Chinese expand Prague footprint buying €31.1m stake in Eden Arena
April 4 – Eden Arena, the shared home ground of leading Czech club Slavia Prague, looks set to be bought by the club’s owners CEFC China Energy Company.
Nordic nations combine for Euros 2024/28 bid
April 4 – Nordic countries are to make a joint bid to host the European Championship in 2024 and 2028, with matches in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland plus related events in Iceland and even the Faroe islands.
Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester deny they used the doping doctor
April 4 – The four English clubs – three of them in the Premier League – named in the athlete doping allegations at the weekend have all issued statements denying the claims.
Stoke, Norwich and West Ham lead fan stats, Villa misery worsens again
April 4 – Round 32 of Premier League fixtures after the international break delivered near capacity crowds in eight of ten home fixtures but at Aston Villa despair found a new level on Saturday.
Qatar counters ‘misleading’ Amnesty labour report and says it is ‘fit to host’ 2022
By Paul Nicholson
April 1 – Qatar 2022 World Cup organisers have issued a strong rebuttal of the Amnesty International report accusing Qatar of using forced labour to renovate the Khalifa International Stadium and rejected any talk of it not being fit for World Cup purpose.
Twice the money, half the wage. US women take USSF to court over pay discrimination
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – Five senior members of the World Cup-winning US national women’s team have filed a legal challenge over wage discrimination having consistently outstripped the achievements of their male counterparts.
Copa America Centenario organisers hire HBS to deliver TV globally
April 1 – Broadcast preparations for the 2016 Copa America Centenario in the US are progressing with France-based Host Broadcast Services (HBS) being appointed to deliver the pictures and logistics for tv stations worldwide.
Burnley use £34m profit to cut debt and build for a Premier League future
By David Owen
April 1 – Unfashionable Burnley have quietly become one of the most profitable clubs in English football, the Leicester City of football finance. The team in claret and blue from an old East Lancashire cotton town has posted a pre-tax profit of £34.6 million for its year to 30 June 2015 – just £500,000 less than Arsenal and Manchester City managed between them.
UEFA to investigate racist abuse at Frankfurt Women’s CL quarter final
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – One of the first reported cases of racism within the senior European women’s game has led UEFA to open disciplinary proceedings after claims that Frankfurt fans abused Rosengard players during their Women’s Champions League quarter-final.
Embarrassed Nigeria set to challenge CAF rules after AFCON failure
By Mark Baber
April 1 – As the blame game for Nigeria’s disastrous qualification campaign for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations begins, the Nigerian Football Federation says its legal team is looking to take the African Football Confederation (CAF) to court over their exit, claiming it was unfair.
Europa League finalists Dnipro rocked by Euro ban after breaking money rules
April 1 – Last season’s beaten Europa League finalists Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine have been banned from European competition for one season by UEFA for breaching financial regulations.
Eboué ban over agent’s €1m claim leaves Sunderland in the dark
April 1 – Already without the services of former England midfielder Adam Johnson, imprisoned for six years after his conviction on charges of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl, struggling English Premier League team Sunderland have now had to sack one-time Arsenal fullback Emmanuel Eboué, who has been banned from football for 12 months by FIFA because of an unpaid debt owed to his former representative.
Exclusive: Grindel vows to rebuild trust in bruised and battered German FA
By Andrew Warshaw
March 31 – The man poised to take over the running of German football has pledged to clean up his corruption-tainted federation after Franz Beckenbauer, the country’s most iconic sporting figurehead, found himself embroiled in an official FIFA inquiry into the hosting of the 2006 World Cup.
QPR stay out of tune with FFP rules and post £45m loss
By David Owen
March 31 – Queens Park Rangers, the west London club back playing in the second tier of English football after ending last season as the Premier League’s bottom club, have reported a substantial pre-tax loss of £45.7 million for the year to 31 May 2015.
TheSix takes aim at Latin America with its DFS football platform
By Paul Nicholson
March 31 – The Daily Fantasy Sports market is growing rapidly with one of its newer entrants saying that there is a big demand in the south and central American markets, not just in the already recognised European and north American regions.