domestic crown.
May 24 – A second-half winner from Luis Suarez secured Atletico Madrid’s first La Liga title in seven years as Diego Simeone’s team finished two points above cross-town rivals Real Madrid.
May 24 – The AFC Cup, the Asian Football Confederation’s club championship for its developing nations, has moved into the second round of matches in the AFC’s West zone where three groups are in action, one in Bahrain and two in Jordan.
May 24 – World governing FIFA has brought the bidding process for the Women’s World Cup into line with the process for the men’s equivalent following an amendment of the organisation’s statutes at Congress that will in future see all member associations vote for the host country.
May 24 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has personally backed overhauling the offside rule by doing away with hairsbreadth decisions that have caused so much anguish among players and fans alike.
FIFA is currently trialling a new rule in China and the United States that would give the advantage to strikers and stop what Infantino called being offside “by a nose” because of controversial VAR calls.
“The offside rule is definitely one of the laws we need to look at,” said Infantino.
May 24 – Fast growing British sportswear brand Castore, founded in 2015, have signed their first Premier League partnership with Wolverhampton Wanderers, replacing Adidas as the club’s kit and apparel partner.
May 21 – “A good problem to have” is one of those football clichés often trodden out by pundits to highlight a selection issue for a manager. But it is a cliché based on some truth, as having players fighting for a place can be a boon for a coach, even if it can be tricky to keep players happy in rotation.
May 24 – Leicester City, who narrowly missed out on a Champions League spot, have scored what the clubs says is a record new shirt sponsorship with global online trading company FBS becoming the principal club partner.
May 24 – The Nordic membership of FIFA has stepped up pressure on the world governing body to improve workers’ rights in Qatar, the 2022 World Cup hosts.
By Paul Nicholson
May 21 – Whatever credibility or trust that might have been lingering in FIFA’s Ethics apparatus was pretty much shattered at the world governing body’s congress today with the election of Maria Claudia Rojas (pictured), former chair of the investigatory chamber, to the deputy chair of its adjudicatory chamber.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino today outlined an 11-point plan for making football “truly global” and in doing so took another veiled swipe at Europe’s perceived domination of the sport.
By Samindra Kunti
May 21 – What Gianni Infantino wants, Gianni Infantino normally gets. At today’s annual (virtual) Congress, the FIFA president in his opening address alluded to reshaping the global calendar, and the future and frequency of Zurich’s flagship competitions.