Costa Rica 4 Suriname 3
June 15 – With the baking sun of a sweltering San Diego day in Southern California giving way to a cool evening, Costa Rica went from red hot to freezing cold as they threw away their lead and had to battle back to win with 10 men and a penalty more than 10 minutes into added time.
March 23 – Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has launched legal action against the author and publisher of a book which alleges he acted corruptly and bought the club on the direction of Vladimir Putin.
March 23 – In what is being described as one of the most bizarre administrative gaffes, Bayern Munich’s Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has been ruled out of captaining his native Cameroon this month against Cape Verde and Rwanda in Group F of African Nations Cup qualifiers after his federation accidentally emailed themselves instead of his club.
March 23 – Next month’s English League Cup final could become the nation’s first showpiece match in months to be played out in front of a limited number of fans as a test case, according to press reports.
March 23 – Karl-Erik Nilsson has been re-elected as president of the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) for a two-year mandate.
By David Owen
March 22 – FIFA has secured insurance for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. The disclosure comes in the small print of the governing body’s newly-published 2020 financial statements. FIFA said the “maximum insurance volume” was $900 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 22 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino says he wants as many bids as possible for the 2030 World Cup and has not ruled out China even though South America is an early favourite to land the tournament.
March 22 – Amnesty International has called on FIFA to put more pressure on 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar to improve conditions for migrant workers.
March 22 – UEFA has agreed a landmark sponsorship deal covering a bulk of its flagship men’s and women’s competitions with Just Eat Takeaway.com, adding to its already agreed Official Food Delivery Partner sponsorship of this summer’s Euro 2020 competition.
March 22 – UEFA have stepped in to investigate claims that a player from Scottish champions Rangers was racially abused by a Slavia Prague opponent during their Europa League match last week as both sides continue to blame the other for the incident.
By David Owen
March 21 – In these volatile and unnerving times for sport, it is good to know there are still some things one can depend on: for example, that the headcount at Gianni Infantino’s FIFA will continue to rise year after year.
March 22 – FIFA have caught the esports bug, and the revenue wave its FIFA21 video game has brought, and launched another new competition this weekend.
March 22 – Albania has had their request for a limited number of spectators at the World Cup qualifier with England this month turned down by the country’s health ministry due to rising daily cases of coronavirus.
By David Owen
March 20 – Chinese-owned Wolverhampton Wanderers have joined the general plunge into the red by Premier League clubs for the covid-impacted 2019-20 financial year.
By David Owen
March 20 – Leicester City, the Thai-controlled club riding high in the Premier League once again under Brendan Rodgers, incurred a hefty pre-tax loss of £67.3 million for the covid-impacted 2019-20 financial year.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 19 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino today called on clubs, mainly those in Europe, not to take unfair advantage of the relaxation of the rules concerning the release of players for the March international programme.