February 4 – Despite repeated protestations of his innocence and a plea to be allowed to get on with his job, Japan’s Mexican coach Javier Aguirre has been sacked over much-publicised match-fixing allegations covering the period he worked in Spain.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – A year after announcing his plans to form a new MLS club in Miami, David Beckham is still searching for a permanent venue amid growing concerns that his dream franchise might be some way off.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – The war of words between Europe’s clubs and the players’ union FIFPro over reforming the transfer system has been stepped up with another hard-hitting exchange of views.
January 4 – Fast growing German media channel SPORT1 has acquired a three-year package of Europa League rights starting next season.
February 4 – Major League Soccer (MLS) has extended its deal with Sportradar Security Services to monitor the global betting market in relation to MLS matches for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
By Andrew Warshaw in London
February 3 – Citing a “culture of intimidation” within FIFA, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan officially launched his campaign today to take over from Sepp Blatter – and named the United States among the federations who had endorsed his candidacy.
By David Owen
February 3 – Premier League clubs continued to outspend their main European rivals during what was a far from record-breaking January transfer window. The £130 million that members of English football’s top flight shelled out was around double the total spent by clubs in the next highest-spending league – Italy’s Serie A, according to analysis by Deloitte, the professional services firm.
By David Owen
February 3 – Chelsea may have boosted this year’s profits by close to £8m as a result of the club’s deadline-day dealings in which it effectively swapped one attack-minded wide man for another. The Premier League leaders brought in Colombian World Cup star Juan Cuadrado (pictured) from Fiorentina for a reported £23.3 million, while selling German World Cup winner André Schürrle to Wolfsburg for a reported £22 million.
By Mark Baber
February 3 – The dark art of using OPTA in-match statistics to rank players has gained new exponents as members of The International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory who have developed key performance algorithms in 6 different areas of play and used them to rank under-23 players across the main European Leagues.
February 3 – Russian football’s anti-crisis committee meets for the first time this week as the federation battles against a budget deficit and a growing and crippling wage debt to its national team coach Fabio Capello.
In 2009 the German speed skater Claudia Pechstein intended to participate in the World Speed Skating Championships organized by ISU (International Skating Union). A condition of entry was that all participating athletes were obliged to sign an arbitration agreement providing for arbitration before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). This agreement was in line with the regulations of the ISU which contain – as do most of the regulations of the Olympic International Federations including FIFA – an arbitration clause that acknowledges CAS as the competent court.
By Samindra Kunti
February 3 – The Belgian FA, the KBVB, is suffering a financial hangover after posting a financial loss of €206,000 in 2014.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 3 – Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia has announced debts amounting to BGN 1.7 million. (€ 850,000) to December 31, 2014. The amount must to be cleared by March this year, to allow the club to acquire a license for next season and compete in European competition.
February 3 – English Premier League club West Ham are facing a FIFA inquiry over the withdrawal of their Senegalese striker Diafra Sakho from the Africa Cup of Nations.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 3 – Football’s lawmakers will consider allowing a fourth substitution in extra-time as well as finally doing away with the so-called “triple punishment” when they hold their main annual meeting later this month.