• Workload, injuries and finances underpin concerns

• Most European FAs want return to previous format

Europe’s football associations have raised serious concerns about the impact of the extended international break and will ask Uefa to push for a reversion to the previous scheduling.

The new three-week break left European countries tasked with four Nations League games, which typically took place within 11 days. It has brought deep misgivings about player workload, injuries and financial viability, with one FA president telling the Guardian it was “a disaster” and numerous others saying the schedule is unworkable.

• Allegation of an incident in or near tunnel at half-time

• Israeli FA denies anyone ‘spat towards the coach’

Uefa has launched an investigation into claims a member of the Republic of Ireland coaching staff was spat at during the heated Nations League encounter with Israel on Sunday.

The European governing body has confirmed that post-match reports submitted by match officials “contained an allegation of an incident in or around the tunnel at half-time” and that it will be the subject of a disciplinary investigation “regarding potential misconducts from player(s)”.

The star’s rift with Jorge Jesus is an unfortunate affair. But the forward has been holding his national team back for years

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If this is to be the end for Cristiano Ronaldo at international level, at least it can be said that he left the stage as he bestrode it: with monumental self-regard. Ronaldo has always been a preening, self-absorbed player, but for a time, when he was one of the best in the world, it could be tolerated. For the past four years, though, he has actively and obviously held Portugal back. There is a great generation of technical talent here weighed down by the monstrous albatross of his ego.

To recap the basic details of the past couple of weeks. Ronaldo played 67 minutes of Portugal’s scratchy 1-0 win over Wales. Portugal coach Jorge Jesus, who replaced Roberto Martínez after the World Cup, said he had a verbal agreement with Ronaldo that he would not start the following game against Norway but would perhaps come off the bench. Early in the second half, Ronaldo went to warm up – although whether that was on his own initiative or because Jesus had told him to is unclear. The game was tight, Portugal ultimately winning 2-1, and Jesus did not bring Ronaldo on.

• Aleksander Ceferin condemns FFE and Balogun affair

• Tells club chiefs it is ‘time to say enough’ to Fifa

The Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has attacked his embattled Fifa counterpart Gianni Infantino in a scathing takedown of the failed Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) project and other recent scandals, saying “the emperor is naked” and declaring “it is time to say ‘enough’”.

In a pointed address to the European Football Clubs (EFC) general assembly, Ceferin did not mention Infantino by name but made clear his view that Fifa’s leadership must change. He drew on the event’s location, Copenhagen, to make a comparison to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes in assessing Infantino’s conduct, making clear reference to the peace prize awarded to Donald Trump and last summer’s Folarin Balogun affair along with the FFE scheme.

When transnational alliances have scarcely been weaker, the way the club was allegedly run offers a bleak vision of a world driven by brute power and wealth

The cache of leaked emails and documents that would eventually lead to the crisis in which Manchester City are now embroiled was published by Der Spiegel in 2018, and often it was the tone of the club’s communications that was as startling as their content. Of City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak, a trusted adviser to the royal family of the United Arab Emirates, it was said that he would “rather spend 30 million on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue [Uefa] for the next 10 years” than accept a fine.

In the same tranche of documents, City lawyer Simon Cliff asserts that “Uefa doesn’t respond to anything other than aggression”, and threatens the governing body of European football – who were pursuing City over alleged financial irregularities at the time – with “the destruction of their rules and organisation”.

• Uefa accused of trying to influence presidential election

• Fifa court filing denies claim of FFE undervaluation

Fifa accused Uefa of waging a “misinformation campaign” and trying to influence the race for its presidency as world football’s governing body urged a US ⁠court to reject a discovery ⁠request linked to a ​controversial investment proposal.

Last month Uefa asked a US federal court for permission to obtain testimony and documents for use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, ⁠over an abandoned plan to transfer World Cup commercial rights into a subsidiary called Fifa Forward Enterprise.

