January 6 – FIFA has joined forces with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in a new campaign encouraging the football industry to raise awareness about global match-fixing.
By Paul Nicholson
January 5 – Saudi Arabia has agreed to lift its land and air blockade on Qatar in a major step towards ending a Gulf dispute that has been often been played out in the soft politics of football and football media.
January 5 – Celtic have defended their decision to embark on a warm-weather training camp in Dubai in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, insisting the trip was “approved by all relevant footballing authorities” as well as the Scottish Government.
January 5 – Can Santos win the Copa Libertadores for the first time since 2011 or will one of the traditional Buenos Aires clubs prevail? Or will Palmeiras ensure Brazil wins the competition for a second competitive time?
January 5 – Professional football in the UK will continue behind closed doors despite the country being plunged into yet another national lockdown but almost all grassroots sport will cease, heaping even more pressure on non-league clubs.
January 5 – The English Football Association continues to come under fierce criticism in Uruguay for the three-match ban imposed on Manchester United’s Edinson Cavani for a social media post containing a Spanish phrase that is offensive in some contexts, but which has an acceptable interpretation in others.
January 5 – Four of Manchester City women’s team have tested positive for the coronavirus, continuing the club’s covid-19 woes.
January 5 – Concacaf has cancelled its U-20 men’s championship, which would have qualified teams for the U-20 World Cup, and its U17 men’s World Cup qualification competition scheduled for 2021.
January 5 – The UEFA Foundation for Children and Sportradar Intelligence & Investigation Services are marking a three-year safeguarding partnership that reinforces the work carried out by the foundation.
January 5 – Manchester City Women are putting on the style with Italian fashionwear production house Salento Creazioni Moda who have become the team’s first ever global formalwear partner.
By Paul Nicholson and Samindra Kunti
January 4 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has launched into the new year with a major design rebrand of its major national team and club competitions, following up on the announcement at the end of last year of the alignment of its key national team competitions under the Asian Cup naming convention.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 4 – What planet do they think they’re on? Just as the UK is battling a dangerous spike in Covid-19 cases, so English Premier League players continue to flout the rules, heaping embarrassment on their clubs and, as the epithet goes, bringing the game into disrepute – at least at elite level.
January 4 – In a snub to English football authorities, FIFA have stepped in to block the 10-game worldwide ban imposed by the English FA on international defender Kieron Tripper for breaking betting rules.
By David Owen
January 4 – Chelsea may be having an up and down time on the pitch at present. But the West London club have achieved something that few of their Premier League opponents will manage, by reporting a reasonable profit for the covid-blighted 2019-20 season.
January 4 – Pacific Media Group have acquired AS Nancy, the French Ligue 2 outfit who will become the fourth club in Chinese-American consortium’s portfolio.