By Paul Nicholson
February 12 – Italian league leader Juventus created a social media first last weekend when the winner of a competition run via its Facebook site had his design turned into a crowd ‘choreography’ as the teams for the Juventus vs Inter match walked out on to the pitch.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 12 – Bulgaria’s PFC Litex Lovech has signed a new sponsorship contract with Mtel, the largest telecommunications company in the country. No figure has been announced for the deal but the fee will rise depending on the success of the club.
February 12 – German insurer Allianz, after which Bayern Munich’s stadium is named, have taken an 8.33% stake in the European champions for €110 million, becoming the third strategic partner of the club along with Adidas and Audi.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – The European Club Association, comprising more than 200 clubs across the Continent, will hold its annual general assembly next month without any replacement for former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, one of the organisation’s most influential figures.
By Paul Nicholson
February 12 – UEFA closed its most successful Futsal EUROs to date on Sunday night with Italy beating Russia in the final in front of a near-capacity 12,000 spectators in Antwerp’s Sportpaleis. The match ended Spain’s recent dominance of the Championship that has now been held nine times and move on to Serbia in 2016. Football’s small sided game is finding its place on a bigger stage.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 11 – CSKA Sofia’s former lawyer Radostin Vasilev (pictured), has criticised the club management and ownership saying it is almost certain that the Bulgarian club will not get a license for next football season.
February 11 – Casey Stoney, the England women’s captain, says FIFA should not have awarded the men’s World Cups to Russia and Qatar because of their anti-gay legislation.
By Paul Nicholson
February 11 – Details of the proposed new TV rights distribution law that will govern Spain’s top 20 clubs in La Liga are emerging. The legislation, designed to reduce the big gaps in broadcast revenue between the top two clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, and the rest will mean that the top earning club will not be able to receive more than four times as much broadcast income as the bottom earning club.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 10 – CSKA Sofia president Alexander Tomov has announced the club will launch the sale of 3 million shares in the Bulgarian club. He is targeting both fans and institutional investors with the share offering, though has not revealed a price as yet. He has said that some of the club’s former playing veterans and legends will be gifted shares.
February 10 – Budweiser is dropping its £9 million-a-year sponsorship of England’s FA Cup, the oldest Cup competition in the world. The FA has said it is now looking for a new sponsor partner starting with the 2014-15 season.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 10 – Werder Bremen has extended its sponsorship deal with German poultry processor Wiesenhof until the end of June 2016, the football club said in a statement. The two-season extension builds on the first deal signed in 2012.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – Limited standing areas could be re-introduced immediately below the top flight in English football following a campaign by grassroots fans’ groups who say better policing and attitudes have changed the landscape of the game.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – The latest foreign incursion into English football club ownership is on the verge of completion after controversial Italian agricultural entrepreneur Massimo Cellino finally bought a 75% stake in Leeds United – subject to the takeover being approved by league authorities.
February 10 – Italian football has been hit by another possible matchfixing scandal after an unheralded lower-league side conceded eight own goals in the last 10 minutes of a regional cup game.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 10 – Portuguese football authorities say they had no choice but to call off Sunday’s hotly anticipated Lisbon derby between arch-rivals Benfica and Sporting in order to “avoid a tragedy” after strong winds caused part of the roof to collapse.