Comment: English side Manchester City may be about to embark on their first Champions League campaign but the riches earned by clubs playing in continental competitions is bankrolling increased domination of domestic leagues. That is the evidence in Play the Game’s annual Champions League diversity index for 2011, which shows a third of the countries in this year’s competition are represented by exactly the same sides as a year ago.

Comprehensive studies prove a wide variety of beneficial effects of playing football. A future challenge is to make the game accessible to new groups of potential players.

The new UEFA concept of Financial Fair Play is blurry and mounts the risk of court cases, according to leading sport economic, Professor Stefan Szymanski from the CASS Business School in London. Others do not see any good alternatives.

An attempt by Premier League representatives to cut three quarters of the funding for Supporters Direct (SD) after a row over inappropriate remarks by the chief executive of the fan-ownership group is developing into a major UK political issue.

Comment: On May 27 Alaistar Campbell - Tony Blair's former spin doctor – used the name FIFAgate on the corruption allegations and backstabbing in FIFA before the Congress in Zürich at the beginning of June.

The conference taking place during the U/21 UEFA Championships has now released its programme featuring top speakers from UEFA, UK Premier League and many other football stakeholders.

The conference Challenges for Football, 20-21 June in Aarhus, Denmark, presents an ambitious programme with a great range of interesting speakers.

Comment: "Didier Drogba is best known as a Chelsea player and the biggest star of The Elephants, but he has also played a central role in the peace process in Ivory Coast. His role in this process shows both the powerlessness and the power of the world-famous soccer player", writes Andreas Selliaas.