No Barca panic over Messi, he is staying, but Bartomeu might not
January 8 – Barcelona have been quick to dispel reports that Lionel Messi is unhappy with the way the club is being run and could be on his way out of the Nou Camp.
Europe
Convicted rapist Evans poised to sign new deal despite public outrage
January 8 – Despite fierce opposition from fans and the general public and a number of sponsors threatening to pull out in protest, an English lower-league club appears on the verge of offering a contract to a convicted rapist who has served a jail sentence.
Bulgarian football chief accused of tax crimes and issuing a death threat
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 8 – Grisha Ganchev (pictured), a member of the Bulgarian Football Union executive committee and owner of Bulgaria’s Litex Lovech is facing court charges, one of which names him as the leader of an organised crime syndicate.
Tavecchio pushes proposal to reduce Italy’s Serie A and B to 18 clubs
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 7 – Carlo Tavecchio, the president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), has continued to promote his plans for a reformed Italian league structure that would see both Serie A and B decrease from 20 to 18 teams.
Ticket sell out for the Cup game that never was
January 7 – The tickets were quickly snapped up but the game never took place. When tiny Accrington Stanley, dubbed in England as the club that would never die after being saved from extinction, had a chance to play mighty Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup, tickets sold out in 36 hours.
Rangers cash crisis worsens but club rejects £18m US buyout offer
January 7 – Scottish giants Rangers, striving to edge slowly back to the top flight of domestic football after being totally revamped and starting again in the lower leagues because of soaring debts, have assured the authorities and their followers that they are not heading back into the abyss despite ongoing financial troubles.
Turks relax foreign quotas to take heat out of soaring fees for local players
January 7 – In a move that will re-ignite the club versus country debate and be monitored with interest across Europe, Turkish football authorities have radically reduced limits on overseas imports and will soon allow teams to play with entirely foreign line-ups.
Messi tops CIES transfer value list, Real Madrid have most valuable squad
January 6 – With the January transfer window starting to warm-up the player market, the CIES Football Observatory has released its latest ranking of the 120 big-5 league players with the highest transfer values.
VfB Stuttgart, Hannover 96 renew kit deals with Puma, Jako
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 6 – German football clubs VfB Stuttgart and Hannover 96 have extended their technical sponsorship deals with sports apparel makers Puma and Jako, respectively.
Barca fire Zubizarreta, Puyol quits, as Spanish giant re-groups
January 6 – The off-the-field crisis at Barcelona has deepened with the news that the Catalan giants have sacked Andoni Zubizarreta (pictured) as director of football.
CSKA Sofia money man calls for player wage cut but bigger win bonuses
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 6 – One of the largest shareholders in Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia, Petar Mandjukov (pictured), has called for aggressive cuts in player wages, but the introduction of a bigger bonus system if the club qualifies for European competition.
Evans debate rages over his attempts to return to football after release from jail
January 5 – An English lower-league club is under pressure not to offer a convicted rapist a contract as debate over whether he should be given a chance to resume his footballing career after serving a jail sentence intensifies.
Britain releases Government files relating to 80s fight against football hooliganism
By David Owen
January 4 – Hundreds of pages of documents relating to the British Government’s handling of the football hooliganism problem before and after the Heysel Stadium disaster in Brussels in May 1985 have been released by the National Archives.
Sales tax levy set to hike Ligue 1 ticket prices
By Samindra Kunti
January 5 – French football fans will have to fork out more money in 2015 if they want to watch Ligue 1 action following an injunction by the European Commission, asking for the nationwide implementation of VAT for sports tickets.
FIFA15 tops UK 2015 video games chart with 2.6m+ sales
By Mark Baber
January 2 – Electronic Art’s FIFA15 has been unveiled by The Entertainment Retailer’s Association as the UK’s biggest video game of 2014 after selling 2,663,296 copies, ahead of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and only coming second in the chart of the 20 best-selling video games, movies and albums of 2014 to Disney’s movie Frozen.