March 5 – Barcelona, Real Madrid and two other Spanish clubs have been dealt a significant financial blow after being forced to pay back millions of euros in illegal state aid following a ruling by the EU’s highest court.
March 5 – Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying schedules may be in disarray around the world, but FIFA has already moved on to the next stage of host city selection for its expanded 48-team 2026 World Cup.
March 5 – Social media giant Facebook has not renewed its contract to stream the Champions League in Latin America and Spain’s La Liga in India.
March 5 – Portugal have moved their home World Cup qualifying game against Azerbaijan to Turin in a bid to use their leading English-based stars.
March 5 – Two seasons ago they won the Champions League. Last season they finally clinched the English league title for the first time in 30 years.
March 5 – Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League (JPL) has turned to streaming platforms to expand its international broadcast footprint in a deal brokered by Mediarpro.
March 4 – UEFA has sought to shoot down an agency report that it is considering ditching three of the 12 cities being used for this summer’s delayed Euro 2020.
March 4 – Belgian champions Club Brugge having released plans for a public flotation on the Euronext market in Brussels.
March 4 – The long awaited final AFC play-off between South Korea and China for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Tokyo 2020 has at last been scheduled, more than a year after the final round of qualifying began and seven months after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics should have taken place.
March 4 – Palestinian authorities have been criticised for prioritising the national football team in the country’s roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine.
March 4 – English Premier League clubs are reported to have held crisis talks over releasing players for this month’s international break amid concerns that some may be forced to quarantine for 10 days on their return.
March 3 – Senegal’s candidate to become the next leader of African football, Augustin Senghor (pictured), appears to be a step closer to throwing in the towel as a result of the apparent deal-making that has characterised the March 12 election process.
March 4 – Sometimes it takes a few steps backwards to make significant progress forward. Football appears to be no different with data showing that Europe’s leading teams are also the leaders in the number of backward passes they make.
March 4 – German club and Bundesliga red lantern Schalke 04 have named Dimitrios Grammozis (pictured) as their new head coach on a deal that runs through to 2022.
By Paul Nicholson
March 3 – CAF presidential candidate Jacques Anouma is continuing on the campaign trial in his bid for the leadership of African football despite reports that he had agreed to step away from the election at the weekend.