There will be considerable concern around football that viewing figures for Sky Sports’ live Premier League matches this season have dropped by a whopping 19 per cent.

The dramatic year-on-year fall has occurred in the first season of a new rights deal with Sky and BT Sport having paid over £5billion between them for their three-year contracts for the match packages.

The surprise slide in Sky’s ratings comes despite an exciting start to the season plus the huge hype surrounding the managerial tussle between Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp.

Sky Sports have suffered a blow to their viewing figures regarding live football coverage

Thierry Henry, Sportsmail's Jamie Redknapp and Jamie Carragher on the Friday Night Football

It has been put down to factors including illegal streaming of matches, a hot summer, and the rival attraction of the Olympics.

But should the downward curve continue for the rest of the season this would be a frightening scenario for the Premier League, the clubs and all the TV rights holders.

A Sky spokesman said: ‘It is a premature comparison when several high-profile matches such as Liverpool v Manchester United have yet to air on Sky Sports. We have shown the top 10 most viewed PL games so far this season.’

The word inside the BBC is that the usual 10-strong shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year will be extended because of the number of achievements — mainly from the Olympics — meriting inclusion in the show on December 18.

RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie remains the joint best-paid leader of a sports governing body in the UK, with the annual report recording his £700,000-a-year salary, an increase of £100,000 from the previous year.

FA chief executive Martin Glenn, who was paid no more than £650,000 in his first year at Wembley, is probably on a par with Ritchie. In comparison, Arsenal pay their CEO Ivan Gazidis an astonishing £2.6m, while FIFA president Gianni Infantino has settled for a £1.2m salary and secretary-general Fatma Samoura £1.04m.

RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie earns £700,000-a-year - on a par with FA chief Martin Glenn

lt was announced at the 2016 FIFA Congress in Mexico City that they would reconvene in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia next year.

But since the Islamic government does not allow Israeli citizens into the country nor recognise the Israeli flag, FIFA will move their annual summit to Manama in Bahrain.

USA’s 2026 World Cup

The United States now look odds-on favourites to stage the 2026 World Cup — with Canada or Mexico or both as co-hosts — after FIFA ruled out any bid from Europe or Asia for rotation reasons. So the earliest the World Cup could be held in England, the best equipped country for the tournament, is 2030.

FIFA intend to bring their scandal-hit World Cup ticketing operation in-house after the current contract expires in 2018. It has been run, since 2002, from Cheadle in Cheshire by the Byrom brothers.

Jaime Byrom said on Friday it was a highly complex operation and that they would be doing their best during the 2018 World Cup cycle to convince FIFA to involve them in future.

USA are the favourites to host the 2026 World Cup after Europe and Asia were ruled out

Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov continues to receive very little recognition — including no seat on the board — for his 30.04 per cent ownership of Arsenal.

But at least the club are letting the 10 children from a Russian orphanage supported by Usmanov visit the training ground and academy — as well as meeting the players ahead of watching Saturday's home match against Swansea.

Arsenal are allowing 10 orphans supported by Alisher Usmanov (right) visit the training ground

ITV 4 will broadcast highlights of England’s upcoming Test series in Bangladesh, which is a sign of the network’s growing interest in cricket ahead of the tender for the ECB’s showcase new city-based T20 tournament, whose eight teams are likely to be given regional names.

England's Test series with Bangladesh will be shown in highlights packages on ITV 4

BT Sport have named feuding former England cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann in their team for their coverage of Australian cricket this winter ahead of their 2017-18 Ashes series rights.

But perhaps it is fortunate that Swann will be a London-based pundit, while KP is Down Under where he will also work for Australia’s Channel 9. The BT line-up includes Ricky Ponting, who is a far better cricket commentator than Sky’s irritant Shane Warne.