France 1 Germany 1 (5-6 pens)
July 19 – Germany recovered from a 13th-minute red card to knockout France on penalties following a 1-1 draw and set up a blockbuster semi-final against Spain.
September 17 – The general secretary of the seven-strong South Asian Football Federation (SAFF), says his members will all tow the party line and vote for Michel Platini in next February’s FIFA presidential election.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – The FIFA staffer who penned a 1,400-word document questioning Michel Platini’s credentials for taking over from Sepp Blatter has quit the organisation.
By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – Manchester United is the only European club with more than €1 billion of fixed assets, according to the latest article by Football Benchmark, the research arm of consultancy and accountancy specialists KPMG Sports. While no comparison is made with non-European clubs, it is pretty safe to assume Man Utd would top a world table.
September 17 – UEFA have refused to confirm or deny reports that they are in discussions to create a third club competition for the first time since the old Cupwinners Cup was disbanded 16 years ago.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 17 – The credibility of FIFA’s already controversial Reform Committee has suffered an embarrassing blow with the revelation that one of the two South American members on the 12-member panel, Gorka Villar (pictured right), has been accused of “pressure and extortion” by eight Uruguayan clubs.
“Sacked in the morning, your getting sacked in the morning…” Terrace chant
It is one of football’s accepted truths that no employee in a club is more important than the manager. His influence on the most decisive input into the club’s operations – the results on the pitch – makes him so. It follows then that with so much swinging on how they do, there must be some objective measure for the quality of their performance.
By Mark Baber
September 17 – Wycombe Wanderers’s Sky Bet League Two game against Plymouth this weekend was the unexpected venue for a vigorous debate on players wearing of GPS systems, with the kick-off being held up for seven minutes as Plymouth’s new manager Derek Adams questioned their safety.
By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – Qatar has started site work on its sixth stadium, the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium which will host the opening match and final of the 2022 World Cup and which will be the centrepiece of the event.
By Paul Nicholson
September 17 – US data company Gracenote, which earlier this year debuted in the sports data business with the acquisition of Infostrada Sports and SportsDirect, has launched its ‘DVR Extend’ feature for cable and satellite broadcasters in the US that will mean viewers who record games need never miss extra time or a penalty shoot-out.
September 16 – With the Men’s competition already well into the Second Stages at the Homeless World Cup in Amsterdam, the second of three Homeless World Cup women’s team stages starts on today. You can watch the matches live and free at http://bit.ly/1USI6J7
September 16 – US Club Soccer, the 500,000 member organisation supporting grassroots clubs in the US, has backed the recent US Soccer federation proposals for a revamp of youth soccer in the country and unveiled the pathway to change for its clubs.
By Mark Baber
September 16 – An Information Commissioner in the UK has ruled that the 99-year tenancy agreement between the managers of the Olympic Stadium and West Ham United must be published in response to a Freedom of Information request.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 16 – The English FA has re-iterated that it will support Michel Platini in next year’s FIFA presidential election – even though it nominated Prince Ali bin al-Hussein last time.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 16 – The saga of World Cup broadcast rights sold to the Caribbean for the 2010 and 2014 tournaments has taken another twist with FIFA saying it never received its share of any of the TV or ad sales revenue it was due under the agreement.
By Ben Nicholson
September 16 – Following the U.S. Senate Hearing on July 15, where the integrity of international governance took center stage, Senator Maria Cantwell (pictured) followed up with questions for the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) regarding training compensation to which USSF has now provided a written reply.