USA 2 Costa Rica 2 (USA win 4-3 on pens)
June 29 – You’d hate to use the word ‘sterile’ to describe a Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-final, but following the drama and passion of Guatemala versus Canada, it all felt a little flat as the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) and Costa Rica kicked off for the right to face Guatemala in St. Louis. After 90 minutes and the drama of penalty kicks,
March 16 – Co-hosts Argentina will kick off the 2020 Copa America in Buenos Aires on June 13, with South American Football Confederation Conmebol releasing the competition’s new calendar after both invitees Australia and Qatar withdrew because of the coronavirus pandemic.
March 16 – The coach of Dinamo Zagreb, who play Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League on Thursday, has resigned after having a prison sentence for fraud and tax evasion confirmed by Croatia’s supreme court.
March 16 – FIFA has opened disciplinary cases against three Russian footballers for suspected doping violations that happened in 2013.
March 16 – FIFA is intensifying its fight against match-fixing by linking up with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) over its Global Integrity Programme.
By Paul Nicholson
March 16 – Just four days after Patrice Motsepe took the leadership of CAF and two days after FIFA’s Veron Mosengo-Omba was shifted from Zurich to CAF as its General Secretary, their first ethical challenge concerning an African member association has arisen.
March 16 – The AFC is continuing to advance its global footprint with the addition of a new broadcaster in Europe for its national team and club competitions.
March 16 – Wigan’s administrators have announced a deal for the sale of the club that in 2013 was in the Premier League and winning the FA Cup, but is now battling for survival and to avoid the drop to England’s fourth professional tier.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 15 – Having seen the man he backed become head of African football, Gianni Infantino now has the luxury of even more influence across the Continent after one of FIFA’s top officials was parachuted into the Confederation of African Football’s number two role at the weekend.
March 15 – The CAF elections last Friday saw a whole suite of FIFA’s favourite Africans jostled into position both at the confederation and as their representatives at FIFA. Among the change was the further rise of Isha Johansen, Sierra Leone’s FA president, at the expense of long term incumbent Lydia Nsekera from Burundi.
March 15 – France’s Professional Football League (LFP) has won a legal battle against Canal+ with a French commercial court ruling that the LFP was within its rights to tender only the TV rights abandoned by Mediapro following the collapse of the rights deal with the Spanish-sino agency.
March 15 – Calls in Norway for a boycott of next year’s World Cup in Qatar continue to be fiercely debated following an initiative launched recently by top-flight clubs Tromso and Odds Ballklubb.
March 15 – French Football Federation (FFF) president Noel Le Graet (pictured) was re-elected for a fourth term after an easy victory over his two opponents despite reports of a toxic culture at the governing body.
March 15 – Manchester United co-chairman Avram Glazer (pictured) has put 5 million of his club shares up for sale in an offering that is expected to close tomorrow and gross him more than €100 million.
March 15 – Talks are under way to allow up to 20,000 fans – around a quarter of capacity at Wembley – at this season’s FA Cup final as one of the pilot events for the large-scale return of spectators in the wake of the coronavirus.
March 15 – Germany’s DFL has renewed its official ball deal with Derbystar for a further four years, concluding the agreement a year before the current deal expires and taking the partnership through to the end of the 2025-26 season.