May 19- The climax to the Spanish league season luckily avoided tragedy when a barrier collapsed during the relegation clash between Osasuna and Real Betis, causing almost 70 injuries.
By David Owen
May 19 – German giants Bayern Munich are the club providing most players to the provisional 2014 World Cup squad lists circulated by FIFA last week. The Bundesliga champions have 18 players on FIFA’s release list, two more than Manchester United, who were comfortably the most heavily-represented Premier League club, despite their difficult 2013-14 season.
By Alexander Krassimirov
May 18 – There were further scenes of crowd chaos in Bulgaria this weekend which led to the suspenison of the Bulgarian Cup Final between Botev Plovdiv and Ludogorets when the Ultras of Botev started a fire in one of the stands of the Lazur stadium in Burgas, where the final was played.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 18 – The Romanian football league association, LPF, has announced plans to drop the number of teams competing in Liga 1, the top tier of the league, from the current 18 clubs to 14. The streamlined league will come into effect for the 2015/2016 season.
May 17 – The US will host the CONCACAF Women’s Championship 2014 this Autumn. The championships also serve as the finals of the Confederation’s qualifying tournament for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 17 – Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain, Europe’s two Middle East-backed powerhouses with seemingly limitless funds in their quest to dominate the Continent, were brought down to earth with a jolt today when UEFA, after a week’s delay, finally announced their raft of sanctions on nine clubs deemed in breach of financial fair play (FFP) rules.
By David Owen
May 16 – “Yes, of course.” With these words, Joseph Blatter, FIFA’s President, sent social media networks into a frazzle today. What the boss of world football had done, under questioning on Swiss TV channel RTS, was acknowledge that FIFA’s decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup in the blazing heat of a Gulf summer was a mistake.
May 16- Just when he is trying to focus on preparing the host nation for the World Cup, Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has the unwanted distraction of being named as a formal suspect in a tax fraud investigation in Portugal but has not been arrested or charged.
When the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s Foundation Board, whose members include FIFA President Joseph Blatter, assembles in Montreal this weekend, it could helpfully reflect on the kerfuffle stirred up by this month’s announcement of the sanction meted out to Tyson Gay, the US sprinter, in the wake of his adverse analytical finding.
Gay received just a one-year suspension, and a loss of results dating back to July 2012, including an Olympic silver medal,
By Andrew Warshaw
16 May- The most comprehensive survey ever conducted into the extent of Asian-dominated betting fraud has revealed that criminal gangs are laundering a staggering $140 billion, mainly on football.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 16- The award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has again found the spotlight after comments by FIFA President Sepp Blatter were reported – wrongly according to his office — as describing the December 2010, decision as a “mistake”.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 16- Just a month before the start of the World Cup, some of the most co-ordinated street protests of recent months have swept through Brazilian cities, once again targeting the huge cost of the tournament.
By Mark Baber
May 16 – In response to protests by fans, the Ukrainian football federation (FFU) overturned its original decision to stage yesterday evening’s Cup final between Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk behind closed doors – the final being won by Kiev 2-1.
By David Owen
May 16 – The head of the UEFA body probing whether Europe’s clubs are complying with financial fair play has died, just as the ambitious programme to restore discipline to football club finances is starting to bite. Jean-Luc Dehaene, 73, a former Belgian Prime Minister and, as such, a prominent figure in European politics, was head of the investigatory chamber of UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB).
By Mark Baber
May 16 – Four Nigerian players were imprisoned in Tanzania for overstaying their visas this week. Meanwhile Tanzanian clubs have requested they be given at least three years to reduce the numbers of foreign players to three per club.