Canada 2-0 El Salvador
June 24 – Fresh from emerging from a Concacaf-imposed timeout, Canadian head coach Jesse Marsch returned to the technical area at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, knowing any more misbehaviour would send him back to the naughty room. He needn’t have worried as their opponents El Salvador simply imploded in a red mist.
September 12 – Chelsea could have lost as much as €68 million in value on their goalkeeper trading in the summer transfer window, according to new analysis from the CIES Football Observatory.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 12 – Danny Jordaan, the public face of the 2010 South Africa World Cup whose star has waned in recent years after being plunged into the limelight for all the wrong reasons, could soon be back as part of world football’s powerful elite after being endorsed for a place on the FIFA Council.
September 12 – A week after reports that UEFA were considering re-introducing a third European club competition to run alongside the Champions league and Europa League, the clubs appear to have stolen the organisation’s thunder by confirming it will take place.
By Paul Nicholson
September 12 – Everton’s major shareholder Farhad Moshiri (pictured) has increased his stake in the Premier League club to 68.6% with the purchase of a further 18.7% of shares to add to the 49.9% he bought for £87.5 million in March 2016.
January 12 – A leading marketing executive has raised eyebrows across Europe by suggesting discussions are taking place privately to see whether staging the Champions League final in New York might be feasible.
September 12 – With Europe’s big leagues and clubs talking about big money games in foreign jurisdictions, club share sales and huge transfer fees, the AFC Social Responsibility Conference 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, provided a timely reminder that football has a far more important role than providing even more money for the super rich.
September 12 – The Scottish Football Association (SFA) has agreed a deal to buy Hampden Park for £5 million from League Two side Queen’s Park when the existing lease of Hampden expires in summer 2020.
September 12 – Liberia president George Weah came out of football retirement on Tuesday just short of his 52nd birthday for a one-off friendly against Nigeria.
By David Owen
September 11 – The International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) has played down the significance of a ruling by the Brussels Court of Appeal that has been reported as calling into question the ability of football bodies, and potentially counterparts in other sports, to insist that disputes go to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
By Paul Nicholson
September 11 – Adidas, who have been the German national team’s official kit sponsor for more than 60 years, has extended the partnership until 2026.
September 11 – Legendary Italian Gianluigi Buffon is shortlisted for the goalkeeping award in the 2018 FIFPro World XI despite being second choice at Paris Saint-Germain with France’s World Cup winning captain Hugo Lloris surprisingly missing out.
September 11 – Liverpool have ended their controversial regional sponsorship agreement with Tibet Water Resources who became the club’s Official Regional Water Partner in China in July 2017.
September 11 – Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is to ask club members at a meeting on September 23 to approve plans for a €575 million loan to revamp the club’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
September 11 – Landmark proposals to play a top-flight Spanish league game in the USA has taken another twist with reports that the players will have the final say.
September 11 – In a somewhat unusual turn of events, Amaju Pinnick (pictured), whose own Nigerian federation was embroiled in a bitter leadership struggle and narrowly avoided a FIFA ban, has been selected by FIFA to lead the organisation’s normalisation committee in Ghana.