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.
February 7 – Tyre manufacturers Continental has expanded its sponsorship agreement with UEFA to include rights to the qualifiers for both Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup stretching over the next three years.
February 6 – Burkina Faso coach Paul Put is among 31 defendants in a Belgian match-fixing trial that started this week.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 5 – Cracovia Krakow has signed a new kit deal with Italian sportswear manufacturer Legea. The contract with Legea will come into force in July 2015, the Polish football club said. Legea will replace Nike which has been Cracovia’s kit supplier since 2012.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 6 – The state in Bulgaria has allocated 3 million leva (€1,5 million) for the reconstruction of the Ludogorets Arena Stadium in Razgrad. The project was approved by ministers yesterday, with the money being allocated from a fund for ‘Growth and sustainable development in the region’. The stadium is home of current league champions PFC Ludogorets.
By David Owen
February 5 – A party from Afghanistan is to pay a knowledge-sharing visit to England, as part of a programme to foster the development of football in the war-torn country and aid the nation-building process that the west is keen to see take root.
February 5 – Barcelona president Sandro Rosell may have departed but the club’s vice-president is continuing Rosell’s legacy of calling for changes to the structure of the game.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – The unpredictable and often precarious nature of foreign ownership in club football has been starkly illustrated by Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung resigning as a director of both the club and its parent company Birmingham International Holdings Ltd (BIHL) as he awaits the verdict of a money laundering trial.
By David Owen
February 5 – Yet more US investment is flowing into European football, with the announcement that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has forged a strategic partnership with Hertha BSC of the German Bundesliga.