Pakistan plans new IPL-style football league
By Mark Baber
March 6 – Pakistan is planning to launch a new football competition, modelled on the successful Indian Premier League for cricket, in a bid to overcome Pakistan football’s problems.
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Qatar Airways board Barça shirt in $45m per season deal
By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – After more than a century without a commercial sponsor, Barcelona will break new ground next season by sporting the logo of Qatar Airways on its shirts – the starkest illustration yet of the club needing to embrace commercial reality as Qatar continues its drive to make inroads into European football.
Fox Soccer set to wind down as News Corp backs new Fox Sports 1
By Paul Nicholson
March 6 – Fox Soccer channel looks set for closure as News Corp announced it will launch a new cable sports network in August taking ESPN head on in the national sports broadcast marketplace. Fox Sports 1 be available to more than 90 million pay- TV homes.
CAS kicks out Anouma appeal leaving Hayatou to run unopposed
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – African football’s contentious presidential election was thrown even more sharply into focus today when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) threw out Jacques Anouma’s (pictured) last-ditch appeal against being barred from taking on the veteran incumbent Issa Hayatou.
IFAB stands its ground as FIFA pushes through reform
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – The International FA Board, football’s law-making body that has stood the test of time for over a century, looks set to repel any attempt to change its role or expand its personnel as the eternal guardians of the sport.
Egyptian players refuse to train over unpaid wages at Ittihad
March 5 – Egypt has started its league after a year’s suspension following the Port Said disaster where 74 fans were killed, but now the financial burden of sustaining clubs and playing squads looks to be hitting as players at one club are refusing to train.
3 out of 5 Premier League players go bankrupt
By Mark Baber
March 5 – Xpro, the charity for ex-professional players, has revealed the shocking fact that three out of five Premier League players go bankrupt within five years of retirement.
Rangers renew call for admission to English leagues
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – The idea of the two Glasgow giants abandoning Scottish football and being integrated into the English league has once again been raised – this time by Rangers chief executive Charles Green.
West Ham say Olympic Stadium deal is near
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – After months of inconclusive meetings and several delays, English Premier League club West Ham could now be days away from finally securing agreement to move into the London 2012 Olympic stadium – and avoid it becoming a classic post-Games white elephant.
Becks signs to boost Chinese Super League season launch
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 5 – Rocked by corruption and controversy, Chinese football has gone for the boldest of coups in an effort to enhance its battered image on and off the field: signing up David Beckham.
Not all is rosy in the English Premiership money garden
By Paul Nicholson
March 5 – Manchester United may sit on top of the money league as the world’s most value sports club, but their colleagues in the Premier League are finding it much tougher to compete at their level, both on the pitch and off it.
AFC presidency race heats up as candidates declared and Al Serkal calls for withdrawals
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
March 4 – One of the three west Asian candidates seeking to replace Mohamed bin Hammam and run football in the entire Continent until 2015 has urged his two rivals to step aside to avoid a potentially damaging split.
As the Asian Football Confederation announced a four-man race for the presidency on May 2, Yousuf al Serkel (pictured), of United Arab Emirates, said he is to ask the two other regional candidates bidding against him to stand down. Read more …
Federation bans Nigerian Lesbians from football activity
By Mark Baber
March 4 – Dilichukwu Onyedinma, chair of the Nigeria Women Football League and a member of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) executive committee, has reportedly announced after the Annual General Assembly on Thursday, that lesbianism is now officially banned from Nigerian football.
Auxerre on edge of financial cliff staring relegation in the face
March 4 – Former French club giant Auxerre, currently in Ligue 2, is under scrutiny by French football’s financial watchdog and has until the end of the season to recapitalise or face possible relegation.
FT hitches up with IFA and heads to Rio for June Summit
March 4 – What better place could there be to head for a football business gathering and what better timing? In a major announcement the International Football Arena (IFA) has teamed up with the Financial Times (FT) to host a summit, June 17, in Rio de Janeiro.