Football Federation Australia's search for a new technical director "ramped up with the appointment of a three-person panel to lead the hunt." Former Matilda Rae Dower, former Socceroo Tony Vidmar and Professional Footballers Australia CEO John Didulica will form the panel. They will also be advised by Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, his Matildas counterpart, Alen Stajcic, and Asian Football Confederation Technical Dir Andy Roxburgh (AAP, 9/20).
A group of Real Madrid members called Plataforma SRM called for club President Florentino Pérez to call a referendum to ask all 92,000 Real Madrid members for their approval of his plan to "go into debt" to finance renovations to the Santiago Bernabéu (AS, 9/20).
FIFA warned Sierra Leone it risks an int'l ban "following the decision to overturn the leadership" of the Sierra Leone FA. On Tuesday, the Anti-Corruption Commission seized control of the SLFA while forcing President Isha Johansen to "step aside." FIFA's statutes "forbid outside third-party interference in the running of its members" (BBC, 9/20).
A Gwent County league football club is preparing to compete in the FA of Wales Youth Cup "despite not having a youth side." The non-existent Ynysddu Welfare Youth side was drawn to face Briton Ferry on Oct. 7. Yet "rather than cancel the fixture, the club's appeal for players has had responses from as far as Essex and Northern Ireland" (BBC, 9/20).
Police are investigating an "abhorrent hate crime" after a Lyon fan appeared to give a Nazi salute during the team's Champions League win at Man City. The French club "vowed to ban the supporter for life." The gesture "was caught on video and shared on social media, where it attracted widespread condemnation" (BBC, 9/20).
