Violence in Albania as fans pelt Polish players, Hungarian racism blights England game
October 13 – Two World Cup qualifying games were disrupted by fan violence on Tuesday as the race for places in Qatar intensified.
World Football
Berbatov misses Bulgarian goal as Mihaylov saves his presidency
October 12 – Dimitar Berbatov has failed in his bid to become the president of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFS). The incumbent Borislav Mihaylov (pictured) was re-elected for a fifth term.
UEFA launch bid process for Euro 2028 hosting
October 13 – UEFA have launched the bidding process for hosting Euro 2028 with member associations having until March 2022 to declare their interest. The final decision on hosting will be made in September 2023.
Denmark join Germany for Qatar 2022 finals
October 13 – After an economic 1-0 victory against Austria, Denmark is heading to the World Cup again, seven points clear at the summit of Group F.
UEFA fact checks Courtois’ outburst on congested calendar and money
By Samindra Kunti and Paul Nicholson
October 12 – The Belgium and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has criticised UEFA and FIFA for the congested international match calendar, labelling the third-place play-off between his national team and Italy in the Nations League “a money game”. He argued that UEFA don’t care for player welfare.
LFP’s Labrune says sale of stake in commercial subsidiary could raise €1bn
October 12 – France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) president Vincent Labrune has said the league’s new commercial subsidiary could raise €1 billion with an investment partner that will be key to the survival of French professional football.
Germany book Qatar 2022 slot as Flick’s new era gathers momentum
October 12 – Germany became the first team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after breezing past North Macedonia 4-0 on Monday to claim top spot in Group J with two games to spare.
Just 63% of schools offer girls football in PE. English FA launch campaign for change
October 12 – The English FA yesterday launched its new campaign – Let Girls Play – to coincide with International Day of the Girl and to force the pace of change in providing girls with equal opportunity to play organised football.
Mexico open up gap in Qatar 2022 qualifying as US downed by Panama
October 11 – Mexico are back at the top of Concacaf’s Qatar 2022 qualifying after another seesawing round of qualifiers that saw Panama stun the US and Canada draw with Jamaica.
Shaqiri caught up in Kosovo militia flag row; Serbs quick to reopen deep wounds
October 11 – Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri has been caught up in a new independence dispute involving Kosovo that has caused outrage in Serbia.
Fans vote Rui Costa into Benfica presidency
October 11 – Rui Costa is the new president of Benfica, winning the election this weekend with a landslide. In his victory speech, the former Portugal midfielder who played 121 times for Benfica, promised a new dawn for the club.
Covid travel issues force start of Concacaf W Qualifiers back to February 2022
October 11 – Concacaf has been forced to push back the start date of its Concacaf W Qualifiers to the FIFA Women’s Window in February 2022. The new timetabling has been necessary because of issues with travel and different quarantine restrictions across the region due to the Covid pandemic.
Mbappé goal puts France back on top of Europe with Nations League win over Spain
By Samindra Kunti in Milan
October 10 – Forget Euro 2020 and that painful second-round exit at the hands of Switzerland, France have mastered the art of the comeback. They came from behind the second time in four days to defeat Spain 2-1 with a contentious goal from Kylian Mbappé in the Nations League final and win the tournament’s second edition.
Trinidad and Tobago chaos over who actually owns the House of Football
By Paul Nicholson
October 8 – The soap opera of the Trinidad and Tobago FA continues to lurch from storyline to storyline with seemingly no end to this high seas Caribbean drama that FIFA’s Normalisation Committee were meant to draw a line under.
US and Mexico lead 2022 qualifying but Canada keep pressure on
October 8 – The US and Mexico have gone joint top of the 8-team final qualifying group for the Qatar 2022 World Cup after four matches, but a feisty Canada are not letting them run away with qualification, forcing a 1-1 draw in Mexico City and sitting two points behind them in the group.