Global diary
A comprehensive record of recent events around the world
Thursday November 22
EGYPT: Beaten by Esperance in the CAF Champions League Final earlier in the month, Al Ahly sack coach Patrice Carteron for failing to deliver a ninth continental title.
Friday November 23
BanGladEsh: Two players from each side are sent off as Dhaka Abahani lift the Federation Cup for a third successive year with a 3-1 victory over Bashundhara Kings.
GERManY: Borussia Dortmund sign on-loan Paco Alcacer from Barcelona for a reported € 23m. sPaIn: German magazine Der Spiegel reports that Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos failed a drugs test after the 2017 Champions League Final victory over Juventus.
Saturday November 24
aRGEnTIna: The second leg of the Libertadores Cup Final is postponed for 24 hours after Boca Juniors’ team bus is attacked by River Plate supporters.
EnGland: Maurizio Sarri suffers his first loss as Chelsea boss with a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
FRanCE: Thierry Henry wins his first game as a coach, at the seventh time of asking, as Monaco beat fellow strugglers Caen 1-0.
GERManY: On loan from Watford, Dodi Lukebakio is the first player to score a Bundesliga hat-trick against Bayern Munich since Schalke’s Ebbe Sand in 2001 as Fortuna Dusseldorf earn a 3-3 draw.
ITalY: Giorgio Chiellini comes on as a sub in a 2-0 victory over SPAL and his 483rd appearance for Juventus puts him fifth on the club’s all-time list.
sPaIn: Santiago Solari’s first game as Real Madrid’s full-time coach ends in a 3-0 loss at Eibar. Ousmane Dembele gets a last-minute equaliser as Barcelona draw 1-1 at Atletico Madrid.
Sunday November 25
aRGEnTIna: Three hours before kick-off, the Libertadores Cup Final is postponed for a second time.
BRaZIl: Palmeiras win 1-0 at Vasco da Gama and are crowned Brazilian champions for a 10th time.
ChIna: Cedric Bakambu’s penalty earns Beijing Guoan a 1-1 draw with Shandong Luneng in their home leg of the Chinese Cup Final.
EGYPT: Ghanaian striker John Antwi gets a hat-trick in Misr LelMakkasa’s 4-3 victory over ENPPI to become the top foreign scorer in Egyptian football with 63 goals.
MOROCCO: Raja take a 3-0 lead against V Club of DR Congo in their home leg of the CAF Confederation Cup Final.
PERU: A 1-1 draw at Universidad San Martin sees Melgar clinch the Clausura title. REPUBlIC OF IREland: Mick McCarthy is appointed manager of Republic of Ireland but he will be replaced by Stephen Kenny after Euro 2020. VEnEZUEla: Deportivo Lara beat La Guaira 1-0 in the Clausura play-off Final and will now face Apertura champions Zamora.
Monday November 26
GEORGIa: Saburtalo beat Dinamo Tbilisi 2-1 to win the league title for the first time.
Tuesday November 27
CaF ChaMPIOns lEaGUE: ASF Bobo Dioulasso of Burkina Faso shock 2008 runners-up Coton Sport of Cameroon with a 3-1 win in the first leg of their preliminaryround tie. Al Nasr of Libya thrash Al Hilal Juba of South Sudan 5-1 on their competition debut.
GERManY: A man identified as “Sergej W”, who carried out a bomb attack on Borussia Dortmund’s team bus before a Champions League game against Monaco in 2017, is jailed for 14 years. UEFa ChaMPIOns lEaGUE: Ajax qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament for the first time in 12 years, where they are joined by Bayern Munich, Juventus, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Roma.
UKRaInE: Following the introduction of martial law in several regions in Ukraine, the Europa League game between Vorskla Poltava and Arsenal is moved to Kiev. UZBEKIsTan: Lokomotiv Tashkent beat Pakhtakor Tashkent 3-2 to win
the Uzbekistan Super League for a third successive season.
Wednesday November 28
CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Semi-finalists last season, Primeiro de Agosto of Angola come from two goals down at home to beat AS Otoho of Congo 4-2 in their preliminary round first leg.
LIBYA: Al Ittihad beat Miracle Club de Bandrani of the Comoros 8-0 to set a new record for an away win in the CAF Confederations Cup.
