By Tom Parsons
May 28 – Adidas has launched its World Cup marketing and social media campaign, and in a breakaway from the traditional approach by brands to social media, the sportswear giant is allowing people to make the decision to be “all in” or “nothing” with Adidas during the world’s biggest football tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 28 – The match-fixing epidemic that has swept through world football has been underlined by UEFA teaming up with Europol to combat organised crime. The European Union’s police agency says it is involved in nine separate investigations linked to match-fixing and will share information with UEFA on suspected rigging and illegal betting within Europe’s 54 national federations.
May 27 – Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph over Atletico Madrid wasn’t their only success of the past few days against Spanish rivals. Off the field, the European Club Association have appointed Real vice-president Pedro Lopez Jimenez as its 2nd vice chairman.
By Mark Baber
May 27 – The alleged flare thrower, who injured APOEL player Kaka (pictured) during the Cypriot league decider between AEL Limassol and Apoel Nicosia, has been released on bail. Meanwhile APOEL supporters will be holding a march this evening to protest the Cyprus Football Federation (CFA) decision to repeat the game on neutral ground without fans.
May 27 – Despite football’s lawmakers insisting scientific aids for referees will never go beyond goal-line technology, FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne has indicated he would seek a change in the rules if he succeeds in his unlikely bid to oust Sepp Blatter next year.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 27 – Lech Poznan has extended its sponsorship deal with Polish betting operator STS by a further two years. STS is using its sponsorship to launch the first TV advertising campaign by a betting operator on Polish television.
By Alexander Krassimirov
May 26 – The owner of Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia Todor Batkov has hit out at UEFA’s sanctions accusing gas giant Gazprom for failing to deliver on its promised sponsorship. Batkov claims that if the sponsorship had been activated the fine would not have been imposed on the club.
By David Owen
May 26 – Manchester United’s annus horribilis has pushed them down to third place in a listing of the 50 most valuable football club brands drawn up by Brand Finance, the brand valuation and strategy consultancy. United have swapped places with Real Madrid, the newly-crowned European champions, having seen almost $100 million wiped off their brand value since 2013, according to Brand Finance’s assessment.
May 23 – In her first major press conference since being appointed as the first female coach in the top two divisions of any of Europe’s major leagues, Helena Costa said she just wants to be treated like her male colleagues.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 23 – In a move that seems bound to be strongly opposed by the game’s authorities, the Dutch football federation (KNVB) wants to introduce video technology from next season. For the past year the Dutch have been experimenting with an unofficial pilot scheme but will need the permission of the game’s lawmakers, the International FA Board, to make it permanent.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 23 – Seven consortia of construction companies have submitted bids to build a new stadium for Poland’s Widzew Lodz. The facility will have a capacity of between 15,000 and 18,000.
May 22- Paris St Germain have been called before Uefa’s disciplinary commission over allegations of racism by their fans at last month’s Champions League clash against Chelsea in Paris.
May 21 – IMG Licensing has been appointed by UEFA as the master licensee for Euro 2016 and will have global rights until the end of the following year. The contract, to be run from IMG’s Paris office, also covers the UEFA European U21 Championship, the UEFA European Women’s Championship and the UEFA Futsal Euro.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – The FIFA vice-president leading the campaign to wipe out racism in football says there must be no let-up in the effort to spread the message and punish the offenders. Jeffrey Webb, President of CONCACAF and head of FIFA’s anti-discrimination Task Force, was a guest speaker at Tuesday night’s star-studded 20th anniversary of Britain’s Kick It Out movement and called for collective solidarity and inclusion.
By Paul Nicholson
May 21- Bloomberg have released their ‘BSports Power 50’ ranking of the top European footballers over the 2013/14 season. Liverpool’s Luis Suarez tops the ranking while, not surprisingly, Spain’s Atlético de Madrid were the top represented club with eight players in the top 50.