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.
By David Owen
March 9 – Yet another Premier League club has revealed that it haemorrhaged red ink during the covid-battered 2019-20 financial year, with high-flying West Ham posting a pre-tax loss of £65.3 million for the twelve months to end-May.
By Paul Nicholson
March 9 – Former CAF executive committee member and Liberian FA president Musa Bility has issued a warning to his African football colleagues over what he calls the “FIFA-fronted capitulation of CAF presidential candidates”.
March 9 – While the race for the CAF presidency pretty much over with three of the candidates challenging for the position having agreed deals to pull out in favour of South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe, the jostling for position on CAF’s executive committee and the FIFA Council is taking centre stage.
March 9 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino was struck another legal blow in the criminal case against him in Switzerland with the Swiss Federal Criminal Court ruling he can’t have access to the investigation file into his case.
March 9 – The new format of the Champions League after 2024 could be agreed upon within a matter of weeks according to the boss of European Club Association, Andrea Agnelli.
March 9 – The 2021 edition of the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations has been cancelled at the last minute by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), leaving hosts Morocco embarrassed on the eve of the governing body’s 43rd general assembly.
March 9 – FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura opened the Female Leadership in Sport Summit yesterday with a message that the world governing body has at its a heart a “mission to transform FIFA into an egalitarian organisation”.
March 9 – UEFA have suspended Romanian fourth official Sebastian Coltescu until the end of the season for his role in a racism case last December.
March 9 – Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp is not under pressure from the club’s American owners despite the Premier League defending champion’s dramatic collapse in form.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 8 – The behind-the-scenes deal-making that for weeks has characterised the election for the top job in African football has resulted in three of the four candidates – Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast, Senegal’s Augustin Senghor and Ahmed Yahya of Mauritania – pulling out at the 11th hour in favour of giving South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, the preferred choice of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a clear run for the CAF presidency.
March 8 – Disgraced Confederation of African Football president Ahmad Ahmad has lost his appeal against his FIFA ban for corruption but has won a reduction in the length of that ban from five years to two.
March 8 – Joan Laporta was elected Barcelona president by a landslide on Sunday, taking charge of the club for a second spell but this time inheriting a financial crisis and the possible departure of Lionel Messi at the end of the season.
March 8 – Having already agreed to tweak the handball rule following a clamour for change from fans and pundits alike football’s lawmakers are also set to trial what would be the biggest revamping of the offside law for a century.
March 8 – Rangers’ first domestic Scottish title for a decade was marred by a serious breach of Covid rules on Sunday that prompted the intervention of the country’s political leader.
March 8 – South America’s World Cup qualifiers in March have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions, leaving continental governing body Conmebol with a headache to reschedule the fixtures in a heavily congested calendar.