By Matt Scott
April 28 – Widespread match-fixing allegations in Greek football hardened yesterday as Evangelos Marinakis (pictured), the Olympiacos owner and president, was charged by prosecutors with a series of alleged offences.
April 28 – A makeshift bomb that injured nine people at Sunday’s Turin derby may have been the work of fans of hosts Torino and not visitors Juventus as originally believed.
April 28 – As it makes strides on the field to develop its fledging footballing status, Gibraltar is in danger of becoming the latest haven for match-fixing.
April 27 – He is perhaps Aston Villa’s most influential self-proclaimed supporter. But at the height of an election campaign, he suddenly forgot where his allegiance lay.
April 27 – It’s known as the ‘eternal derby’ featuring one of the most notorious rivalries in European football. And once again it has been marred by crowd trouble.
By Alexander Krassimirov
April 27 – The disciplinary committee of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) has punished CSKA Sofia with a fine of BGN 37,500 (€18,750) for a swastika flag which was flown by the fans during the match against Lokomotiv Sofia last weekend.
April 24 – The World Cup is coming to Northern Ireland – the trophy, not the competition.
By Mark Baber
April 24 – In the wake of UEFA sanctioning Croatia for the racist behaviour of same of their fans, the Croatian Football Federation turned on the Head of the Football against Racism in Europe (FARE) organiser in Croatia, falsely blaming him for the team having to play Italy behind closed doors. FARE have responded with an article on their website, which explores the issue in depth.
April 24 – The war on match-fixing continued this week with a series of workshops delivered in Gibraltar, the home of Europe’s off-shore internet gaming industry.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 24 – Ajax Amsterdam aims to acquire a majority stake in the company operating the Amsterdam ArenA where the side plays its home matches. The Dutch club currently has 13% of the shares in the sports facility, while the municipal authorities of Amsterdam hold a 48% stake.
April 24 – The president and secretary general of the international players’ union FIFPro have met with the EU’s commissioner for Sport to re-iterate their opposition to the current transfer system.
April 23 – Despite steering his Bayern side to a stirring 6-1 thrashing of Porto for a 7-4 aggregate Champions League quarterfinal win, Pep Guardiola has fallen foul of UEFA who took exception to a T-shirt he was wearing in the build-up to the game in support of a tragically killed journalist colleague.
By Alexander Krassimirov
April 23 – CSKA Sofia’s Portuguese winger Toni Silva (pictured) would appear to have been forced into what is a remarkable public statement saying that insulting remarks made to him by the club’s fans (including ‘monkey’ insults) are not racist.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 23 – The deepening impasse between Greece and football’s governing bodies has intensified after Greek authorities angrily rejected an ultimatum from FIFA and UEFA to stop interfering with football or risk being thrown out of international competition.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 22 – In another sign of the worsening condition of Romanian football, FC Brasov has entered insolvency proceedings, and shortly after lost its chief executive.