February 19 – FIFA have released their first World Ranking of 2021 but in a period where only 43 full internationals were played, the top of the 32 places in the rankings remain unchanged with only the African nations showing movement.
February 19 – Veteran Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been fined €5,000 by the Italian Football Federation for blasphemy.
February 19 – At the age of just 23, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is the new chairman of English League One club Sunderland – a hugely supported club which in recent years has punched well below its weight – after his takeover was approved by the English Football League.
February 19 – The referee who squared up to a player during an English league game last week has been removed from the next fixture he was due to take charge of tomorrow.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 18 – Paris St Germain supremo Nasser Al-Khelaifi has hit back at the decision by Swiss prosecutors to appeal his acquittal on accusations of aggravated criminal mismanagement regarding the allocation of World Cup TV rights.
February 18 – The international men’s players union FIFpro says ongoing discussions about the future of UEFA competitions with a view to preventing a breakaway Super League must include safeguards to protect the workload placed on its members.
By Paul Nicholson
February 18 – FIFA has released an international ‘Transfer Market Snapshot’ report that shows the impact of the pandemic on player movement is “even more severe” than it 2020 Global Transfer report.
February 18 – Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas has asked his players to take a pay cut in a bid to mitigate the financial fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and loss of Ligue 1 TV rights revenue.
February 18 – Olympique de Marseille president Jacques-Henri Eyraud (pictured) has said Ligue 1 is “no longer sustainable” and should shrink to confront a post-coronavirus reality.
February 18 – Serie A’s €1.7 billion private equity deal for a 10% stake in the league’s newly created media business looks to have been scuppered.
February 18 – Barcelona presidential candidate Joan Laporta has vowed to do all he can to keep Lionel Messi at the club despite another humiliating night in the Champions League.
February 18 – The 2020-21 edition of the UEFA Youth League – a youth version of the Champions League – has been cancelled due to the difficulties in staging the competition caused by Covid-19 travel restrictions.
February 18 – Ligue 1’s AS Monaco will become the first French club to launch on Japan’s Line social media platform when the club face Paris Saint-Germain this Sunday.
February 17 – With politicking in the election of a new president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in full flow, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has begun a tour of African nations with Mauritania his first stop.
February 17 – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola fears next month’s international break could reap Covid chaos on elite clubs but says he will not stop his players from travelling abroad.