By Alexander Krassimirov
May 18 – There were further scenes of crowd chaos in Bulgaria this weekend which led to the suspenison of the Bulgarian Cup Final between Botev Plovdiv and Ludogorets when the Ultras of Botev started a fire in one of the stands of the Lazur stadium in Burgas, where the final was played.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 18 – The Romanian football league association, LPF, has announced plans to drop the number of teams competing in Liga 1, the top tier of the league, from the current 18 clubs to 14. The streamlined league will come into effect for the 2015/2016 season.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 17 – Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain, Europe’s two Middle East-backed powerhouses with seemingly limitless funds in their quest to dominate the Continent, were brought down to earth with a jolt today when UEFA, after a week’s delay, finally announced their raft of sanctions on nine clubs deemed in breach of financial fair play (FFP) rules.
By Mark Baber
May 16 – In response to protests by fans, the Ukrainian football federation (FFU) overturned its original decision to stage yesterday evening’s Cup final between Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk behind closed doors – the final being won by Kiev 2-1.
By David Owen
May 16 – The head of the UEFA body probing whether Europe’s clubs are complying with financial fair play has died, just as the ambitious programme to restore discipline to football club finances is starting to bite. Jean-Luc Dehaene, 73, a former Belgian Prime Minister and, as such, a prominent figure in European politics, was head of the investigatory chamber of UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB).
By Mark Baber
May 16 – FC Dinamo Bucharest, Romania’s second most popular club, filed for insolvency on Wednesday. Dinamo, currently fourth in the league, won the Championship for the 18th time in 2007 and was bought by Ionuț Negoiță in 2013 on a promise to return the club to its former glory.
By Richard van Poortvliet
May 16 – The Russian Football Union have confirmed Zenit St. Petersburg will be handed a 3-0 technical loss after one of their fans punched Dynamo Moscow player, Vladimir Granat in their Russian Premier League encounter on Sunday at the Petrovsky Stadium.
By Richard van Poortvliet
May 16 – A year is a long time in football, especially for Anzhi Makhachkala. This time last year, they were on their way to finishing third in the Russian Premier League and could dream of European football and bringing in yet more reinforcements to try and win the title the following year.
By Mark Baber
May 15 – A new app, which has undergone field-testing at Burnley, Leyton Orient and Sheffield Wednesday, allows football fans to use their smartphones to order and pay for refreshments from the comfort of their seats, cutting down considerably on queuing times.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 15 – Panathinaikos is planning to overhaul and expand its stadium, according to Giannis Alafouzos, the Greek football club’s chief executive. Construction works at the facility are scheduled to begin in December 2014, and are expected to take between three and four months.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 14 – After days of silence, UEFA finally came clean today and admitted that they are not yet ready to announce any financial fair play sanctions. In what will be widely interpreted as a partial fudge, UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino made it clear that negotiations with nine clubs deemed in breach of the strict regulations were still ongoing.
May 13 – Italian authorities have taken swift action against Atalanta by fining the club €40,000 after a banana was thrown on to the pitch during Sunday’s 2-1 home win against AC Milan though many will question whether the fine is enough.
May 13 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected Josip’s Simunic’s appeal against a 10-match ban imposed by FIFA for discriminatory behaviour.
May 12 – The boss of England’s Premier League has been forced to apologise over alleged sexist comments but has nevertheless been condemned by women’s groups and politicians.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – Despite increasingly tough penalties in their own competitions from both FIFA and UEFA, at domestic level instances of racism in Europe appear to show no sign of decreasing as, for the third week in a row, a major league has been blighted by discrimination.