Sweden 2 England 2 (2-3 pens)
July 17 – In a dramatic quarter-final, European champions England defeated Sweden 3-2 in a penalty shootout to complete a stunning comeback from two goals down in the first half. Their dreams of retaining their title live on.
February 10 – The Bundesliga is often held up as a paragon of fairness when it comes to ticket prices. But it’s all relative and fans of Borussia Dortmund fans boycotted the first 20 minutes of their 3-1 quarter-final win over Stuttgart on Tuesday, then threw tennis balls on to the pitch, causing an unusual first-half interruption.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – Europe’s top clubs are playing down renewed talk of a breakaway super league but are discussing how the Champions League might be tweaked in the future.
February 10 – Top Eleven has launched the 2016 version of its online football game and added in functionality allowing game players to train their squads and manage their clubs. The game, which has over 130 million registered players on Android and iOS apps, has also upgraded its browser-based version of the game. A Facebook version is planned.
February 10 – Kuwaiti government officials are preparing to tour the world in an effort to persuade FIFA to lift the ban it imposed on the Kuwait Football Association last October – for government interference.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – The increasingly fraught relationship between FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein and the official overseeing fair play in the electoral process, Domenico Scala, has come under further strain with the Jordanian demanding Scala steps down because of conflict of interest over nationality.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – FIFA presidential candidate Gianni Infantino’s controversial World Cup expansion plan has suffered its first significant setback, with Europe’s major clubs coming out firmly against any change to the status quo.
By Samindra Kunti
February 9 – Qatar will award $22 billion worth of new contracts in 2016 as the Emirate maintains its spending spree in advance of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
By Paul Nicholson
February 9 – The battle for the presidency of CONCACAF has been raised a notch in intensity with the official announcement by Canadian FA president and CONCACAF executive committee member Victor Montagliani that he will run for election in May at the confederation’s congress in Mexico.
By Mark Baber
February 9 – The German Football Federation (DFB) has confirmed that it has launched legal proceedings against the 2006 World Cup Organizing Committee, which includes Franz Beckenbauer and former DFB presidents Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach, as well as Horst R. Schmidt and Fedor Radmann in order to protect itself from potential damages of up to €25 million.
February 9 –The Premier League has unveiled its new logo for the 2016/17 season. Gone is the Barclays title sponsorship but retained is the crowned lion’s head giving a nod to the past while providing for a shiny upgrade to the league’s visual identity.
By David Owen
February 9 – FIFA Presidency candidate Gianni Infantino hinted last week that if successful in his quest for the top job he might appoint an African general secretary.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – Musa Bility, Liberia’s football leader who was excluded from being a candidate for FIFA president because he failed strict integrity checks, seems determined to do everything in his power to make life difficult for the official who barred him from taking part.
February 9 – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini will both be invited to the 2018 World Cup in Russia but in what capacity they would be permitted to attend is still not clear.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 9 – Three African federations say they will openly defy an instruction to support front-runner Sheikh Salman in the upcoming FIFA presidential election, proof if ever it was needed that confederation directives are not always followed by individual voting members.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 8 – Banned FIFA president Sepp Blatter will be turned away from the upcoming election to replace him, as well as risk an even more severe sanction, if he dares attend the congress on February 26, Insideworldfootball has learned.