PARAGUAY: Olimpia beat Guarani 4-1 to win the Clausura with two games to spare.
QATAR: Al Sadd defender Abdelkarim Hassan is named AFC Player of the Year.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Having been appointed assistant to new national manager Mick McCarthy, Robbie Keane – who is the country’s record appearances holder and scorer, with 68 goals in 148 games – announces his
playing retirement, aged 38. UEFA CHAMP LEAGUE: Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Porto and Schalke seal last-16 places with a game to spare.
Thursday November 29
CYPRUS: Players’ union FifPro reveals three unnamed players have been diagnosed with serious heart conditions after being given “unidentified substances” by their Cypriot clubs to aid recovery.
EUROPA LEAGUE: Dynamo Kiev, Fenerbahce, Real Betis, Red Bull Salzburg, Sporting and Zenit secure places in the knockout round.
LIBERTADORES CUP: CONMEBOL announce that the second leg of the Final between River Plate and Boca Juniors will be played on December 9 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.
Friday November 30
CAMEROON: CAF takes hosting rights for the 2019 African Nations Cup away from Cameroon due to a lack of progress in preparation for a tournament that starts in June.
SIERRA LEONE: CAF’s Executive Committee decides to expel Sierra Leone from the African Nations Cup qualifiers and all their matches are now annulled.
SPAIN: La Liga files a lawsuit with a civil court in Madrid to force the Spanish Football Association to allow Girona’s home game against Barcelona on January 26 to be played in Miami.
Saturday December 1
CHILE: Universidad Catolica are crowned national champions as they beat Deportes Temuco 2-1 on the final day of the season.
CHINA: A 2-2 draw away to Shandong Luneng sees Beijing Guoan win the Chinese FA Cup on away goals after the Final finishes 3-3 on aggregate.
Sunday December 2
ENGLAND: Divock Origi scores in the 96th-minute as Liverpool beat Everton 1-0 in the 100th league derby to be played at Anfield.
FRANCE: After 14 successive wins, Paris Saint-Germain drop their first points of the season in Ligue 1 with a 2-2 draw away to Bordeaux.
HOLLAND: PSV Eindhoven’s 100 per cent start to the Eredivisie season ends with a 2-1 loss to Feyenoord in their 14th game.
MOROCCO: Juan Carlos Garrido, who led Al Ahly to victory in 2014, becomes the first coach to win the CAF Confederation Cup with
two clubs as Raja lose 3-1 away to V Club of DR Congo but win 4-3 on aggregate.
ScoTlANd: Brendan Rodgers equals Walter Smith’s record at Rangers in the 1990s by winning a seventh successive domestic trophy as Celtic beat Aberdeen 1-0 in the League Cup Final.
UeFA: It is announced that a third European club competition, with the working title “Europa League 2”, will be introduced from 2021.
USA: Gregg Berhalter replaces interim boss Dave Sarachan as national coach.
Monday December 3
BAlloN d’or: Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric is the first player other than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to claim the award in more than a decade.
eNGlANd: Southampton part company with manager Mark Hughes, along with his assistants Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki.
iTAlY: Internazionale striker Mauro Icardi is named Serie A’s Player of 2017-18 by the Italian Players’ Association. Massimiliano Allegri wins the coach award and his Juventus side are voted best team.
SPAiN: Ex-Barcelona president Josep Lluis Nunez dies, aged 87.
UeFA: Hungary and Slovenia are both assured of a place at the Euro Under-21 Championship in 2021 after being confirmed as co-hosts.
Tuesday December 4
FrANce: Paris Saint-Germain’s home game against Montpellier and Toulouse v Lyon on Saturday are both postponed at the request of the police following violent protests in major French cities over the past three weekends against a rise in fuel tax. Monaco move out of the relegation zone as two Radamel Falcao penalties give them a 2-0 victory at Amiens.
SPAiN: Athletic Bilbao, who have not won in La Liga since the opening day of the season, sack coach Eduardo Berizzo following Monday’s 3-0 loss at Levante and replace him with Gaizka Garitano.
Wednesday December 5
eNGlANd: Ralph Hasenhuttl becomes Southampton’s fourth manager in two years. iTAlY: Former Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis is confirmed as the new CEO of Milan. PArAGUAY: Guarani beat Olimpia on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the Paraguayan Cup Final. ScoTlANd: Kilmarnock go top
of the Scottish top flight for the first time in 20 years with a 2-0 victory over Livingston.
