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.
By Mark Baber
July 3 – Guangzhou Evergrande, China’s most successful club of recent years, has filed with the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) to list on the so-called ‘New Third Board’ – a trading platform for shares in small- and medium-sized companies – according to a Thursday filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
July 3 – Who is the best Women’s player in the world? The most high profile women’s world cup ever is creating national and international stars, and – after a long wait – significant numbers of recognisable names in the women’s game. FIFA has announced its shortlists for the adidas Golden Ball, adidas Golden Glove and Hyundai Young Player awards.
July 3 – The season has started and anyone who says it is too early, the Europa League is a distraction, or that it people just aren’t interested at this time of the year, should talk to the 35,000 in the capacity crowd at West Ham’s Upton Park last night on a balmy summer evening that saw the Hammers play Andorran minnows Lusitanos.
July 3 – UEFA have taken a second swipe at the Spanish league – this time over third-party ownership (TPO).
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – The Women’s World Cup may have become an established part of the FIFA calendar since it was launched in 1991 and truly came of age when the Americans won on home soil eight years later.
By Ben Nicholson
July 3 – The MLS is reportedly set to make changes to their existing rules regarding salary caps. The league has allegedly already held a league-wide call about adding, what is essentially, an extra designated player spot, in terms of a “core player” – a player who may earn over the salary cap.
July 3 – New York City FC has added PepsiCo to its burgeoning list of partners, who will now serve as the club’s exclusive partner for carbonated soft drinks, bottled water, iced tea, potato chips and salty snacks. NYC FC in its inaugural season has already become one of the league’s most visible clubs.
By Mark Baber
July 2 – With France’s Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG) having declared that Corsican club Sporting Club de Bastia should be relegated to League 2 on financial grounds, irrespective of having finished 12th in the Ligue 1 last season, the club today reacted angrily to reports the sale of Ryad Boudebouz would be insufficient to see the decision reversed.
By Mark Baber
July 2 – The UEFA sponsorship train continues to roll as MasterCard announced a three year extension of its high-profile and long-standing sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – The United States has formally asked Switzerland to extradite the seven senior FIFA officials arrested in Zurich in May on charges of alleged bribery and corruption – but it could take several months, possibly up to a year, for the request to be processed.
July 2 – In his most hard-hitting interview since announcing he is quitting as FIFA president, Sepp Blatter has dismissed any suggestion that he is corrupt, insists he is clean and says his detractors “should go to jail.”
July 2 – No-one is suggesting any shenanigans or rigging by Asian syndicates but yet another football scoreline in Estonia has raised eyebrows.
By Ben Nicholson
July 2 – Whilst the Women’s World Cup in Canada is attracting record numbers of spectators, Fox Sports are capitalising on the growing market for women’s soccer in North America by securing a broadcasting deal with the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
By Paul Nicholson
July 2 – With a number of English Premier League clubs now only two weeks away from their pre-season trips to Asia, Nike have announced that they will release their most “advanced football ever”, the Ordem 3, at the Barclays Asia Trophy 2015 in Singapore. Meanwhile Liverpool have released have released a final batch of tickets for their four match friendly schedule.
By Paul Nicholson
July 2 – If Sepp Blatter is looking for something to do when he finally hands in his FIFA presidential mandate we think we may have found just the activity in England’s Newcastle upon Tyne.