By Andrew Warshaw
May 29 – Almost two years after the original sanction, former Malta midfielder Kevin Sammut has had his life ban reduced to 10 years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but his career is still effectively over.
By Ben Nicholson
May 29 – International footballers’ association FIFPro and UEFA and Birkbeck, University of London, have combined to produce a ‘Good Practice Guide’ which will be presented at the closing conference of Don’t Fix it in Slovenia next week.
Much has been made about how Mauricio Pochettino is the ninth permanent manager Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has appointed since he took charge of the club back in 2001. And the scribes have not failed to rub in the fact that, despite all these comings and goings, Spurs have singularly failed to achieve the status that they feel is their due, at least a top four finish in the Premier League every season, garnered with the odd trophy as well.
May 28 – UEFA’s relentless crackdown on match manipulation has seemingly gone one step too far after the organisation itself was sanctioned for wrongly accusing a Croatian referee. But whether Europe’s governing body rules the punishment binding and pays up is a different matter.
By Tom Parsons
May 28 – Adidas has launched its World Cup marketing and social media campaign, and in a breakaway from the traditional approach by brands to social media, the sportswear giant is allowing people to make the decision to be “all in” or “nothing” with Adidas during the world’s biggest football tournament.
May 28 – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has fired back at criticism voiced by Ronaldo, one of the country’s footballing icons, over preparations for the World Cup in the latest spat to undermine the tournament.
May 28 – The Central American Football Union (UNCAF) which is playing its Central American Cup 2014 in the USA later this year, has announced that the final will be played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 13. This is the first time the regional championship has been played outside the Central American region and the 13th time the Cup has been played, as UNCAF prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
If you want everyone to look at you, you had better be worth it.
Cristiano Ronaldo was adoring himself too much to consider his Champions League final goal from the penalty spot was mere icing on the cake. But while this chapter of club success was complete, his season is not. The World Cup could still bring him down if he’s not careful.
In behaving like that in Lisbon, shirt off,
By Andrew Warshaw
May 28 – Twenty-four hours after UEFA and Europol signed a key agreement to tackle match-fixing head-on, the spotlight has immediately fallen on tonight’s friendly between Scotland and Nigeria, one of a string of World Cup warm-up games.
May 28 – INSIDEworldfootball (IWF) has won the Editor’s Choice Award in the Best On-line Coverage category of the World Soccer Talk Awards.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 28 – The match-fixing epidemic that has swept through world football has been underlined by UEFA teaming up with Europol to combat organised crime. The European Union’s police agency says it is involved in nine separate investigations linked to match-fixing and will share information with UEFA on suspected rigging and illegal betting within Europe’s 54 national federations.
Football, as we know, is often all about fine margins. Just ask Atletico Madrid. Whilst no-one can possibly condone the ridiculous behaviour of their otherwise admirable coach Diego Simeone when he lost his cool as victory slipped agonisingly away in Lisbon’s Stadium of Light last weekend, let’s not underestimate what the Spanish capital’s so-called poorer sister achieved over the season as a whole.
Real Madrid finally collected their 10th European crown after 12 years of pain –
May 27 – Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph over Atletico Madrid wasn’t their only success of the past few days against Spanish rivals. Off the field, the European Club Association have appointed Real vice-president Pedro Lopez Jimenez as its 2nd vice chairman.
By Mark Baber
May 27 – The alleged flare thrower, who injured APOEL player Kaka (pictured) during the Cypriot league decider between AEL Limassol and Apoel Nicosia, has been released on bail. Meanwhile APOEL supporters will be holding a march this evening to protest the Cyprus Football Federation (CFA) decision to repeat the game on neutral ground without fans.
May 27 – Despite football’s lawmakers insisting scientific aids for referees will never go beyond goal-line technology, FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne has indicated he would seek a change in the rules if he succeeds in his unlikely bid to oust Sepp Blatter next year.