• Fifa president says: ‘The ambition is welcome’

• Infantino mounts fresh defence of failed FFE scheme

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, is poised to bow to demands from Uefa and Concacaf to distribute more money from its $6bn cash reserves to member associations.

In a letter sent on Monday to all six confederation presidents and copied to members of the Fifa council, Infantino indicated his willingness to “support the greatest level of additional funding”, without committing to the $10m-per-member that has been proposed.

The tournament was treated with skepticism when it was introduced in 2018, but it shows that sometimes administrators get things right

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England’s first game after the 2022 World Cup was a 2-1 win away over Italy. Their first game after the 2018 World Cup was a 2-1 defeat to Spain. Their first game after the 2014 World Cup was a 1-0 friendly win over Norway – and that was not the Norway of Erling Haaland, Martin Ødegaard and Antonio Nusa but of Joshua King, Håvard Nordtveit and Tarik Elyounoussi. The first game after the 2010 World Cup was a 2-1 friendly win over Hungary.

The Italy and Spain games perhaps had their appeal, but the sense of anticlimax was palpable. It’s inevitable, of course: how can a side or its supporters pick themselves to go again after the unparalleled drama of a World Cup? Major tournaments, whether a team does well or badly, are sport played with maximum emotion; there cannot be anything except a comedown, whether after glorious victory, thrilling defeat or ignominious exit.

This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here.

• Bolton goalkeeper issues statement after withdrawal

• Ireland players will wear black armbands in match

The Republic of Ireland will fulfil their fixture against Israel in Hungary on Sunday night, but only after lengthy deliberations between the players resulted in a “significant majority” voting to play. The Bolton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, however, will not be involved, after pulling out in protest.

After a week in which the Irish team and officials have come under increasing domestic pressure to boycott the match due to Israel’s military actions in Gaza, training was delayed by five hours on Saturday while the squad discussed whether to go ahead.

• Infantino is under pressure to resign after sell-off plan

• Uefa has led calls for president to quit

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has reiterated his desire to stand for re-election next year despite the continuing controversy surrounding his leadership.

Infantino refused to answer questions about his future when asked by reporters at the Women’s Under-20 World Cup in Poland on Saturday. The 56-year-old Swiss is under severe pressure to resign after trying to sell stakes in Fifa tournaments, including the World Cup, to private investors.

• Fifa filed motion opposing Uefa’s request for discovery

• Uefa said to be considering criminal case v Gianni Infantino

Attorneys representing Fifa have hit back at Uefa’s request for discovery in a US federal filing earlier this week. The lawyers called Uefa’s legal efforts “little more than press releases in further support of [a] smear campaign against Fifa and its leadership” and requested the judge assigned to the case dismiss the request.

The filing requests that Fifa US, a subsidiary business unit of Fifa, be permitted to officially opposite the request for discovery by 30 September.

Uefa has begun a legal process against the embattled Fifa president but it will still be an uphill struggle to remove him

Anyone who interpreted Uefa’s decision to withdraw a proposed boycott of Fifa competitions, revealed by the Guardian on Wednesday, as a backward step in the attempt to remove Gianni Infantino as Fifa’s president has been quickly disabused of that notion.

In a stunning development that overshadowed one of the biggest days in the European football calendar as national football federation and club executives gathered for the Champions League draw in Monte Carlo, Uefa announced it was preparing to make a legal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland alleging “criminal mismanagement” for his role in the failed World Cup sell-off plan.

• Uefa says claims will be made in Switzerland

• It says claims relate to alleged criminal mismanagement

Uefa is preparing to make a criminal complaint against Gianni Infantino for alleged “criminal mismanagement” in connection with his failed Fifa Forward Enterprise plan and has applied for the release of documents related to its conception.

In an explosive escalation of the war engulfing football’s governing bodies, Uefa has made separate applications in the United States for information, including from Fifa and the investment firm Thrive Capital.

