April 25 – After spending almost two years in custody awaiting trial, former Barcelona president and European football strongman Sandro Rosell has been acquitted of money laundering charges in a blow to Spanish prosecutors’ relentless campaign to wipe out football-related corruption.
By Samindra Kunti
April 25 – Belgian football was rocked again on Wednesday as Belgian police raided the offices of Anderlecht and the Belgian Football Association (KBVB) as part of an investigation into money-laundering. The 2015 transfer of Serbian player Aleksandar Mitrovic from Anderlecht to Newcastle United is reportedly under investigation with player agent Pini Zahavi emergent as a key figure.
April 25 – FIFA have issued lifetime bans to eight current and former players and an agent after they were found guilty of match manipulation.
April 25 – Brendan Menton, a former general secretary of the Irish Football Association (FAI), has called for the entire current board of directors to step down following the recent scandal involving chief executive John Delaney.
April 25 – Lazio have blamed “isolated elements” after around 50 supporters displayed a banner honouring Benito Mussolini and performed fascist salutes ahead of Wednesday’s Italian Cup match against AC Milan.
April 25 – One of Italian football’s most faithful and long term partners, Telecom Italia, has picked up what is probably the shortest ever title sponsorship for a premier national football competition.
April 25 – LaLiga, in co-operation with Denmark’s RettighedsAlliancen, scored a major victory in the battle against broadcast pirate with a Danish court ruling that sites offering illegal streams of live sport should be blocked.
April 25 – Barcelona have continued their push to capture Chinese hearts and minds via a partnership with the WE Red Bridge communications agency who have been brought in to develop the club’s Chinese growth strategy.
By Samindra Kunti
April 24 – Belgium football has again been tarnished with corruption allegations with Belgian police carrying out raids this morning at top club Anderlecht’s training ground as well at the Belgian FA (KBVB) in a separate investigation into money laundering.
April 24 – Relevent Sports, the company behind the ultimately doomed ground-breaking plan to take a La Liga fixture to the United States, has issued a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation for refusing to sanction a similar game from Ecuador’s league from taking place in Florida.
April 24 – Senegal have had their legal complaint to CAF regarding alleged age cheating by Guinea at the ongoing under-17 African Nations Cup rejected.
April 24 – The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has unveiled plans for the Spanish Super Cup to be staged in Saudi Arabia from January 2020 for six editions.
By Samindra Kunti
April 24 – All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das has accused I-League clubs of bringing disrepute to the governing body after they boycotted the federation’s Super Cup last month.
April 24 – A probe into alleged match-fixing in Tunisia has been launched by both the country’s FA and French police following an alert triggered by French state-owned betting operator Française des Jeux (FDJ).
April 24 – A men’s top-flight match in France will be refereed by a woman for the first time this weekend when Stephanie Frappart takes charge of the fixture between Amiens and Strasbourg.