By Richard van Poortvliet
April 3 – Zenit St. Petersburg and the clubs former players have strongly denied allegations of match fixing made by Erik Hagen. The Norwegian defender, who played for Zenit between 2005 and 2008, claimed that players bribed an official in a UEFA Cup group stage tie against Vitória de Guimarães on 20 October 2005 in St. Petersburg.
By Paul Nicholson
April 2 – FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee has handed FC Barcelona a two term transfer ban, fined the club CHF450,000 ($509,000) and given it 90 days to “regularise the situation of all minor (under 18) players”. The Spanish federation (RFEF) has also been fined CHF450,000 for breaking transfer and first registration rules for a number of ‘minor’ players.
By Richard van Poortvliet
April 2 – Former Zenit St. Petersburg defender Erik Hagen has admitted he bribed a referee during his playing career in Russia. The former Norwegian international said he and his teammates each paid an official $3,000 who took charge of a European club match.
April 2 – English football fans have taken to social media to slam the cost of the national team’s new World Cup replica shirt.
April 2 – More than one in four professional footballers suffer depression and anxiety according to a new mental health study released today by the world footballers’ association FIFPro. That figure rises to a massive 39% amongst retired footballers.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 2 – Dutch football authorities are launching an investigation into Chelsea’s links with one of their top-flight clubs, Vitesse Arnhem, following sensational – some might say fanciful – allegations in the Dutch press. Chelsea have been using Vitesse as a training club for their emerging players in recent seasons, with four of their younger players currently on loan there.
By Richard van Poortvliet
April 2 – Former Russia head coach, Valery Gazzaev (pictured) has hit out at the lack of Russian football fans passing through the turnstiles to watch domestic Premier League games.
April 2 – Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has warned that if he doesn’t get his way in negotiations over the acquisition and redevelopment of the club’s Stadio Sao Paolo he will take the players and his manager, Rafa Benitez, and buy a club in England.
April 1 – A group of influential Russian players has put forward a proposal to limit the number of non-Russians in club football to six per club by the start of the 2018 World Cup.
April 1 – After a long fight by campaigners, fresh inquests into the deaths of 96 football fans killed in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster finally got under way today and could take a year to resolve.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German head of the European Club Association, admits he is disappointed by the decision to reject goalline technology in his country’s top two divisions.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – French football authorities are upholding a ban on female players wearing headscarves for religious purposes in defiance of the game’s lawmakers.
By Matt Scott
April 1 – Internazionale risks becoming embroiled in a share wrangle over disputed allegations one of the club’s new owners misappropriated $170 million from a listed company.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 31 – Israeli football authorities have broken their silence over the hugely sensitive dispute with Palestine, insisting efforts are being stepped up to improve conditions for Palestinian players and officials in and out of the West Bank and Gaza.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 31 – AEK’s plan to build a new €65 million stadium has obtained the backing of Greece’s Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Yiannis Maniatis who signed a project proposal intended for the Greek parliament. The document needs a total of four ministerial signatures to be submitted, and the country’s interior minister, culture minister and finance minister have already promised to ink the proposal.