Monaco mine Russian base for Liga Stavok deal
October 15 – Russian owned Ligue 1 club AS Monaco has announced a partnership with Russian sports betting firmLiga Stavok, who will become a regional partner for the 2021-22 season.
LFP break ranks with Le Graet and French federation and says ‘no’ to biennial World Cup
October 14 – The French league has voted to oppose FIFA’s plans to stage the World Cup every two years, slamming the proposal as “irreparably negative for the domestic leagues”.
Belgians close tax loophole and target €30m in player social security payments
October 14 – The Belgian government has revised the fiscal regime for domestic clubs, targeting capped social security contributions with the aim of bringing in €30 million.
Visionary Wenger gives insight on the next evolution of refereeing: No refs
October 14 – Arsene Wenger, Zurich’s ultimate salesman in his role as FIFA’s development director, believes automated, electronic offside calls can be introduced by the time of the World Cup finals in Qatar.
Mexico and US lead Concacaf qualifying but Canada make big move
October 14 – Mexico and the US maintained their lead at the top of the Concacaf qualifying table for the Qatar 2022 World Cup with wins over El Salvador and Costa Rica but the team of the sixth round of matches was Canada who turned on the style to beat Panama.
CAF tender media rights to AFCON 2022 in Cameroon
October 14 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has launched the media rights tender in Sub-Saharan Africa for its flagship men’s national team tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations to be played in Cameroon next year.
Vandervort joins USL to lead new women’s league
October 14 – Amanda Vandervort, formerly of players’ union FIFPRO, has become the first president of the United Soccer League (USL) Super League, the organisation announced.
Lazio join Italian crypto club revolution with €30m+ Binance deal
October 14 – Serie A’s Lazio has struck a €30 million deal with Binance that will see the cryptocurrency exchange giant become the club’s main shirt sponsor as well as launch the $LAZIO fan token.
Football under threat as bet monitoring system reports surge in match-fixing
October 14 – Sportradar is reporting that its match-fixing detecting system highlighted 1,100 suspicious matches in the past 18 months, with 655 coming in the first nine months of 2021.
Qualtrics joins as Man City partner with mission to improve fan experience
October 14 – Manchester City today have partnered with Qualtrics who will become the club’s official Experience Management Software partner.
Chelsea top ranking of most minutes played by expats; Serie A and EPL clubs are most open
October 14 – The UK might have voted for Brexit and are now suffering a European backlash for doing so, but the English Premier League is still one of the most welcoming of foreign players of any country in the world, according to new data released by the CIES Football Observatory.
UEFA to ‘evolve’ its commercial model with landmark sales and marketing tender
By Paul Nicholson
October 13 – UEFA has issued an open tender for a partner to market the commercial rights to its men’s club competitions in what the European governing body says is an ‘evolution’ of its approach to marketing and sales of the properties.
EA Sports deal with FIFPRO triggers new questions over FIFA gaming commitment
By Paul Nicholson
October 13 – EA Sports has renewed its licensing deal with players’ union FIFPRO in what is described as a “long term commitment”, but at the same time raises further doubts over EA’s ‘commitment’ to FIFA and use of its brand name.
Japan put Qatar 2022 qualifying back on track with crucial win over Aussies
October 13 – Japan reignited their World Cup qualifying campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Australia, ending the Socceroos 11-game winning streak.
Iran and South Korea lead Qatar 2022 qualifying, Saudis unbeaten
October 13 – After a tight and tense fourth round of matches in the Asian Qualifiers for Qatar 2022, Iran cemented their lead in Group A with a draw against nearest challengers South Korea in Tehran.