Racial tensions bubble amongst fans over the LA ‘SuperClasico’
June 11 – Allegations have been made by supporters of Chivas USA that they were subjected to racist abuse by LA Galaxy fans during their MLS game last week.
World Football
Last minute Thai court ruling in favour of pay tv for World Cup broadcasts
By Mark Baber
June 11 – Thailand’s Supreme Administrative Court, this morning, ruled in favour of RS Plc, a pay tv broadcast rights holder for the tournament, in a legal dispute with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
EPFL launches web-based transfer deadline day tracker
June 11 – The European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) website has launched a live transfer-window countdown for all of its member leagues. Each league has its own countdown bar, detailing the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the window ceremoniously slams shut.
Webb tells CONCACAF congress solid foundations are now in place to build on
By Andrew Warshaw in Sao Paulo
June 11 – CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb pledged to never to return to the confederation’s corruption-tainted past. In a dignified yet passionate address to the region’s 41 member nations at the CONCACAF congress here, Webb told delegates there would be no letup in maintaining the transparency showed in his two years in charge.
Facebook claims football’s ‘largest stadium’ in social media battlespace
By Mark Baber
June 10 – With just days to the start of the World Cup in Brazil, Twitter and YouTube and Facebook are challenging for the largest slice of the quickly growing social media pie, with Facebook laying claim to providing the “biggest stadium” of football fans.
FIFA 15 to further blur the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds
By Mark Baber
June 10 – EA Sports has announced FIFA 15 is now available for pre-order. The new version of the game is touted to further blur the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds and comes as CONCACAF issue an official press release announcing the winner of the CONCACAF Interactive 2014 championship who has won a trip to Brazil.
Czech top tier to split from national football association
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 10 – The Czech football association (FACR) is considering a plan to transfer oversight of the top tier to a new entity, according to Miroslav Pelta, chief executive of FACR.
‘It was a fabrication’
June 11 – “Today, I am certain that the information I received from a European source [football official] was a fabrication,” says Michel Zen-Ruffinen in an exclusive interview with INSIDEWorldFootball.com, referring to the rumours of vote collusion in the race for the 2018 and 2020 World Cup hosting rights
Shaikh Salman flexes his political muscle to brush aside Prince Ali
By Andrew Warshaw in Sao Paulo
June 10 – The youngest and most reformist member of FIFA’s inner sanctum, Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan (pictured right), was dramatically shunted out of office as Asia’s FIFA vice-president today when the region took what could prove a totally misguided decision to merge his position with that of AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (pictured left) in 2015, thereby giving the Bahraini total control of an organisation he only inherited a year ago.
Blatter in last ditch talks over Palestine, SA drop out of U20 hosting
By Andrew Warshaw in Sao Paulo
June 9- FIFA President Sepp Blatter is to hold last-ditch talks with Palestinian and Israeli officials in the next 48 hours in an attempt to bring the two sides together to sign a symbolic memorandum of understanding at this week’s FIFA Congress.
UEFA bans two Turkish clubs from Europa League for match-fixing
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 9 – Turkey’s Sivasspor and Eskisehirspor have been added to UEFA’s banned list for next season, both being denied entry to the Europa League for involvement in a domestic match-fixing scandal.
Russia delays integration of Crimean clubs who will start season ‘league-less’
By Mark Baber
June 9 – The Russian Football Union (RFU) has bowed to FIFA and UEFA requests, voting to put off a decision on allowing the Crimean clubs to play in the Russian football leagues. The decision means the Crimean clubs will be unable to start the beginning of next season.
English Championship bleeds ‘alarming’ red ink with only Tangerines in black
By David Owen
June 6 – One solitary Championship club managed to make an operating profit in the 2012-13 season, as the second tier of English football faces crunch-time in its efforts to improve the state of club finances. Lancashire seaside team Blackpool were the odd ones out, as its 23 rivals contributed to aggregate operating losses of £241 million.
UEFA axe Red Star Belgrade from Champions League for unpaid debts
June 7 – UEFA’s pledge to crack down on clubs who fail to meet financial fair play regulations has snared its latest victim with Serbia’s Red Star Belgrade banned from next season’s Champions League for failing to pay their debts.
AIFF accused of double-standards after refusing I-League licenses
By Mark Baber
June 6 – The AIFF, which turned down the appeals of four clubs against being barred from next season’s I-League, has come under attack for failing to meet its own criteria.