USA 1 Saudi Arabia 0
June 19 – American comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “I don’t get no respect.” The same could be said for the United States Men’s Soccer Team as barely 10,000 fans showed up for a supporter friendly 8.15 pm kickoff versus Concacaf Gold Cup, Group D opponents, Saudi Arabia in a 1-0 win that again raised more questions than answers.
December 15 – AFC Wimbledon, who have clawed their way into the third tier of English football, have taken a big step towards returning to the site of their spiritual Plough Lane home in south west London with the granting of planning permission to start building their new £25 million stadium.
December 15 – The Chinese FA (CFA) has mandated a new youth football policy for its Chinese Super League (CSL) and China League One clubs that requires them to have youth teams in five age groups competing for the start of the 2019 season.
By David Owen
December 15 – The Chinese-owned Infront sports marketing company is splitting its summer sports and football businesses.
December 14 – The three former South American football powerbrokers who have been on trial in New York for their alleged roles in the FIFA-gate scandal lined their pockets with millions of dollars of bribes for more than six years, prosecutors argued in their closing arguments yesterday.
December 14 – Real Madrid beat local favourites Al Jazira in the semi-final of the Club World Cup in the UAE to set up a Europe versus South America clash against Brazil’s Gremio who qualified for the final with a 95th minute strike to beat Mexico’s Pachuca.
By Paul Nicholson
December 14 – Rochell Woodson, the suspended Liberian FA (LFA) executive committee member who plans to run against Musa Bility for the Liberian FA presidency, has filed a complaint to the LFA exco that her appeal against her sanction will not be heard in time for her to take place in the presidential election. She has also filed a separate complaint to the African confederation (CAF) against Bility complaining of constant harassment and intimidation.
By Samindra Kunti
December 14 – Argentina’s Independente won the Copa SudAmericana 3-2 on aggregate after holding Flamengo of Brazil 1-1 on a tense night in Rio de Janeiro that was punctuated by fan incidents and VAR controversy.
December 14 – Eight candidates have been cleared to run for the presidency of the US soccer federation (USSF) to succeed Sunil Gulati at elections on February 10.
December 14 – Insisting it has not made the decision to fall into line with Europe, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that its club tournaments will run between September or October and May from 2019.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – The Football Association of Wales (FAW) faces accusations of hypocrisy over reportedly opening disciplinary action against its chief executive Jonathan Ford for saying the next Wales manager could be “foreign”, but “definitely not English”.
December 14 – The Premier League’s mid-week fixtures showed a small dip in attendances across the league from the weekend, and a big drop for Spurs who filled only 51.6% of Wembley’s capacity.
December 14 – Manchester City has launched a Manchester City Football Striker instant game on the Facebook Messenger platform, the first Premier League club to embrace the gaming opportunity of the Messenger platform.
By Paul Nicholson
December 13 – The integrity of FIFA Ethics head of its investigation unit, Colombian María Claudia Rojas (pictured), has fallen again into the spotlight with proof emerging that despite previous denials, she did have a close relationship with former president of the Colombian Football Federation, Luis Bedoya, who has pleaded guilty in the US FIFAgate case and is currently awaiting sentencing.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 13 – Forget Manchester United versus Manchester City or Real Madrid against Barcelona. It may not have made international football headlines but arguably the world’s biggest grudge match took place on Tuesday when hostile political neighbours South and North Korea played each other in the East Asian championship.
December 13 – The bitter in-fighting over who runs Sierra Leone football, and the future of the federation president Isha Johansen appears to have died down following pressure from FIFA to allow her to carry on even though her mandate officially expired in August.