By Andrew Warshaw
July 9 – Russia’s growing commercial influence in European sport, and football in particular, has been underlined with the announcement that Manchester United have made state-controlled Aeroflot their airline partner.The five-year deal runs until 2018 when Russia stages the World Cup and marks the latest in a string of Russian ownership and sponsorship agreements.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 8 – FIFA wants the centenary World Cup in 2030 to be jointly staged by Uruguay and Argentina, the countries who met in the final of the inaugural tournament, according to Argentine FA (AFA) president and Fifa senior vice-president Julio Grondona.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Despite not being needed for any contentious decisions during the Confederations Cup, GoalControl, the German goal-line technology system, looks like being employed at next year’s World Cup as planned.
The camera-based system was the last to throw its name into the hat for both tournaments after the International Football Association Board finally approved GLT last year. It was surprisingly selected ahead of Hawk-Eye and GoalRef,
By Mark Baber
July 2 – In a set-back to Ethiopia’s ambitions to qualify for a World Cup final tournament for the first time, FIFA has overturned Ethiopia’s original 2-1 win against Botswana and awarded a 3-0 victory to Botswana. FIFA has confirmed that the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) has been sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in the preliminary competition match for the 2014 FIFA World Cup between Botswana and Ethiopia played on 8 June 2013.
By Mark Baber
June 28 – Shares in Perform, a leader in the distribution and commercialisation of sports content across digital platforms, have fallen by over 10% after a warning that spending on acquisitions and content would slow profit growth this year.
By Mark Baber
June 28 – China’s Huawei, a global provider of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), has signed with the Spanish Football League (LFP) as its exclusive Technology Partner for Smartphones.
By Mark Baber
June 25 – The Iranian Football Federation (IFF) has made an official complaint to FIFA against the South Korean football association following the aftermath of last Wednesday’s world cup qualifier in South Korea, which saw the Iranian players being pelted with bottles by Korean fans, following their 1-0 victory.
By Mark Baber
June 21 – Adidas expects to hit record sales of €2 billion from its football product in 2014 as it benefits from it position as official sponsor, supplier and licensee of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The forecast was made at a football media day in Herzogenaurach, Germany, by Herbert Hainer (pictured), CEO of the adidas Group.
By Paul Nicholson in Rio de Janeiro
June 20 – Look around Rio de Janeiro you could be forgiven for wondering where the Confederations Cup party is taking place unless you were outside the Maracana or an official ticket collection point.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 19 – Days after announcing that that its 2018 World Cup budget was likely to double to over $20bn, Russia has provided more details of how the money will actually be spent.
By Mark Baber
June 18 – The latest draft of the so-called Fans Bill, making its way through Russia’s State Duma, sees sanctions for violators of the rules of conduct, covering spectators and organisers and owners of sports facilities, significantly increased in an attempt by the 2018 World Cup hosts to ensure the tournament is hooligan-free even though it is still five years away.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 17 – Five years before staging the 2018 World Cup, Russia is already coming to terms with the fact that the tournament is likely to cost a lot more than originally outlined.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 17 – Three African countries — Ethiopia, Togo and Equatorial Guinea — are facing disciplinary proceedings for allegedly fielding ineligible players in recent World Cup qualifiers.
By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – BT will kick off its live football coverage on its new sports channel, BT Sport, with excusive Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard’s testimonial game, Liverpool vs Olympiacos, August 3.
By Andrew Warshaw in Mauritius
May 31 – FIFA’s top corruption buster has hinted for the first time that 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar have no corruption case to answer and says a statement of intent of some kind should be made by his department by September or October. Ever since Qatar were awarded the tournament with a landslide victory despite FIFA’s official inspection team flagging up several negative aspects of their bid,