Paul Nicholson, Author at Inside World Football - Page 1793 of 1897

Matt Scott: Spanish tuning in to collective bargaining

“Everything was interconnected… This created a blanket that allowed him to dive without fear into the unknown and conquer the challenges that lay before him.” From Together We’re Heavy, The Polyphonic Spree

Against Georgia tonight Spain will likely confirm their qualification to the 2014 World Cup as Group I winners. It will extend the world champions’ playing record over 30 international matches to W22 D7 L1.

As football lovers recognise,

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Rosell trumpets record revenue and reduced debt at Barca

Camp Nou

By Gareth Messenger
October 14 – Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has praised his own financial management of the club after an annual general meeting predicted record revenues.

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CONCACAF launches first referees symposium in Mexico

Concacaf ref Symposium

October 14 – CONCACAF held its first International Referee Symposium over the weekend in Mexico, aimed at improving the standard of professional football referring across the region. The symposium marks another step forward for the confederation, following on from its first series of coaches courses, in its drive to improve standards through education and support throughout its federations.

Africa

Namibia boosts MTC sponsorship, bringing stability to national game

Namibia football

By Mark Baber
October 14 – The Namibia Premier League (NPL) has agreed a new, more lucrative sponsorship deal with its long-time partner, telecoms operator MTC. The new deal will generate almost $2 million per season for the next three seasons giving a major boost to top flight football in the country.

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AFC review offers hope of lifting Iraqi ban on home matches

Iraq fans

By Andrew Warshaw
October 14 – Iraq’s bid to overturn a FIFA ban on playing home internationals has won the conditional support of their confederation as the dispute over the country being stripped of hosting the Gulf Cup escalates.

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Götze told to pull his socks up after second adidas/Nike sponsor spat

Mario Gotze

By Mark Baber
October 14 – Bayern Munich wunderkind Mario Götze has put his foot in it again, as he was snapped wearing Nike products, this time whilst on duty with the adidas-sponsored German national team.

Africa

Egypt home qualifier to go ahead but FIFA demand security guarantees

egyptian fans2

By Andrew Warshaw
October 14 – Egypt have been instructed by FIFA to provide security guarantees following Ghana’s request to move next month’s all-important and potentially volatile World Cup playoff in Cairo to neutral territory because of safety concerns.

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AC Milan and adidas look to future, signing 10 year extension

AC Milan fans

By Mark Baber
October 14 – Four years prior to the expiry of their current deal, AC Milan and adidas have agreed to extend their partnership for ten years. The new contract means the club and brand, who first joined forces in 1998, will celebrate 25 years together.

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David Owen: A route to a biennial World Cup?

UEFA’s drive to turn Euro 2020 into a multinational event, rather than a tournament put on by one or two host-countries, seems to have ushered in one of those periods when the structure of numerous elite football competitions is up for debate.

In recent weeks suggestions have surfaced for: non-European countries to be invited to the European championships; a super league of elite European clubs; and friendly internationals to be replaced by a European Nations League.

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PAOK owner Savvidis builds his business in Thessaloniki

Ivan Savvidis

By Panos Bletsos
October 12 – The future for Greek side PAOK looks increasingly bright as its Greek-Russian entrepreneur, Ivan Savvidis, has made clear once again that he has come to stay in his land of origin, expanding his business interests in the region.

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Exclusive: Prince Ali voices concern over political interference

Prince Ali

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
October 10 – Asia’s FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein has questioned the decision to strip Iraq of host status for the next Gulf Cup, intensifying Asian football’s latest controversy especially over the issue of what does and doesn’t constitute political interference in sport. The competition, due to be held late next year or early in 2015, features the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),

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Levski chaos continues with row spilling over on to national TV

NaskoSirakov

By Alexander Krassimirov
October 11 – The day after the battle scenes and chaos at Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia club, emotions are still running hight. The former sports director Nasko Sirakov (pictured) attacked the club’s owner Todor Batkov in an interview on national television in Bulgaria. Just a few hours later, Batkov responded by saying he now accepts Sirakov’s resignation, handed in on Tuesday.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: La Liga president faces up to match fixing

The autumn international break is a strange period isn’t it. Rightly or wrongly fans are pining for club action while the diet of World Cup qualifying ‘build-up’ is stretched to breaking point.

In England for example the comments of Jack Wilshere – plenty of potential though hardly a glittering star of the world game – on the subject of nationalism.

Everyone conveniently ignored the reality that this young footballer didn’t publish a manifesto,

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Big clubs Euro breakaway is a reality, says Galatasaray chief

Una Aysal

By Matt Scott
11 October – Real Madrid, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are among “15 to 20” leading clubs actively plotting the introduction of a closed European super league. Those are the explosive claims of Galatasaray’s chairman, Ünal Aysal. He said that a wholesale restructure of the Champions League is a “reality” that’s five years away.

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Player eligibility rules need tightening, says Gulati

sunil gulati 5

By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – The head of the US Soccer Federation believes player eligibility rules need to be tightened up to stop promising young internationals having carte blanche to turn out for two different countries.