Hyundai launch Young Player Award for Women’s World Cup
March 26 – Ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, details of the Hyundai Young Player Award were revealed on Wednesday at the Vancouver International Auto Show.
News
Messi and Mourinho top World’s richest players and managers ranking
March 26 – The annual France Football Rich Lists for players and managers have been released, with the lists topped by Lionel Messi and Jose Mourinho respectively.
Prince Ali breaks cover and slams GOAL project in search for votes
By Andrew Warshaw
March 26 – Two months after announcing he was standing as a FIFA presidential candidate against Sepp Blatter, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan has broken his self-imposed withdrawal from the media spotlight by accusing the current regime of not doing nearly enough to develop football on the ground and Blatter in particular of playing politics to meet his own re-election ends.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv players refuse to train as wages go unpaid
By Alexander Krassimirov
March 26 – Players at Bulgaria’s Lokomotiv Plovdiv boycotted training for a second day in protest against wages. The club recently changed ownership from businessman Konstantin Dinev to supporters’ association Future for Lokomotiv.
Spanish clubs demand bigger share of TV cash but hold off on strike
March 26 – Spain’s 42 professional clubs have put strike plans on hold in order to give authorities more time to draw up proposals for a collective bargaining agreement for TV rights.
£620m-profit Premier League is more than just a game of football
By David Owen
March 26 – Premier League clubs generated their first pre-tax profit in 15 years in 2013-14, Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has confirmed, as increased revenues from the current, more lucrative broadcasting deal far outpaced any rise in costs.
UEFA get Gill to top FIFA table and leave Welsh in nomansland
By Andrew Warshaw in Vienna
March 25 – The vote is over but the resentment lingers – and we are not talking about the FIFA presidency. David Gill may have been clear favourite to become Britain’s new FIFA vice-president on Tuesday but his trouncing of Welsh FA president Trefor Lloyd-Hughes left a sour taste in some mouths – particularly Welsh mouths.
Ex-Juventus execs avoid jail over Calciopoli match-fixing scandal
By Mark Baber
March 25 – The infamous ability of well-to-do Italian criminals to string out court cases until the statute of limitations kicks in was again revealed this week as the top Juventus officials involved in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal escaped prison.
Orange is the colour as Irn-Bru signs up with English Football League
By David Owen
March 25 – One of Scotland’s best-known brands is becoming a sponsor of England’s Football League. Irn-Bru, the distinctive orange-coloured fizzy drink whose publicity materials once claimed it was “made in Scotland from girders”, will be the official soft drink partner of the body overseeing the second, third and fourth tiers of English football, in a three-year deal beginning during this year’s season-ending play-offs.
Platini criticises confederation colleagues for presidential ‘lock down’
By Andrew Warshaw in Vienna
March 25 – UEFA president Michel Platini is steadfastly maintaining his stance that he is not specifically backing any one of the three candidates standing against Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency.
CSKA Sofia loses buyers as Tomov refuses access to financials
By Alexander Krassimirov
March 25 – Julian Indzhov (pictured), who was in the final stages of negotiation to buy Bulgarian football club CSKA Sofia, has this morning withdrawn from the acquisition process.
Seifert unveils Monday match day plans for Bundesliga
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 24 – Bundesliga chief Christian Seifert has unveiled plans for the German top tier to introduce Monday matchdays. Seifert made his comments during a recent trip to Poland’s capital Warsaw, where he met with the management of the Bundesliga’s Polish counterpart, the Ekstraklasa.
Tomov on brink of selling Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia to tough taking Indzhov
By Alexander Krassimirov
March 25 – Bulgaria’s most famous football club, CSKA Sofia, is set for a new ownership! Current majority shareholder Alexander Tomov has announced that negotiations for the transfer of a majority shareholding to the construction entrepreneur Julian Indzhov (pictured left with Tomov) are in full flow.
Rangers bench Ashley’s cash in favour of home-grown ‘bears’ money
By Paul Nicholson
March 25 – Scottish giants Rangers have begun the process of extricating themselves financially from the influence of investor Mike Ashley with the agreement of a £1.5 million loan agreement with Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor – known locally as the Three Bears.
The mystery of FIFA’s rocketing tax bill
By David Owen
March 24 – Low taxes and political neutrality: those are two of the reasons why, as I understand it, so many sports bodies over the years have set up headquarters amid the lakes and mountains of Switzerland.