By Samindra Kunti in Brussels
August 28 – The Belgian FA (KBVB) has unveiled an ambitious five-year plan to develop and grow the women’s game, investing an additional €3 million into the domestic women’s game over the next two seasons.
August 28 – US sports broadcaster ESPN is taking a deeper step into domestic soccer with a new three-year deal the United Soccer League (USL) which will see it triple its coverage of the league.
August 28 – Broadcast group Mediapro, that has been putting down roots in Canadian football this year, has acquired the rights to the 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League which will air on the OneSoccer digital platform dedicated to Canadian football.
August 28 – Former France and Manchester United forward Eric Cantona has been selected for this year’s UEFA President’s Award and will collect it at a special ceremony in Monaco tomorrow on the day of the Champions League draw.
August 27 – Four former top football officials face trial in Germany after a Frankfurt court ruled they must answer tax evasion charges linked to the 2006 World Cup vote-buying scandal.
August 27 – In a reshuffle at the top of Chinese football during the 11th membership congress of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), Chen Xuyuan, former president of Shanghai International Port Group which owns China Super League team Shanghai SIP, was elected as the FA’s new president.
August 27 – Iran may be on the verge of allowing women into football stadia after a long campaign of pressure from FFIA, the AFC and various fan groups. Local news agency IRNA has reported that women will be allowed to attend Team Melli’s World Cup qualifier against Cambodia in October.
August 27 – Unthinkable, impossible, devastating. Just three of the reactions to Bolton Wanderers, one of English football’s most iconic teams who were in the Premier League as recently as nine years ago, possibly disappearing into oblivion after a proposed takeover of the troubled League One (third-tier) club collapsed.
August 27 – Motor manufacturer SEAT has signed a five-year deal with its hometown club FC Barcelona for its new CUPRA brand to be Barça’s Official Automotive and Mobility Partner.
August 27 – With opinions over VAR increasingly diverging and yet more controversial cases in the English Premier League at the weekend, FIFA are reportedly probing the possibility of replacing linesmen with – wait for it – robots.
August 27 – LaLiga and the Chinese Football Association (CFA) have launched a joint elite player and coach development project – GoalFuture – alongside an initiative to develop competitions and promoting youth football in the both the male and female games.
August 27 – Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he was “lost for words” after yet another vitriolic case of racial abuse on social media towards a player missing a penalty, this time directed against Marcus Rashford who fluffed a second-half spotkick as United suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
August 27 – Manchester City have added a new gaming partner in Asia with Superbloke becoming the Club’s Official Blockchain-Based Gacha Partner for its ‘FC Superstars’ online game.
August 23 – Leading figures from Britain’s centrist Liberal Democrat party have called on regional giants Manchester City and Manchester United to chip in to a fund to help save Bury, the third-tier club whose existence appears in serious jeopardy in wake of passage of a Company Voluntary Arrangement last month.
August 23 – Yet another Israeli intervention to prevent football played in the occupied territories has infuriated Palestinian officials.