June 28 – Honduras stunned a shell-shocked Panama, coming back from a goal down to force a penalty shoot-out and claim the first spot in the semi-finals. Outside the covered State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the temperature had hit 108 degrees. Inside the emotional seesaw of this game reached a similar high pitch.
April 30 – Player recruitment can either define a club’s future or be a short term fix. An analysis by the CIES Football Observatory looks at the average of players recruited in 24 European top divisions, not including academy graduates.
April 30 – Former Sunderland chief executive Martin Bain received more than £1 million in compensation last year even though the Scot oversaw two consecutive relegations during his tenure and enacted huge cost-cutting at the club, according to Sunderland’s financial accounts.
April 30 – English top-flight women’s club Manchester City have renewed their partnership with Pioneer Group, an audio visual provider offering digital stadium solutions. No value was given for the deal.
April 30 – Two people, a man and a woman, have been arrested in the UK after a photo purporting to show the post-mortem examination of Emiliano Sala, the promising young Argentine tragically killed in a plane crash in January after he had completed a £15 million move from Nantes to Cardiff City.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 29 – A crucial court hearing scheduled for today into corruption allegations against Sierra Leone FA president Isha Johansen (pictured left with FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura) has been unexpectedly postponed, with a new date set for Friday of this week.
By Samindra Kunti
April 29 – FIFA has taken the unusual step of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with one of its national associations, the Chinese Football Association (CFA), to boost the development of football in China.
April 29 – Brazil’s Paris St Germain superstar Neymar has been banned by UEFA for three European games for insulting match officials on Instagram after the Champions League last-16 defeat by Manchester United.
April 29 – Czech international striker Josef Sural (pictured) has been killed following a minibus crash in Turkey according to his club Aytemiz Alanyaspor.
April 29 – FIFA has written to human rights groups to hold talks about issues related to a potential expansion of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to 48 teams as Gianni Infantino and the governing body continue their push to find one more regional co-host for the tournament.
By Paul Nicholson
April 29 – The world’s newest tier 1 national league kicked off at the weekend with the Canadian Premier League (CPL) officially opening its inaugural season in Hamilton with a 1-1 draw between Forge FC and York 9 FC.
April 29 – Sheffield United have been promoted to the English Premier League for the first time since 2007, joining Norwich City in the top flight, but they had an unusual helping hand from Yorkshire rivals Leeds.
April 29 – Cameroon defeated Guinea 5-3 on penalties to win the final of the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Dar Es Salaam on Sunday. Both finalists qualify for the U-17 World Cup in Brazil alongside losing semi-finalists Nigeria and Angola.
April 29 – The father of Emiliano Sala, the promising young Argentine tragically killed in a plane crash in January after he had completed a £15 million move from Nantes to Cardiff City, has died of a heart attack.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 26 – Potentially explosive plans to overhaul the Champions League post-2024 and turn it into the nearest thing yet to a much-debated European Super League are causing an unprecedented rift between Europe’s clubs and leagues as well as threatening to destabilise the main stakeholders within the entire European football landscape.
By Paul Nicholson
April 26 – Saudi Arabia has been put on a ‘Priority Watch List’ by the US and in the UK questions were asked in the Houses of Parliament over the industrial scale copyright theft by Saudi-based pirate broadcaster beoutQ.