By Alex O’Loughln
August 14 – Spain manager Vicente del Bosque has criticised the financial disparities between the ‘top two’ in La Liga and the remaining 18 teams who boast Primera Division status.
By Mark Baber
August 13 – The European Commission is looking into the issue of illegal state aid for Spanish clubs. A complainant, impatient over the delay in the investigation, has followed up with the European Ombudsman who has pressed the Commission for a reply. But there is no truth in the reports that Real Madrid and Barcelona would be forced by the EC to give up their privileged status as member-owned clubs and become plcs.
August 13 – A few hours before the kick-off of a new season in Ligue 1, AS Monaco announced the signing of a partnership contract with Triangle Interim, a temp agency.
August 13 – bwin.party has added another of Europe’s leading and iconic football clubs to its sponsorship roster, signing France’s Olympique de Marseille in a three-year sponsorship deal that will see the bwin brand become OM’s official online betting and gaming partner.
By Mark Baber
August 13 – Turkey’s giant mass housing administration known as TOKI has touted its sports investment programme, which includes the construction of 20 stadiums, as the most comprehensive investment in sports history.
By Matt Scott
August 13 – European clubs have warned FIFA not to push for a winter World Cup in 2022 without due process. Frédéric Thiriez (pictured), the president of the European Professional Football Leagues [EPFL] and president of France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), has written to FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter, urging “exhaustive analysis” and “general consultation” before moving to hold the tournament in the Qatari winter.
By Alexander Krassimirov
August 12 – Former Bulgarian under-21 international and Slavia Sofia midfielder Borislav Baldzhiyski has been charged with murder after a man was killed on Tuesday night in Sofia. Lawyer Peter Aleksov was beaten to death in front of a casino. Baldzhiyski could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – England’s two main football authorities are on a collision course over the 2022 Qatar World Cup after new Football Association chairman Greg Dyke (pictured) backed calls for the tournament to be switched to winter. In one of his first media briefings since taking up his role last month, Dyke said it would be “impossible” to stage the event at the traditional time because of the searing Gulf heat.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – Fenerbahce’s appeal against a two-year ban for match-fixing has thrown their Champions League playoff clash with Arsenal into confusion, with UEFA unwilling at this point to make a ruling on what has become a thorny issue for all parties.
By Mark Baber
August 9 – Adidas cut its sales forecast for 2013 saying it was expecting low mid-single percentage sales, down from the previous mid-single digit forecast. The downgrade was blamed on weak European trading and adverse currency movements, especially in Japan, masking the company’s high sales growth in Latin America and China and solid foundations being laid for the World Cup in 2014.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 9 – UEFA has suspended two Armenian officials who attempted to “manipulate the outcome” of a Europa League fixture last month.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 8 – Increasingly vigilant as a result of the notorious Kevin-Prince Boateng walkoff back in January, Italian football authorities have handed out a 10-match ban to a player from amateur club Matera for racially insulting an opponent.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 8 – Spanish Football League (SFL) president Javier Tebas has revealed that nine domestic games are currently being investigated on suspicion of possible match-fixing, including three in the top division.
By Alexander Krassimirov
August 8 – Bulgaria’s top league clubs have joined together to protest to the government about a sponsorship agreement about to be signed between rival club Levski Sofia and Russian energy giant Gazprom. It is a remarkable move by the clubs who all sell their own sponsorships, but who feel that they have been excluded from sponsorship money they should be sharing.
By Richard van Poortvliet
August 7 – The Anzhi project, to transform a side with little prior success from one of Russia’s poorest regions, into a European powerhouse happened almost overnight. However, this dream looks as though it could be unravelling just as quickly as it was formed with owner Suleiman Kerimov (pictured) taking an axe to the club’s budgets.