June 13 – Mexico approach the 2025 Gold Cup with typical confidence, having secured early silverware through March’s Concacaf Nations League triumph – a psychological boost that sets them up beautifully for the right to be called Kings of the Region.
By Paul Nicholson
May 7 – Palestinian football is mourning the loss of Sa’id Yousef Odeh, a 16 year old player from the current league champions Balata FC’s youth team, who was shot dead this week by an Israeli soldier.
May 7 – A ban on several stadia across the African continent has led to the widely anticipated postponement of several World Cup qualifiers that were scheduled for June.
May 7 – Italy’s Serie A has become the first football league to embrace the potential of cryptocurrency, unveiling Crypto.com as a partner and launching the collaboration at the Atalanta vs Juventus Coppa Italia final (May 19) with a special NFT collection, including the official trophy and match highlights.
May 7 – Players’ union FIFPro as part of a three-year co-operation with the KPMG Football benchmark team, has launched a Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) platform.
May 7 – Arsenal’s season came crashing down on Thursday with a damaging exit from the Europa League, following a goalless draw against Villarreal in their second-leg semi-final, raising the spectre of no European football for the first time in a quarter of a century for the North London club.
May 7 – RedBird Capital Partners have invested in plagued Spanish club Malaga, building a football club portfolio alongside Fenway Sports Group (FSG).
May 7 – Musician Ed Sheeran has become a shirt sponsor of Ipswich Town, once a powerhouse of the English game but in modern times a middling League one club.
May 7 – Bayern Munich and Canadian starAlphonso Davies has become one of the world’s first players to embrace cryptocurrency opportunities with the planned launch of a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection in June 2021.
By Paul Nicholson
May 6 – Real Madrid have lost a Spanish court case against LaLiga which challenged the legal right of the league to promote and sell its commercial and broadcast inventory.
May 6 – Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan – the four renegades who have refused to abandon the European Super League project – could be thrown out of the Champions League for two years if they continue to dig their heels in, according to reports.
By Samindra Kunti
May 6 – Two years after Liverpool were crowned European champions following a 2-0 victory against Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City will lock horns in another all-English Champions League final at the end of May in Istanbul after the London club dispatched a fading Real Madrid 2-0 (3-1 on aggregate) in their semi-final.
May 6 – Manchester United face having to play four times in eight days after their postponed home Premier League match with Liverpool was rearranged for Thursday May 13.
May 5 – Lionel Messi has topped another European ranking of players based on their performances this season. He heads PSG’s Neymar Júnior who seems to have finally settled in Paris, and Bayern goalscoring machine Robert Lewandowski.
May 6 – US broadcaster Fox Sports has added English language rights for Conmebol’s competitions in a six-year deal.
May 6 – Bafana Bafana have a new manager with Belgian coach Hugo Broos, an AFCON winner, taking on the role to steer South Africa to a brighter future after the country’s recent elimination from next year’s continental finals.