By Paul Nicholson
December 7 – The UAE are officially putting forward a candidate for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) presidency of the regional confederation whose elections take place April 6 in Kuala Lumpur next year.As is Qatar. Both nominations came in before yesterday’s midnight deadline last night.
By Paul Nicholson in Muscat, Oman
November 29 – Defenders don’t generally win matches, they save them. Certainly they rarely get recognised when it comes to giving out awards. Qatar’s Abdelkarim Hassan struck a blow for central defenders worldwide when he beat two of Japan’s Asian Champions League winning stars to pick up the AFC Men’s Player of the Year Award.
October 17 – Germany’s Continental Tires has extended its sponsorship with the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and its national teams.
October 12 – The AFC Asian Cup to be played in the UAE in January next year will introduce the fourth substitution rule in extra time. It will be the first application of the rule by any of the world’s confederations for a senior national team tournament.
October 10 – FIFA has extended the mandate of the current Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) administration until March 2020, but with the requirement to organise fresh elections, bringing the PFF statutes in line with the FIFA statutes.
August 30 – Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr and North Korea’s 4.25 SC will meet in the Inter-Zone final of this season’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup after recording comfortable wins in that section of the competition’s semi-final stage.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 24 – In a hard-hitting ruling that could well enflame tension in the region but will be viewed by others as a logical move, FIFA has handed outspoken Palestinian FA leader Jibril Rajoub a one-year match ban and fined him 20,000 Swiss francs for inflammatory remarks made against Lionel Messi.
August 3 – Former England captain Terry Butcher has quit as Philippines head coach after just 50 days before he had taken charge of a single match.
May 16 – Eight teams remain in the hunt for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League glory this season, after the competition’s Round of 16 ties were completed on Wednesday.
By Paul Nicholson
April 20 – The AFC Women’s Asian Cup Jordan 2018 concludes tonight in Amman, Jordan, with Australia facing reigning champions Japan. The final will follow on from the play-off for third place between China and tournament surprise package Thailand.
April 19 – The last 16 teams in this season’s AFC Champions League were confirmed on Wednesday following the competition’s final group stage fixtures on Wednesday.
March 22 – Kyrgyz Republic sealed their place at next year’s AFC Asian Cup on Thursday, as a 5-1 win over Myanmar saw the Central Asians confirm a first-ever qualification for the tournament.
March 14 – FIFA has lifted the suspension of the Pakistani Football Federation (PFF). The decision was communicated to the PFF and follows on from a decision of the Lahore High Court ordering the handover of control of the PFF from a court-appointed administrator to the winners of the election held 20 June 2015.
September 26 – Shanghai SIPG coach Andre Villas-Boas has been fined for his outburst following the recent Asian Champions League quarterfinal tie against Guangzhou Evergrande.
By Mark Baber
July 4 – The Indonesian Government through the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) will be the consortium leader in discussing the possibility of the ASEAN submission as the joint host of the World Cup in 2034, according to comments made by Vice Chairman of the PSSI Joko Driyono.