World Football Archives - Page 696 of 845 - Inside World Football

No threat to status of Barca and Real, but EC still investigating illegal aid

Barca and Real

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.

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AS Monaco recruits last minute sponsor to its new era in France’s top flight

Monaco fans

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.

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OM are latest addition to bwin.party sponsorship stable

Norbert Teufelberger

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.

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Turkey thinks big with 20 stadium projects in $1.55bn sports spend

Türk Telekom Arena

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.

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News Corp scoop up digital rights to drive expansion in Asia

Robert Thomson

By Paul Nicholson
August 13 – News Corp has expanded its digital rights deals into Asia having secured the rights to show online digital clips for English Premier League matches in Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. The rights deals mark the extension of a new strategy for the traditional print publisher which has been suffering revenue attrition at its core newspaper, especially in the UK where the group, and its majority shareholder Rupert Murdoch,

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Autopsy finds Ecuador’s Benitez had pre-existing heart condition

Christian Benitez

By Paul Nicholson
August 13 – Ecuadorian striker Christian Benitez who died in Qatar a day after playing his first game for the Al Jaish club on July 29, had a congential heart ailment that had gone undetected in numerous physical examinations. The 27-year-old Ecuadorian striker’s death had added fuel to the debate over whether to switch the 2022 Qatar World Cup to winter, partly so as not to endanger players’ health. However,

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Europe’s leagues flex muscle and issue warning over Winter 2022 proposal

Frederic Thiriez

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.

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Mexican players escape drug sanction over contaminated meat

sombrero fan

By Mark Baber
August 12 – Two Mexican league players have escaped punishment, despite testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol, after they claimed to have eaten the substance accidentally in contaminated meat, according to the Mexican Football Federation (FMF). In Mexico, the eating of contaminated beef has been accepted as a legitimate excuse for the presence of clenbuterol in an athlete’s sample since 2011, when the Mexican government pledged to address the public health problem of contaminated meat.

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Bulgarian player arrested on murder charge in Sofia

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.

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CONCACAF debuts first coach licensing course in Mexico

Jeff Webb 3

August 11 – CONCACAF took the first steps with its own coaching programme at the weekend with the launch of its D License coaching course in Mexico City. The D License is the first official licensing programme for coaches and will be the foundation of the Confederation’s coaching educational programme.

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Premier League isolated further as FA’s Dyke backs Winter 2022

greg dyke

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.

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CAS ruling on Fenerbahce to come after CL play off

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.

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Rio’s doping control lab suspended again

WADA

By David Owen
August 9 – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has suspended the accreditation of the UFRJ doping control laboratory in Rio de Janeiro just 10 months before the 2014 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to get under way in Brazil. The move – likely to cause acute embarrassment to Brazilian authorities – comes less than a year after the laboratory, also known as Ladetec, was reinstated following a partial suspension from January 2012.

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FFA hits licensing road-block in Victoria as clubs protest

FFV

By Mark Baber
August 9 – The Australian football federation’s (FFA) move to introduce a new model for State elite-level football for Australian semi-pro clubs, one tier below the A-League, is running into difficulty in Victoria, where an alliance of clubs is seeking to make changes to the proposed licensing structure.

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Adidas cuts sales forecast as it prepares ground for 2014 World Cup bonanza

adidas football

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.