RFEF goes into battle with La Liga with its own OTT platform offer
By Paul Nicholson
April 16 – The animosity between the Spanish FA (RFEF) and LaLiga has found a new broadcast battleground to play out.
Head for heights: Maguire tops van Dyke in PL defensive stats, Guerdes leads Big 5
April 16 – An analysis of defensive aerial challenges across Europe by the CIES Football Observatory ranks Olympique Lyonnais defender Marcelo Guerdes as the continent’s leading defender winning 85.5% of aerial challenges.
Infantino’s one-man mission for 48-team 2020 World Cup lands in Kuwait
April 15 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s determination to win his battle to expand the 2022 World Cup beyond Qatar’s borders has taken him to Kuwait in a last-ditch effort to pull in another 16 finalists in three years’ time.
Not good enough for 2019 AFCON, but fine for 2020 CHAN. Cameroon get host job
April 15 – Having been stripped of hosting rights for this year’s Africa’s showpiece event, the African Cup of Nations, Cameroon have instead been handed the consolation prize of the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals in place of Ethiopia.
MRI tests find six players as being overage at CAF U17 finals
April 15 – Six players have been banned from taking part in the U17 Africa Cup of Nations in Tanzania after failing MRI tests to determine their age and eligibility for the competition.
AFCON 2019 draw keeps Egypt and Cameroon apart, but Morocco face tough group
April 15 – Morocco, Ivory Coast and South Africa, alongside Namibia, were paired in the group of death at the draw for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. The hosts Egypt and reigning champions Cameroon were handed favourable draws.
Zero tolerance. Infantino urges refs to abandon matches when racism occurs
April 15 – The recent resurgence of racism across world football has prompted FIFA president Gianni Infantino to call for a crackdown following several high-profile incidents, echoing UEFA’s call for referees to abandon matches in the worst-case scenarios
Monkey chants aimed at Amiens’ Prince Gouano delay Ligue 1 match
April 15 – France’s Ligue 1 match between Dijon and Amiens was held up last Friday after visiting captain Prince Gouano was the target of monkey chants, adding to a string of recent racist incidents across Europe.
Flare-throwing Anderlecht fans force play off game to be abandoned at Liege
April 15 – Standard Liege’s home league game against rivals Anderlecht was abandoned in the Belgian top flight plays-offs after just 30 minutes following flares thrown by visiting supporters. The Brussels-based team will be slapped with a fine and potentially a 5-0 forfeit score.
Spurs residency and Taylor Swift lift turnover – but FA hit by surging costs
By David Owen
April 14 – An eventful 2017-18 season resulted in the English Football Association lifting turnover by £24.3 million while only managing to invest an additional £919,000, compared with 2016-17 levels, back into the game.
Samuel Eto’o joins Qatar 2022 as a global ambassador
April 15 – African football legend Samuel Eto’o has joined the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) as a Global Ambassador.
Fox Sports secures FIFA’s efootball events to drive new Caffeine streaming platform
April 15 – FIFA, whose new sponsorship revenues look as though they are stuck in a China-located trough, is nevertheless finding new revenue streams in efootball and has licensed the broadcast rights to stream the FIFA eWorld Cup and FIFA 19 Global Series events in the US to Fox Sports.
Exclusive: CAF chief Ahmad hit with multiple sexual harassment allegations
By Paul Nicholson
April 12 – CAF president Ahmad Ahmad, surrounded by multiple allegations of financial corruption and confederation mismanagement, is also facing multiple charges of sexual harassment from both CAF staffers and consultants brought in to work on CAF events under his tenure as president.
Infantino still rates chances of 48-team 2022 at 50-50
April 12 – The chances of FIFA increasing the number of teams at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from 32 to 48 is around 50-50, Gianni Infantino has admitted.
Africans focus on draw for AFCON 2019 in Egypt
April 12 – The 24 participants in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will learn their fate at the tournament’s draw in the Egyptian capital Cairo this evening. The draw comes amid growing allegations about financial corruption and sexual harassment by CAF president Ahmad Ahmad.