Financial football. Is Arnault kicking around an €890m deal for AC Milan?
September 17 – AC Milan are being linked with a takeover by the world’s second richest man, Bernard Arnault, though reports of a £890 million deal have been denied.
The long and the short of it: pass masters will lead Ajax, not Liverpool, to Champions League glory?
September 17 – With stats increasingly showing that possession and the number of passes made differentiate the winning teams from the losing, the CIES Football Observatory has made an analysis of the current Champions League teams using InStat data.
New ball, new tournament, old rivalries. UEFA’s Champions League kicks off tonight
September 17 – The new Champions League season kicks off tonight, with a new Adidas ball and defending champions Liverpool taking on Napoli and FC Barcelona traveling to Dortmund.
Galatasaray joins the Socios.com ‘fan bit-token’ platform
September 17 – Galatasaray have become the latest club to partner with Socios.com for a step into the brave new world of cryptocurrency fan tokens. They are the first Turkish club to do so.
FIFA bosses allegedly block CAF whistleblower El-Sherei’s return after Egyptian FA offer job
By Osasu Obayiuwana
September 16 – Mohamed El-Sherei, recently sacked as CAF’s Finance Director, following allegations of impropriety and incompetence, received another setback, after a subsequent job offer to him from the Normalisation Committee (NC) of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) was withdrawn.
Wolves’ Chinese owners said to be seeking £70m minority investment
By David Owen
September 16 – Reports have started circulating that Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Chinese owners are open to selling 20% of the club, as they seek to build on what has so far been a successful return to English top-flight football.
FIFA bans former Russian FA official Shprygin for discrimination
By Andrew Warshaw
September 16 – FIFA has banned a former leading Russian football administrator and fan club founder for two years for discrimination.
Esperance finally win CAF Champions League. But will Wydad play CAS leg?
By Osasu Obayiuwana
September 14 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has made its final conclusion – political and judicial – on the 2019 Champions League – and it is that Esperance Sportive de Tunis remains the Cup holder.
Liverpool vs Spurs CL final is world’s leading event in 2019 with 1bn+ interactions
September 16 – With the Champions League group stages kicking off this week, UEFA has released a 1 billion interaction social media stat that makes shows the European club showpiece outperformed all other major events in 2019 by more than 30%.
FIFA names committee members to put Pakistan back on track
September 16 – FIFA has appointed the members of a normalisation committee that will run day affairs at the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) in an attempt to bring to bring order to an administration that has been deeply divided football administration ever since controversial presidential elections in 2015.
France 2019 showed major increase in match quality, says FIFA’s TSG
September 16 – FIFA’s technical study group (TSG) has hailed the recent Women’s World Cup as the best edition ever in terms of quality of play. The France 2019 World Cup saw the United States retain their title beating European champions the Netherlands 2-0 in the final.
Leicester City add Asian gamer Yabo Sports as club partner
September 16 – Premier League Leicester City have confirmed Asian gaming business Yabo Sports as an official club partner.
USL game abandoned after missiles thrown but Phoenix keep rising
September 16 – Unusually for the United States, a second-tier game between Phoenix Rising and LA Galaxy II had to be abandoned at the weekend after objects were thrown on the pitch.
55 teams and 32 countries later, coaching legend Rudi Gutendorf passes, aged 93
September 16 – Rudi Gutendorf, the globetrotting German who is in the Guinness Book of Records for having coached 55 teams in 32 countries across five continents from Antigua to Zimbabwe, has died aged 93.
French ref flip flops over VAR decision-making at Brittany derby
September 16 – French football debate was dominated at the weekend by arguably one of the most bizarre cases of VAR decision-making seen to date.