• Uefa has received guarantees after ill-fated Infantino plan

• European sides will go to under-20 Women’s World Cup

Uefa is to drop its threatened boycott of Fifa competitions after receiving concrete guarantees that the global governing body will never attempt a repeat of Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup.

European teams have been cleared for participation in the upcoming Under-20 Women’s World Cup, along with subsequent tournaments, after Fifa provided the binding assurances that no equivalent of its president’s ill-fated scheme will be put on the table.

• Fifa president will face opponent if he seeks re-election

• Ceferin: ‘We stopped another try to steal the sport’

The Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has described Gianni Infantino’s doomed attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup as “even worse than the Super League plan” and warned his embattled Fifa counterpart that he will face an opponent if he runs for re-election next March.

Ceferin has led Uefa’s firm collective stance against the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, which was shelved amid widespread opposition at the start of August. Uefa are pushing for Infantino to quit, also drawing on support from Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation, and are yet to drop a threat to boycott Fifa competitions while talks are under way with Concacaf to set up a combined Nations League tournament.

• Biennial tournament could launch as early as 2028

• Confederations are seeking to oust Gianni Infantino

Uefa and Concacaf have begun talks about setting up a combined Nations League tournament featuring all 96 European and North and Central American and Caribbean countries, in another direct challenge to Fifa.

The Guardian has learned that having come together to push for Gianni Infantino’s removal in the light of the World Cup sell-off controversy, the two confederations are now working on creating their own biennial tournament, which could launch as early as 2028 after the next European Championship.

Uefa presented some of its crown jewels through European champions PSG but the turmoil engulfing Fifa is still the main topic on the menu

This was an opportune night to show off some of Uefa’s crown jewels. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia knows a thing or two about sitting Fifa tournaments out, albeit through sheer accident of birth, but proved yet again that he will show up whatever the stage. It was some way to kick off a European football season when the Georgian, with a familiar exhibition of assured footwork and rip-roaring finishing, found Marco Bizot’s top corner. Given the past fortnight’s events nobody could turn their noses up at a reminder of why, through the muck and grubbiness that has thrown the sport into turmoil, we are all really here.

Earlier on, the Uefa hierarchy and guests had enjoyed their pre-match lunch inside Hangar 7, a vast exhibition hall next to Salzburg airport that houses an array of cars and craft from Red Bull’s various endeavours. A main course of Wagyu tenderloin stole the scene and, for those craving a dose of local flavour, curd cheese dumplings were served next. But the main topic of conversation on the menu brought a more bitter taste. The fallout from Gianni Infantino’s collapsed Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme will cast its own eclipse over football until an agreeable resolution has been reached.

• Uefa, Concacaf and AFC working together on system

• Fifa has ignored calls for an independent review

Gianni Infantino’s opponents are working together to produce a new framework for running world football to replace what they regard as a system of patronage that Fifa has adopted since he replaced Sepp Blatter as president 10 years ago.

Repeated calls from Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation for an independent review of Fifa’s governance have been ignored by Infantino since his plan to sell off 21% of the World Cup was made public a fortnight ago, and the rebels are now understood to have taken matters into their own hands.

• Confederations write open letter damning Fifa president

• Concacaf president Montagliani seen as top contender

Uefa, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf will push for Gianni Infantino to resign after writing an open letter calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”.

In a dramatic escalation of the war that has threatened to tear football apart since details emerged of the Fifa president’s failed Football Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, the three governing bodies accused Infantino of “trust broken through deception” and condemned his failure to acknowledge that the proposal should not have been unilaterally launched.

• Tebas says Swiss is ‘destroying essence of football’

• Any reform at highest levels must be ‘genuine’

Javier Tebas says Gianni Infantino’s position as Fifa president is untenable, claiming he is “destroying the very essence of football” while calling for reform at the highest levels of the game.

The La Liga president, who is a longstanding and vociferous critic of the current Fifa regime, said “the Infantino era is over” and called for control of the game to be expanded beyond the current “elite”.