Zenit pour scorn on bribery charges but Russian FA taking a closer look

Vlastimil Petrzela

By Richard van Poortvliet
April 3 – Zenit St. Petersburg and the clubs former players have strongly denied allegations of match fixing made by Erik Hagen. The Norwegian defender, who played for Zenit between 2005 and 2008, claimed that players bribed an official in a UEFA Cup group stage tie against Vitória de Guimarães on 20 October 2005 in St. Petersburg.

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Lee Wellings: You win some you lose some. Accept it

Football. You win some you lose some.

It was only basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters who didn’t do defeats.

Accepting that sometimes things aren’t quite going to plan on the pitch can sometimes require intelligence and immaturity. It’s not always the sign of a defeatist or someone who is past caring.

But have you noticed that all perspective has now gone from football. Every defeat becomes a crisis. Every bad result a surge of speculation over the manager.

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Uruguayan chaos as FA board resigns en masse after fan violence

Uruguayan police

By Andrew Warshaw
April 2 – Uruguayan football is in chaos just two months before the World Cup after the entire board of its national association resigned over increasing fan violence. FIFA has yet to comment on the crisis which could potentially threaten Uruguay’s World Cup participation if there is no leadership in place to take the country to Brazil.

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Vitesse links to Chelsea come under KNVB scrutiny

Merab Jordania

By Andrew Warshaw
April 2 – Dutch football authorities are launching an investigation into Chelsea’s links with one of their top-flight clubs, Vitesse Arnhem, following sensational – some might say fanciful – allegations in the Dutch press. Chelsea have been using Vitesse as a training club for their emerging players in recent seasons, with four of their younger players currently on loan there.

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Mihir Bose: Why making changes in football changes can be tricky

Michel D’Hooghe, the long standing FIFA executive member, should have every reason to feel happy. The man who chaired the Belgian football federation for many years, and led the country’s joint bid with the Netherlands for the 2018 World Cup, will travel to Brazil confident that this is the best Belgium side for more than a quarter of a century. “We have,” he tells me “the best generation after the generation of 86,” the one whose deeds in Mexico are still talked about in his country.

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