SPAIN: Diego Simeone’s 400th game as coach of Atletico Madrid ends with a 4-0 victory over Sant Andreu in the Spanish Cup.
VENEZUELA: Antonio Romero gets a hat-trick as Apertura champions Zamora beat Clausura winners Deportivo Lara 4-0 to win the Serie Final 5-1 on aggregate.
Thursday December 6
ARGENTINA: Rosario Central draw 1-1 with Gimnasia La Plata and win on penalties in the Cup Final.
FRANCE: Monaco’s game with Nice on Friday night becomes the third Ligue 1 fixture of the coming weekend to be called off due to recent protests across France.
Friday December 7
ITALY: Cesare Prandelli replaces Ivan Juric, who is sacked after Genoa’s Italian Cup loss to third-tier Virtus Entella on Thursday. Luigi Radice, who led Torino to their last Scudetto, dies aged 83. Juventus beat Inter 1-0 in the Derby d’Italia.
Saturday December 8
ENGLAND: Liverpool win 4-0 at Bournemouth to go top of the table and are now the only unbeaten side in the Premier League this season after Manchester City lose 2-0 away at Chelsea.
GERMANY: Jadon Sancho scores the winner as Borussia Dortmund win 2-1 at Ruhr rivals Schalke to move nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.
SOUTH KOREA: Daegu collect their first silverware since being founded in 2002, beating Ulsan Hyundai 5-1 on aggregate in the Korean Cup Final.
SPAIN: Barcelona go three points clear at the top of La Liga by thrashing city rivals Espanyol 4-0.
USA: Atlanta United beat Portland Timbers 2-0 to win the MLS Cup for the first time.
Sunday December 9
INDONESIA: Persija Jakarta beat Mitra Kukar 2-1 to pip PSM Makassar to the title by a point.
JAPAN: Urawa Red Diamonds win the Emperor’s Cup, beating Vegalta Sendai 1-0 in the Final.
LIBERTADORES CUP: River Plate beat Boca Juniors 3-1 in Madrid to win 5-3 on aggregate in the Final.
Monday December 10
AFRICAN NATIONS CUP: CAF says it will hold an extraordinary meeting on January 9 to choose new hosts for the 2019 finals.
SPAIN: Villarreal sack Javier Calleja and appoint Luis Garcia Plaza until the end of the season. Barcelona abandon plans to play a league fixture against Girona in Miami.
Tuesday December 11
AFF CHAMPIONSHIP: Malaysia come from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Vietnam in their home leg of the Final. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Lucas Moura’s late goal earns Tottenham Hotspur a 1-1 draw away at Barcelona to edge out Internazionale and reach the last 16, where they are joined by Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool.
Wednesday December 12
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Ex-federation president PatriceEdouard Ngaissona, who is a CAF committee member, is arrested on suspicion of committing war crimes.
CLUB WORLD CUP: Khalid Eisa saves two spot-kicks in the opening game of the tournament as UAE’s Al Ain beat Team Wellington on penalties after coming from 3-0 down to draw 3-3.
ENGLAND: At 14 years and 314 days, Manchester United’s Shola Shoretire becomes the youngest player ever to appear in the UEFA Youth League, coming on as a sub in a 2-1 win away to Valencia.
FRANCE: Rennes announce interim coach Julien Stephan will be in charge until the end of the season.
SPAIN: Real Madrid suffer their biggest-ever home defeat in Europe as they lose 3-0 to CSKA Moscow.
SUDAMERICANA CUP: After a 1-1 draw in both legs, Brazil’s Atletico Paranaense beat Colombia’s Junior on penalties in the Final. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Lyon draw 1-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk to become the final team through to the last 16.
Thursday December 13
AUSTRALIA: The A-League is to expand, with Western Melbourne entering the competition next season and Macarthur South West United joining in 2020.
ENGLAND: The FA confirm Martin Glenn will leave his role as FA chief executive in May 2019.
GREECE: Olympiakos beat Milan 3-1 to qualify for the Europa League knockout stage at the expense of the Italian side.
TUNISIA: Ex-France international Alain Giresse will start work as national coach on January 1.