TV watchdog opens new probe into Premier League UK sales policy

TV camera

November 19 – The debate over how much English Premier League football should be televised live domestically is back on the agenda. UK broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has opened an investigation into how the Premier League sells media rights following a complaint from Virgin Media, which claims more matches should be available for live broadcast.

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Mihir Bose: Grow up Europe. You cannot change FIFA on your own

The row that has erupted over FIFA’s handling of the much trumpeted Michael Garcia report on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup means we are once again seeing a re-run of what is now sports oldest soap opera: how shall we reform FIFA? It is not often that bad movies get so many repeat showings, even on a dank, dull, evening in Bognor. But then this is FIFA – an organisation where the past is not a foreign country but one that is always being revisited.

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Russia keeps stadium budget fixed at $6.4bn, but Kaliningrad may be dropped

Igor Shuvalov

By Paul Nicholson
November 18 – Russia’s first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov has said that the construction spend on stadia for the 2018 World Cup will remain fixed at 300 billion roubles ($6.4 billion) – the same figure that was set in 2010. Shuvalov made his remarks on a visit to Moscow’s recently complete Okritie-Arena, one of two venues in the capital that will host matches in 2018.

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Matt Scott: FIFA corruption allegations will drive sponsors away, to UEFA?

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“The negative tenor of the public debate around FIFA at the moment is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its partners.” Adidas statement, June 2014

Adidas has claimed that football is “the DNA of our company”. So when FIFA’s longest-serving commercial partner remarked publicly about the threat to football’s image presented by the many corruption allegations swirling around its governing body, Adidas revealed fears that its own reflection might become haggard.

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Gulf Cup kicks off, Bahrain kicks coach Hamad out

Adnan Hamad

November 18 – Countries don’t normally sack coaches in the middle of competitions but such is the element of pride in Asia that Bahrain are looking for a new coach for the second time in just over four months after Iraqi Adnan Hamad (pictured) was dismissed in the wake of the country’s poor start to the Gulf Cup.

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