Paul Nicholson, Author at Inside World Football - Page 1714 of 1898

Andrew Warshaw: Movers and Sheikhers locked in AFC dance-off

There is nothing like a western-orchestrated attack on one of its member federations to put Asian football’s nose out of joint and provoke a strong response.

Over the past few days, both the head of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman Ebrahim El Khalifa, and Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, Asia’s Olympic supremo, have joined forces to roundly condemn the corruption allegations being hurled at Qatar over its 2022 World Cup bid.

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Hackers martial forces for a cyber war on the World Cup and its sponsors

cyberwar

June 6 – A leading hacker group is preparing a cyber-attack on corporate sponsors of the World Cup in Brazil to protest the lavish spending on the World Cup, according to sources close to the group.

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Alibaba deal catapults Guangzhou Evergrande into elite of world’s most valuable clubs

Jiayan and ma

By Mark Baber
June 6 – Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced Thursday that it is taking a 50% stake in Guangzhou Evergrande for 1.2 billion yuan ($192 million). The valuation of $284 million would put Evergrande into 20th place in the latest (2013) Forbes List of the World’s Most Valuable Clubs.

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Crimean clubs change names and prepare for life in Russian leagues

crimea

By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – In a move that seems bound to be viewed as highly provocative by FIFA and UEFA, Ukraine’s Crimean-based clubs have changed their names in a bid to join the Russian league following the annexation of the peninsula by Russian authorities.

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Nike builds in Poland as it swoops on Lech Poznan, leaving Puma behind

Lech Poznan and Nike

By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 6 – Polish football club Lech Poznan has announced the signing of a new technical sponsorship deal with Nike. The US brand will replace Puma as the appareil partner in the 2014/2015 season.

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OCA chief Sheikh Ahmed vows to stand by Qatar, slamming the West’s racism

Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah

By Andrew Warshaw
June 8 – Asia’s top Olympic official has waded into the latest corruption claims over Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid by blasting the allegations as being “racist” towards Arabs in general.

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Blatter says wait for Garcia report, Valcke has no World Cup fears

Sepp Blatter 20

By Andrew Warshaw
June 6 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has sidestepped calls for a revote on the 2022 World Cup, insisting that no decision should be taken until FIFA’s ethics committee investigator, Michel Garcia, completes his probe of Qatar’s winning bid and the entire 2018 and 2022 process.

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Bayern in pole position to claim biggest share of FIFA’s $70m World Cup pot

Bayern players

By David Owen
June 5 – Bayern Munich have retained their status as the club supplying most players for the 2014 FIFA World Cup now that the provisional squads have been trimmed to final squads of 23 players per country.

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Scudamore to have heart surgery but will be back for season kick off

richard scudamore

June 5 – Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, is to undergo heart surgery next week, Scudamore informed member clubs at the league’s annual meeting today.

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Platini backs 2022 in the Middle East but distances himself from Qatari influencers

Screen Shot 2014-06-04 at 12.12.39

By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – In a robust and passionate defence of his moral conduct as UEFA president, Michel Platini has denounced what he claims is a deliberate campaign to discredit him and says that despite all the allegations over Qatar staging the 2022 World Cup, the decision was the right one for football.

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FIFA makes Austrian and Iranian match-fixing sanctions global

FIFA signage

By Mark Baber
June 5 – FIFA on Wednesday confirmed the extension to have worldwide effect of the domestic sanctions imposed by the Austrian Football Association (OFB) and the Iran Football Federation (IRIFF) in relation to match manipulation.

Matt Scott

Matt Scott: From graft to grass. Corruption allegations could stink out World Cup matches

“The Turks have a homely proverb: they say ‘the fish stinks first at the head’, meaning, that if the servant is disorderly, it is because the master is so.” Sir James Porter, Observations on the religion, law, government, and manners of the Turks

Considering its position as regulator of a game so steeped in laws, regulations and statutes, certain elements running FIFA have been disorderly for a long time.

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Serbs abandon promotion play off after fan releases tear gas

Rad Belgrade

June 5 – Serbia’s first division promotion playoff between Rad Belgrade and Metalac Gornji Milanovac was abandoned on Wednesday after a fan set off a tear gas canister and forced the players to leave the pitch.

2014 News

Dilma upbeat on build to the ‘wire’ and guarantees public safety

Dilma Rousseff

By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – Despite the stadium delays, overspending and widespread adverse publicity about crime and poverty, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has come out fighting ahead of the World Cup which kicks off in a week.

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CIES report charts Euro club season by value; big is beautiful

By Paul Nicholson
June 5 – Lionel Messi would be worth almost twice as much in the transfer market than Cristiano Ronaldo, while the total asset value of Barcelona’s playing squad is still worth more than €100 million than Real Madrid, and almost twice that of Manchester United, according to the CIES Football Observatory Annual Review which looks at market value of players in Europe’s Big 5 leagues.