By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – The full scale of corruption in Cypriot football has been exposed by a referee whistleblower who claims officials are regularly deciding the outcome of games on orders from above.
March 11 – Football is full of cases of misfit superstars failing to adapt to new surroundings. But few in recent years feature such a stark fall from grace as that of Manchester United’s on-loan Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – Prince Ali bin al-Hussein’s bid to dethrone Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA has taken an unexpected twist after he appeared to pick up support in arguably the least likely part of Asia.
March 10 – City Football Group – owner of Manchester City, New York City FC and Melbourne City FC – has announced a £400,000 football charity initiative through its Cityzens Giving programme.
Brazilian superstar Zico, often referred to as the ‘White Pelé’, was not only a fantastic player, but he has become a respected and a successful professional coach. Having coached in Iran, Japan and Brazil, more recently he has become an idol in India’s Goa.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 10 – Just over a week before Fifa is expected to announce the dates for the 2022 winter World Cup in Qatar, the official who analyzed the credentials of all nine canddiates for 2018 and 2022 has presented what he believes is a workable timetable – but only if significant tweaks are made.
March 10 – Former Cameroon star Samuel Eto’o was honoured on Monday for his “inspiring” stand against racism as he became the third recipient of the European Medal of Tolerance awarded by a leading anti-discrimination group.
By Mark Baber
March 10 – Manchester City are poised to sign a massive £80-million-a-year sponsorship deal with Etihad, according to rumours in the British press. The new deal would mean a renegotiation of the current £400 million deal.
March 10 – The South African government has accused FIFA of not acting decisively enough over match-fixing investigations, notably regarding a series of warm-up games that preceded the 2010 World Cup.
March 10 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur activated the next stage of its participation in the regeneration of the local area around its stadium with the opening of the University Technical College of Tottenham by the club’s former Chairman and star of the TV series The Apprentice, Alan Sugar (now Lord Sugar).
March 10 – A report into a swathe of alleged rigged Ligue 2 games in France last season has concluded that one match was subject to “an understanding” between the two clubs concerned.
March 10 – The Gulf region has struck yet another blow for staging major tournaments with the news that The United Arab Emirates has been awarded hosting rights to the 2019 Asian Cup.
March 10 – New data from the CIES, the Swiss-based Centre for Sports Studies, finds that €1.072 billion has been generated from sales of academy players by clubs in Europe’s Big 5 leagues. Topping the chart is Premier League club Southampton earning €90.2 million from sales since July 2012.
The Champions League. The pinnacle of European and indeed world football. Oh the glory. That music. Popular in all parts of the globe. And it’s all about winning isn’t it? Isn’t it?
March 10 – Qatar has awarded the Design Architect contract for its showpiece Lusail Stadium to UK firm Foster + Partners. The stadium is the proposed venue for the opening ceremony and the final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.