Spanish lawmakers ban betting sponsors on LaLiga club shirts
July 10 – Betting firms will no longer be allowed to appear as front-of-shirt sponsors or hold stadium naming rights in Spain from the start of next season.
Integrity
FIFAGate: Jailed Napout files another request for release on Covid-19 health grounds
July 9 – Disgraced former Conmebol president Juan Angel Napout has again petitioned court in the US to obtain an early release from prison because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Paraguayan is serving a nine-year sentence for his role in the FIFAGate scandal.
Santos lose €61m appeal at CAS over Neymar transfer to Barca
July 8 – After a long-running saga, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has cleared Barcelona of any wrongdoing when they signed Brazilian star Neymar from Santos back in 2013.
Seek and destroy: Threat Matrix delivers solution to ‘out’ football’s social media racists
By Andrew Warshaw
July 6 – So-called fans who hide behind hidden social media accounts to fire abuse at black and BAME players face being called out under revolutionary technology that strips away their anonymity.
LaLiga wins piracy battle as Danish court rules ISPs must block illegal streams
July 6 – The war on global piracy has seen a new battle win for LaLiga who, working with the Danish Rights Alliance, have won a court ruling that pirate service Rojadirecta is illegal and must be blocked by Danish ISPs.
Swiss call in Extraordinary Prosecutor to examine criminal charges against Infantino
By Paul Nicholson
July 3 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino took a step nearer towards a full criminal investigation in Switzerland into his behaviour following the announcement today by the supervisory authority of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office that an extraordinary federal public prosecutor had been appointed to examine criminal complaints made against him and Swiss federal prosecutor Michael Lauber.
FFP under the gavel: Man City to get ‘£200m’ CAS ruling July 13
July 3 – Manchester City are set to learn their European fate on July 13 in a ruling that will have major consequences for both the club and UEFA’s entire financial fair play strategy.
£350m+ at stake: Government report calls for immediate betting ad ban on shirts
July 3 – Gambling sponsorship on football shirts in the UK should be banned as a deterrant to young people being lured into betting, a British House of Lords report has recommended.
French want Benzema in court over role in Valbuena sex tape blackmail
July 3 – French prosecutors have asked that Real Madrid star and French international Karim Benzema face trial over his alleged involvement in the attempted sex-tape blackmail of former teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
Whistleblower Pinto’s Portuguese trial scheduled for September
July 3 – Rui Pinto, the Portuguese whistleblower whose string of incriminating revelations shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, will stand trial on September 4 accused of attempted extortion, computer hacking and breach of correspondence, according to reports.
Chelsea youth players go to High Court claiming racial abuse ruined their careers
July 2 – Two former Chelsea youth-team players say they are “still fighting for justice and equality” after alleging they were racially abused at the club in the 1990s.
FifaGate: Two-time Concacaf boss Hawit spared jail time
By Andrew Warshaw
June 30 – After somewhat of a lull, the FifaGate scandal is back in the headlines with two-time Concacaf stand-in president Alfredo Hawit spared further jail time as a US judge ruled he could return home to Honduras, four years after he pleaded guilty.
English stakeholders take ‘small’ step with player-to-coach accelerator for BAME players
June 30 – English football stakeholders have joined forces to help BAME players move into full-time coaching roles in the professional game.
Swiss investigators to dig deeper into Platini’s ‘disloyal’ CHF2m
June 29 – Swiss federal prosecutors have cited former UEFA president Michel Platini in a widening of their probe into the infamous CHF 2 million “disloyal payment” made to him in 2011 by then FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Infantino says his Swiss judiciary scandal is ‘absurd’, as buddy Lauber looks a lost cause
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
June 26 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino, unable to shake off continuing suspicion over his motives for undocumented meetings with under-fire Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber, has broken his silence by insisting it was “absurd” to suggest he had done anything wrong.