News Archives - Page 1395 of 1744 - Inside World Football

Sao Paulo stadium finish put back to mid-April – FIFA pray, LOC keeps faith

Sao Paulo stadium

By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – The stadium hosting the opening match of next year’s World Cup will not be ready until a mere eight weeks before the start of the tournament. Twenty-four hours after the Brazilian government promised that the Sao Paolo venue damaged when two crane workers died in a recent accident would be finished by February, FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed that it would in fact not be completed until “April 14th or 15th”.

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Platini calls for Sin Bins to replace yellow cards

yellow cards

By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – In arguably his most radical idea since becoming UEFA president, Michel Platini is calling for yellow cards to be scrapped, with players instead being sent to a rugby-style sin bin.

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Rotary chimes at Chelsea. Liverpool fans get in the game, Puma drives new boot

ROBERT DREYFUSS PRESENTS A ROTARY WATCH TO ANDRE - GARY - FRANK - PETR copy

December 4 – With Christmas fast approaching, sponsors are looking to activate their partnerships for the buying season. Rotary and EA Sports have both come out with new promotions, while footwear manufacturer Puma has launched a limited edition boot with BMW.

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Juve plan backfires as school children keep up the Ultras’ tradition

Juve school children

December 5 – When more than 12,000 school children were allowed to occupy the stands behind both goals normally used by Juventus’ infamous Ultras, who had been banned for abusive chanting, the Italian giants must have hoped they were sending out the right message.

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Croatian Mr Big, Ante Sapina, back in German court for match-fixing round 2

Ante Sapina

By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – One of football’s most infamous match-fixing scandals is back in the spotlight with the retrial in Bochum, Germany, of notorious kingpin Ante Sapina (pictured), accused of being part of an international match-fixing network that shocked the game’s authorities.

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Platini adamant there was no pressure from Sarkozy to vote for Qatar

michel platini 5

By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – UEFA chief Michel Platini has again denied that he bowed to government pressure to vote for Qatar to stage the 2022 World Cup. Almost exactly three years since the vote in December, 2010, Platini, who has made no secret of which country he supported in the secret ballot, is still having to fend off suggestions that he did not make an independent decision.

2014 News

‘No crisis, no changes’, but three 2014 stadia will miss end 2013 deadlines

World Cup draw

By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – With the eyes of the world on Friday’s World Cup draw, the last thing the Brazilian local organisers need is more negative publicity about preparations for the tournament. But FIFA has said that up to three of the 12 stadiums being used will not meet the end-of-year deadline for completion. Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba, Curitiba’s Arena da Baixada and Sao Paulo’s Arena Corinthians stadium – which is hosting the opening game and where two workmen were killed in a crane accident last month –

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Cyprus takes another step as ‘Turkish’ clubs agree to unification plan

Hasan Sertoglu

By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – The prospect of football re-unification between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, an item on the agenda at the two-day FIFA executive committee meeting which began today in Brazil, has received another timely boost.

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Becks needs a Miami stadium to complete on MLS deal

David Beckham 3

By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – David Beckham will not receive any preferential treatment over his ambition to move into ownership by setting up a new team in Miami, according to MLS chief Don Garber. Garber says that while the charismatic former England captain and global superstar’s idea is welcomed, it is by no means a fait accompli and that a stadium deal must be in place before any franchise is awarded.

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Hungary’s Vasas loses its lustre as German investor puts shares up for sale

Vasas SC

By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 4 – German investor Michael Budzinski has announced plans to sell his majority stake in Hungary’s Vasas SC, Budapest-based football club. Vasas has a particularly strong following in Budapest’s north-eastern Angyalfold district. In spite of this, over the past years, the Hungarian club has been struggling to stay financially afloat.

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Adidas kicks off a week of World Cup events with Brazuca launch in Rio

Brazuca launch

By Paul Nicholson
December 4 – Adidas officially launched the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil ball, the Brazuca, at Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro last night. Normally launched alongside the World Cup draw, which takes place at a beach resort near Salvador this Friday, adidas chose to stay in Rio for its global launch and a spectacular 3-D light show.

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Platini crosses the tech line but keeps his eyes on the game

goal-line ref

By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – UEFA president Michel Platini is reluctantly considering staging a u-turn over goal-line technology for the 2016 European Championship finals – even though he still opposes the system.

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Qataris focus on building own football culture as Academy shows results

Ivan Bravo

By Paul Nicholson
December 4 – Put aside winter or summer 2022 and overseas players’ contracts and workers’ rights generally - big issues that have to be dealt with – what else is happening in Qatar? Is there actually any football being played or is that on hold until 2022?

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Angry Belounis now promises to take fight with Qataris to French courts

Zahar Belounis 4

By Andrew Warshaw
December 3 – Zahir Belounis, the French-Algerian footballer whose story of being trapped in Qatar claiming 18 months’ of unpaid wages prompted the intervention of human rights organisations and even the French government, has broken his silence over his treatment by saying he plans to sue the two clubs he played for in the Gulf state.

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Spain’s Mediapro and its clubs hit with fines for breaking TV contract laws

messi and ronaldo

By Andrew Warshaw
December 3 – In a case that has again brought focus in Spain on to the hot topic of clubs and the sale of their TV rights, Barcelona and Real Madrid are among four Spanish teams that have been fined for breaking broadcast competition rules.