By Alexander Krassimirov
April 1 – Bulgaria’s two most successful clubs, CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia, just managed to beat the deadline to file their paperwork to obtain a license for European club tournaments. CSKA and Levski are plagued by deep financial problems which have threatened their eligibility for a license.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – UEFA and the international players’ union FIFPro have joined forces to try and re-inforce Fifa’s forthcoming worldwide ban on third party ownership. The two bodies are filing an official complaint with the European Commission about the practise in order to strengthen stopping outside investors partially owning transfer rights.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 1 – The municipal authorities of Poland’s Chorzow have unveiled plans to launch construction works on a new stadium for local club Ruch Chorzow in early 2017. In the first phase of the project, the facility will be fitted with a capacity of at least 4,500 seats.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – FIFA has confirmed that British-based camera-based company Hawk-Eye will provide goal-line technology for the Women’s World Cup in Canada in June – the first time the system has been employed for the tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – In an unprecedented off-the-field success for Palestinian football over its Israeli neighbour, FIFA has ordered Israeli premier league club Hapoel Haifa and their former player, Ali Khatib, to compensate Palestinian side Jabal al-Mukabbar after Khatib broke his contract with them.
By David Owen
April 1 – The all too brief experiment with fielding men’s and women’s Great Britain Olympic football teams is over. Barely a few weeks after signalling its desire to continue sending teams to the Olympics, the Football Association (FA) has been obliged to backtrack and to formally withdraw its proposal.
April 1 – European club representatives will join the top table of UEFA in a major breakthrough in terms of the way European football is governed. Two European Club Association officials will sit on UEFA’s executive committee meeting as “co-opted” members with full voting rights to follow, to be implemented at next year’s UEFA Congress.
March 31 – UEFA has renewed its exclusive marketing deal with TEAM Marketing for a further six seasons from the end of the 2014/15 season. It has an option to extend for a further three years if it meets performance criteria.
I don’t envy the position UEFA are in with hooliganism on and off the pitch in their territories. It’s easy to criticise. What would you do? But I know what I’d like UEFA to consider when they read the referee’s report and decide in action. Something radical.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 31 – The Greek government has unveiled a draft bill designed to curb the growing trend of in-stadium fan violence at football matches.
By David Owen
March 31 – Tottenham Hotspur, the North London Premier League football club, have reported one of the biggest profits in Premier League history – as foreshadowed by Insideworldfootball in August 2013. A concise announcement on the club website notes that profit for the year ended June 30, 2014 after interest and tax was £65.3 million, compared with just £1.5 million the previous year.
By Paul Nicholson
March 30 – Bonita Mersiades, the self-outed whistleblower from the Michael Garcia report into corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process, has again hit the headlines, this time with the revelation that she was found guilty of government fraud in Australia.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 30 – Russia are demanding UEFA automatically award them victory by default following the sickening sight of goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev being struck on the back of the head by a flare during disgraceful scenes at their Euro 2016 qualifier with Montenegro which was later abandoned.
By Ricardo Setyon
March 29 – The legend of the Maracanã stadium, with its close to 200,000 people cheering on a Sunday match, is a legend that is disappearing in the mists of time. Gone are the days when Fluminense, Vasco da Gama, Flamengo and Botafogo, would show why Brazilian football and its iconic players enchanted the Brazilian fans and the world.
This could be the beginning of a new era for football in China, this could also be a new chapter in the history of football the sport. On March 16, the first Monday after the National Congress, the central government issued this document: The Overall Reform Plan For Football In China. It would be hard for us to find out a similar precedent that the national council would issue a formal policy, which covers up to 50 different issues in the football industry,