Inside World Football - Page 1528 of 2022 - For the Business of Football

Matt Scott: Premier League transfer volcano looks primed to erupt

IWFplbroadcastpayments300514

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers a lack of imagination.” Oscar Wilde

A lack of imagination is not football’s affliction. This game gives flame to our childish dreams. The nine-year-old Aberdeen fan Boyd Gibson, who submitted a transfer wish list to his club requesting they purchase such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Gareth Bale and Lionel Messi, was only echoing the boyish fantasies that consume every one of us at times.

Archive

Qataris refute allegations, Salman offers support, Garcia arrives to ask questions

Qatar win bid

By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
June 1 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers have been quick to respond to the explosive allegations of corruption published by English newspaper the Sunday Times, saying that the bid committee broke no rules and that Mohamed bin Hammam was not part of the bid team. FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia is meeting Qatar 2022 bid officials today as part of his on-going investigation of the conduct of all the bidding member associations.

Archive

Chileans mine rich seam of World Cup support

Chilean miners

By David Owen
June 1 – Chile is better known for its copper than its football. So it is fitting that the industry should be providing a rich seam of support for Alexis Sánchez and the rest of the country’s World Cup squad as they make final preparations for Brazil.

Archive

Bin Hammam ‘paper’ trail points to more woe for Qatar and its World Cup

Qatar 2022 image

By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce says the most explosive allegations to date linked to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup must be added to the investigation into the entire bidding process being conducted by FIFA’s corruption buster, Michael Garcia.

Archive

Bin Hammam ‘paper’ trail points to more woe for Qatar and its World Cup

Qatar 2022 image

By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce says the most explosive allegations to date linked to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup must be added to the investigation into the entire bidding process being conducted by FIFA’s corruption buster, Michael Garcia.

Archive

Winning is good but World Cup runner up is bad for business, says Goldman Sachs

images 9

By Ben Nicholson
May 30 – Investment bank Goldman Sachs has produced a report, entitled ‘The World Cup and Economics 2014′. The report analyses the previous stock performance of host, winning, and runner-up World Cup nations, as well as providing a statistical review of each teams’ chances of progressing.

Archive

FIFA releases its Sao Paulo Congress agenda

FIFA House

By Andrew Warshaw
May 30 – FIFA’s Congress in Sao Paolo next month will include some of the most pressing issues facing the game including match-fixing, third party ownership, the Israel-Palestine impasse and an update by Dominic Scala, chairman of the organisation’s Audit and Compliance committee.

Archive

Puma: ‘World’s Fastest’ brand holds back for post-World Cup ad campaign

2014 UEFA Champions League Final Football Boots evoPOWER

By Mark Baber
May 30 – With Adidas an official sponsor of the World Cup and Nike topping the viral charts with its video marketing campaign, Puma have taken a different track to global domination – their World Cup marketing will get underway AFTER the tournament is over, and just prior to the start of the school year.

Archive

Inaugural CFU Women’s Cup lays groundwork despite unforeseen setbacks

Sonia Bien-Aime 1

By Paul Nicholson
May 30 – Group 4 of the Women’s CFU Cup, the inaugural Caribbean Football Union event for senior women, kicks off today in Haiti. To date the tournament is being hailed a success despite the unforeseen withdrawals of Dominica, Guadeloupe and now Anguilla.

Archive

Belgium’s Zulte-Waregem preps for Euro competition with stadium refurb

regenboogstadion15550

By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 30 – Zulte-Waregem has launched a construction project to modernise and expand its Regenboogs stadium in the Belgian city of Waregem. Zule-Waregem finished the Jupiler League in fourth place, beaten by RSC Anderlecht, Standard Liege and FC Bruges.

2014 News

Belo Horizonte unveils its World Cup Fan Fest site

Belo Horizonte Fn Fest site

May 30 – Brazil’s third largest city, Belo Horizonte – the venue where England were famously beaten by the United States in 1950 – have unveiled plans for its free 21,000-capacity fan fest throughout the World Cup.

Archive

Age is just a number, but Lazio’s Minala is 17, judge rules

Joseph Minala

May 30 – Disagreements concerning over-age players is nothing new but to suggest a player is 25 years older than he actually is is surely unprecedented.

2014 News

Havelange tells Brazil protestors to look forward and forget the ‘lost’ money

Joana Havelange

By Andrew Warshaw
May 30 – The grand-daughter of former FIFA president Joao Havelange has stepped into the war of words over Brazil’s World Cup preparations with the most extraordinary intervention to date, telling protestors angry at the tournament’s massive budget to get over it because some money had already been “spent” or “stolen” or “robbed.”

Archive

Ukrainians play politics with assault on Russia’s 2018 football rights

Ukrainian football fans

By Andrew Warshaw
May 30 – The growing military crisis in Ukraine has led to further attempts to politicise the 2018 World Cup in Russia with Ukrainian political figures and a Canada-based pressure group calling on FIFA to strip the country of hosting rights. The demands will fall on deaf ears at FIFA as the governing body has repeatedly held the line that politics and football must remain separate.

Archive

ESPN examines web model for MLS broadcast distribution

MLS and ESPN

May 30 – ESPN may start offering coverage of Major League Soccer (MLS) games online, without a required subscription to ESPN.