April 26 – Benfica starlet Joao Neves is the most seasoned U20 player in world football according to data provided by the CIES Football Observatory. 19-year-old Neves ranked top of the CIES’s study, which used an index that weighted minutes played in official senior club or national team matches according to their ‘sporting level’ to decide the top 100 U20 players in that category. The young Portuguese has featured across 4,500 minutes for Benfica this season and has quickly become a fundamental part of the team as they push for the league title. Read more … The post Joao Neves tops world U20 ..read more

April 26 – Sweden is set to reject the introduction and implementation of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) after elite clubs voiced their opposition to the technology. Across Europe’s leagues, VAR has often been at the centre of controversy and Swedish clubs, who have at least 51% fan ownership, have opposed the introduction in their country. Swedish FA president Frederik Reinfeldt previously said that he favoured VAR, but in an interview with the newspaper Aftonbladet he conceded: “If I counted correctly, Read more … The post Swedish clubs reject introduction of VAR into top-tier league app ..read more

April 26 – Brazil legend Marta, 38, will retire from international football this year, she confirmed. For years, Marta, Brazil’s record goal scorer in both the men’s and women’s World Cup with 17 goals in 23 appearances across six editions of the tournament, has been a lodestar of her team with her skill set, experience and unique presence and this summer she can feature for the sixth time at the Olympic Games. She didn’t play for her country at the W Gold Cup in February where Brazil lost in the final to the USA 1-0. Read more … The post Marta to quit international football after the Olympic ..read more

April 26 – The row between Manchester United and Newcastle over the latter putting their sporting director Dan Ashworth on gardening leave is set to go to arbitration in an effort to resolve the impasse. Ashworth (pictured) has been on gardening leave since February 19 after informing Newcastle he wanted to join the revamped set-up at United who want him to take up a similar role. There has reportedly been no agreement over compensation and United have become increasingly resigned to not getting Ashworth into the club until after the summer transfer window has closed. Read more … The post Man ..read more

By Andrew Warshaw April 26 – Premier League boss Richard Masters hit out at FIFA’s lack of consultation with European football today by saying there was a “chasm” of difference between how they and UEFA operate. Speaking at a press conference following the general assembly of the European Leagues, hosted by the Premier League, Masters said the proliferation of new competitions, notably FIFA’s expanded Club World Club, was making the international calendar far too congested – Read more … The post Masters slams FIFA’s lack of calendar consultation as European Leagues welcome UEFA’s new revenue ..read more

April 26 – The Spanish government has formed a special committee to oversee the country’s football federation (RFEF) until the governing body holds fresh elections following the scandal surrounding its former president, Luis Rubiales. Rubiales was arrested earlier this month as part of a corruption and money laundering investigation and is separately due to go on trial over the infamous ‘kissgate’ scandal involving Spanish World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso. Spain’s National Sports Council said it was taking the extraordinary measure for the coming months “in response to the crisis the insti ..read more

April 26 – A record 35 nations have expressed interest in competing in the 2024 Concacaf Girls’ U15 Championship to be held in August 5-11. The fifth edition of the competition will be split into three leagues hosted in three countries. Costa Rica will host League A, Trinidad and Tobago will host League B and Ariba will host League C. The teams in each league will be determined by the Concacaf Women’s U17 ranking. Read more … The post Concacaf reports record interest in Girls’ U15 Championship to be played across 3 countries appeared first on Inside World Football ..read more

April 25 – For the first time English Premier League clubs are set to discuss a hard salary cap at their next shareholders meeting on Monday but the proposal is likely to face strong opposition. The proposed cap – known as anchoring – would limit clubs to spending only a proportion of the amount the league’s bottom club receives in TV money on transfers, wages and agents. In theory, the move would make the top flight more competitive but Manchester United, Read more … The post Premier League to discuss hard salary cap, but big club opposition grows appeared first on Inside Worl ..read more

April 25 – The European Club Association has launched its first Sustainability Strategy which the organisation hopes will tackle several pressing social and environment issues facing the game. The project is the culmination of a process that gained impetus last year with the appointment of a Head of Sustainability, Gaia Pretner, and the formation of a pan-European Working Group comprising representatives of ECA Member Clubs. “Sustainability must be a priority for all stakeholders. Read more … The post ECA launches sustainability strategy as a ‘priority’ for all stakeholders appeared firs ..read more

April 25 – The English Football Association has announced the appointment of Sue Day as its new director of women’s football. Day will start her role in place of the departing Baroness Sue Campbell in December and will be responsible for the next phase of development for the women’s and girls’ game and disability football in England. Day joins from the Rugby Football Union, where she has worked as a board member, Read more … The post English FA drafts in Sue Day from rugby union as new director of football appeared first on Inside World Football ..read more