Costa Rica 4 Suriname 3
June 15 – With the baking sun of a sweltering San Diego day in Southern California giving way to a cool evening, Costa Rica went from red hot to freezing cold as they threw away their lead and had to battle back to win with 10 men and a penalty more than 10 minutes into added time.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – FIFA’s links with China have been further cemented by the announcement of another Chinese World Cup sponsor, with smartphone company Vivo named as the latest commercial backer for both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
June 1 – It has been very much a reign of two halves but after signing a new two-year deal, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, the longest serving manager in English top-flight football, is targeting next season’s Premier League title.
June 1 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a £400 million five-year bank loan to support the construction of the club’s new 61,500 seat new stadium. The facility is being provided by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and HSBC Bank.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 31 – The head of the umbrella body for Europe’s top leagues has hinted that a long-running dispute with UEFA over controversial changes to the Champions League may be on the verge of being resolved.
By Paul Nicholson
May 31 – The latest KPMG Football Benchmark report on the Enterprise Value of clubs is ultimately a homage to Manchester United and the Premier League’s bumper television rights deal.
May 31 – A list of the players from Europe’s Big 5 leagues who played the most number of minutes for their clubs since 1 July 2016, shows eight having played more than 5,000 minutes.
By Samindra Kunti
May 31 – Brazilian broadcast giant TV Globo has fallen out with the Brazilian FA (CBF) and will not cover the national team’s two friendly fixtures in June in Australia.
By Paul Nicholson
May 31 – The strength of football in Iran was out evident again at the weekend when the Iranian football federation (FFIRI) held its second Islamic Republic of Iran National Grassroots Conference in conjunction with the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Grassroots Football Day with more than 600 grassroots coaches and managers from across the country present.
May 31 – Arsene Wenger’s 21-year reign as the longest serving manager in English football’s top flight will continue after it was announced that he has agreed a new two-year deal.
May 31 – Former Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre has stepped down from his role as managing director at German club 1860 Munich after less than two months.
Few seem to understand that former Brazilian chieftain Ricardo Teixeira’s possible/likely/somewhat unexpected crawling to the bosom of the US Department of Justice (for cover?) is potentially the most dangerous reality people like Sepp Blatter, Urs Linsi, Jerome Valcke and one very special Zurich lawyer are facing. And possibly global sportswear manufacturer Nike too.
May 30 – FIFA is keeping faith with its much-troubled world football museum in Zurich despite a swathe of redundancies at the loss-making venue.
By Samindra Kunti
May 30 – Six-time champions Argentina suffered a shock group stage exit from the U20 World Cup in South Korea. Favourites France marched undefeated into the round of 16, with both Venezuela and Zambia impressing in the group games.
May 30 – Will he stay or will he go? All will shortly be revealed. The future of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, by far the longest serving manager in English top-flight football, is expected to be announced this week after the Frenchman held a meeting with Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke and chief executive Ivan Gazidis on Monday.
May 30 – As the first 2022 World Cup stadium opened its gates for Qatar’s Emir Cup final last week, a pilot sensory room project also kicked off, designed to improve the match-day experience for supporters with cognitive disabilities.