November 15 – German club St. Pauli has announced it is leaving social media platform X, saying it has become a “hate machine” that could influence upcoming German elections.
May 25 – LaLiga President Javier Tebas has issued an apology for his online rant at Vinicius Jr after the Real Madrid star said the Spanish league belonged to racists following the racist insults he suffered at Valencia last Sunday.
October 10 – Former Spain and Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas has claimed that he was hacked hours after tweeting that he was gay.
August 16 – Broadcaster BeIN Sports has partnered with social media platform Twitter to share content during the World Cup in November and December.
July 1 – The AFC is reporting record engagement across its social media channels for its just completed U23 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan, hitting a high of nearly 340 million impressions, a jump of 193.8% over the Thailand edition years ago.
May 21 – The fight against racist abuse on social media has resulted in eight men being arrested after an unnamed Tottenham Hotspur player was racially abused on Twitter. Four other men were interviewed by police under caution.
April 16 – New Tottenham Hotspur sponsor Dulux were left red-faced, having to apologise for a series of social media posts mocking Tottenham after its new commercial partnership with the London club was announced.
February 11 – English football bodies have joined forces to send an open letter to Facebook and Twitter demanding action amid increased levels of abuse aimed at high-profile players and officials on social media.
January 18 – English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur have launched a new Twitter account in South Korea to further engage its growing fanbase in the homeland of the club’s star forward and Korean captain, Heung-Min Son.
October 3 – Manchester City’s Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association over a tweet he sent to team-mate Benjamin Mendy.
September 18 – Neymar’s three-game European ban for insulting match officials has been cut to two by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
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 21 – Former England international Phil Neville has called for the football community to “send a powerful message” and boycott social media for six months in response to the rise in racist abuse of players.
July 3 – Adidas UK were left hugely embarrassed when a social media gambit launching the new Arsenal kit backfired, leading to shirts being tweeted with racist and offensive slogans on the back.
By Paul Nicholson
April 4 – A survey of social media activity of international sports governing bodies has ranked FIFA as the best performing international federation (IF) across all platforms. The survey last year ranked FIFA in 10th place.