August 14 – Russia’s EMERCOM (The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters), has begun preparations for the 2018 World Cup and says it will draw on the experiences of the Brazil World Cup, the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2013 Kazan University Olympiade in its planning.
August 14 – The Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) is the latest Asian federation to turn to betting monitoring tools to battle the threat of match-fixing in its leagues. Earlier this week the Football Association of Thailand announced it had signed up to use Sportradar’s Fraud Detection System (FDS).
By Mark Baber
August 14 – Central to recent disputes between leading stakeholders in Nigerian football and the recent FIFA suspension of Nigeria, has been the long-running dispute between Victor Runson Baribote and members of the Nigerian football hierarchy. The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has now taken action to bring the feud to a close, officially lifting the 15 year ban it had placed on the former Nigeria Professional Football League Chairman.
By Mark Baber
August 14 – Palestinian football was never going to escape unscathed from the latest war in Gaza, which has cost the lives of more than 1,900 Palestinians and 66 Israelis, destroying much of Gaza’s infrastructure. However, the killing of local football legend and coach Ahed Zaqqut, suggests the damage to the Palestinian football community may be more than just collateral.
“The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business.” Jacob Marley’s ghost – A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
In the century-and-a-half since its inception, football has crossed every ocean and taken root in nearly every corner of the globe. It truly is a marvellous business, its success eclipsing almost all of its Victorian contemporaries, surviving the wars and the many technological innovations that put paid to so many once-thriving concerns of the former British empire.
August 14 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic has donated £30,000 to the Swedish intellectually disabled team in order to get them to the 2015 Inas Football World Cup that has just kicked off. The tournament is for para-athletes with an intellectual disability and will be held in Sao Paolo, Brazil from August 13-23.
August 14 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur, fresh from their pre-season tour of the US, have returned to North America to sign a youth ‘soccer’ partnership with Tallahasse United who will rename themselves Tallahassee Tottenham Hotspur.
August 13 – Premier League Champions Manchester City have announced two new partnerships days before they begin the defence of their league crown. Asian firm QNet will become the club’s Official Direct Selling Partner, while T.M. Lewin has become the club’s new Official Formal Wear Partner.
By David Owen
August 13 – The Japan Football Association (JFA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with its Iranian counterpart, the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIFF), as part of what appears to be an ongoing diplomatic offensive in the Asian region.
By Mark Baber
August 13 – EA Sports has announced new additions to the Legends line-up in FIFA 15, due to be released on September 23 in the US, whilst the company has confirmed work on FIFA 16 and even FIFA 17 is already underway.
By Mark Baber
August 13 – The Crimean clubs of TSK Simferopol, SKChF Sevastopol and Zhemchuzhina Yalta played their first games in the Russian Cup last night, triggering calls from Ukraine’s football federation to FIFA and UEFA to sanction the Russian Football Union (RFU) for bringing Crimean clubs into its league structure.
August 13 – Today UEFA will hear Legia Warsaw’s appeal against the 3-0 sanction that turned their 6-1 Champions League qualifying round win over Celtic into a 4-4 draw, and the Scots going through on away goals. The sanction sparked mass comment with multiple emotions unleashed. Legia fans bombarded Celtic, UEFA and anyone who would listen with requests and then demands that Celtic should withdraw.
By Paul Nicholson
August 13 – The debut of a team from Belize in the CONCACAF Champions League will have to wait for at least another season after confederation inspectors ruled that their pitch was unplayable. Belize Premier League champions Belmopan Bandits will be replaced in the competition by Costa Rica’s Club Sport Herediano.
August 13 – Details of Russia’s stadium build for the 2018 World Cup are starting to be released. The Saransk Arena has now had official planning approval while August will see completion of the Spartak Moscow stadium.
When it comes to the August 26 elections for the presidency and executive committee of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) – if they actually happen on that day – it is evident, to keen watchers of its politics, that the more things change, the more they remain the same. For the fourth successive NFF poll, since 2005, Africa’s most populous nation is caught in the whirlwind of chaos and anarchy that typically accompanies the battle for control of the game’s administrative levers,