News Archives - Page 1414 of 1746 - Inside World Football

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.

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First Brazil 2014 ticket window closes with 6m applications

World-Cup-tickets-004

By Mark Baber
October 11 – The first round of World Cup ticket applications closed yesterday with 6,164,682 ticket requests, 70.86% of them from Brazil. As demand is greatly exceeding supply, FIFA has said it will organise a lottery for various matches. Applications from elderly persons, students and members of the “Bolsa Familia” will go into a special lottery for 300,000 tickets.

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Juve chief Agnelli says Italy must drive harder to regain power

agnelli andrea juventus lp

By Andrew Warshaw
October 11 – Italy, rocked by an ongoing match-fixing scandal, no longer has the same standing in European football as it used to, according to Juventus president Andrea Agnelli. And unless there are improvements on and off the field, it will stay that way.

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FIFA stick with GoalControl for Brazil 2014 GLT

Goal-Control

By Andrew Warshaw
October 11-FIFA has confirmed that German company GoalControl will be the goal-line technology (GLT) provider for next year’s World Cup. The company was selected for this year’s Confederations Cup where there were no incidents of whether the ball had crossed the line and FIFA has decided to stick with them.

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BT Sport spends £1bn and now eyes a shot at the Champions League

BT Sport

By Andrew Warshaw
October 11 – BT Sport, the new pay-tv competitor for Sky, is determined to acquire even more sports rights but is happy to “co-exist” with Sky in the market place, according to BT chief executive Gavin Patterson. Patterson has not ruled out acquiring Champions League games for his new channels in the future even though that could mean the competition no longer being shown on terrestrial television.

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FFP risks protecting the big against the little in the UEFA playground, says Buck

download 5

By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – UEFA’s financial fair play rules risk being counter-productive by hitting smaller clubs harder rather than creating a level playing field, according to the American chairman of Chelsea, Champions League winners the season before last.

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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.

Africa

Abuja Stadium pitch; Keshi puts his foot in it

abuja stadium

By Mark Baber
October 10 – Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi has become embroiled in a new row as he criticised the pitch at the refurbished National Stadium in Abuja, Nigeria, as bad for football, before rowing back on his comments yesterday.

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Iraqis boycott Gulf Cup in protest at lost hosting, AFC steps in with warning

By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Just when it is striving to enter a new era of unity and cohesion, Asian football has been rocked by a spat between Iraq and Saudi Arabia over the next Gulf Cup of Nations due to be held late next year or early in 2015. The competition, featuring the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), plus usually Iraq and Yemen, is little known outside the region but hotly contested whenever it takes place.

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FIFA TMS unveils its Domestic Transfer Matching System for federations

dtms-en

By Mark Baber
October 10 – Transfer Matching System GmbH (FIFA TMS) announced on Wednesday the launch of a new Premium Service – the first Domestic Transfer Matching System (DTMS), designed to facilitate domestic transfers for member associations and clubs acting in the same jurisdiction.

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Ghana request 2014 play-off move, but Egyptians say safety is no issue

Egyptian fans

By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Ghana is demanding a neutral venue for next month’s all-important World Cup play-off against Egypt, saying it is too dangerous to play in Cairo.

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Fernando ban extended to life by FIFA appeal panel

fernando

By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Sri Lanka’s former FIFA executive committee member Vernon Manilal Fernando, regarded in some quarters as the Godfather of the region, has been banned for life by the governing body.

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Petev quits Levski after 24 hours and losing his shirt

Ivaylo Petev right

By Alexander Krassimirov
October 10 – Supporters of Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia have won their fight to get rid of new coach Ivaylo Petev, who has resigned just 24 hours after his appointment.