By Andrew Warshaw
January 27 – All hopes of bringing the FIFA presidential candidates round the same table ahead of the February 26 election to replace Sepp Blatter have been quashed once and for all when the BBC conceded defeat in attempting to stage a televised debate 10 days before the ballot.
By Paul Nicholson
January 27 – The Premier League’s bumper €2.4 billion per season deal that kicks in with the 2016 season start has been well documented. Other leagues have looked on in envy and anticipation of good things to come in their home markets. Football Benchmark has looked at the macro-economies of the European countries to see if the English deal is justifiably much bigger than their European counterparts.
January 27 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur whose stadium redevelopment is central to the economic regeneration of the area around its White Hart Lane stadium, has launched a training scheme for unemployed people funded by a grant from the StubHub Foundation.
By Paul Nicholson
January 27 – Five of the Premier League home teams recorded stadiums over 99% full for Round 23. West Ham again topped the table with just 39 seats unfilled. At the top five games there were less than 1,100 seats left unfilled.
‘Oh shut up, silly woman,’ said the reptile with a grin
‘You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.’
From The Snake by Al Wilson
My social media threads at the start of this week were full of the sarcastic indignation that is part of the medium’s stock-in-trade.
By Paul Nicholson
January 26 – CONCACAF has released details of its proposed reform measures to its member federations, at the centre of which would be the replacement of the executive committee with a CONCACAF Council.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 26 – Amid confusion, contradictions and hints of buck-passing and election games, a planned televised debate involving three of the five FIFA presidential candidates has been scrapped after two of them withdrew with just 48 hours’ notice.
January 26 – Mitre, a brand of UK-based Pentland Group, has been unveiled as the new official match ball sponsor of Singapore’s S. League in a new five-year deal which sees the world’s oldest manufacturer of footballs become the league’s official football and product supplier.
January 26 – Amidst burgeoning scandals in both football and athletics, the role of the International Centre for Sport Security in combating the scourge of corruption has been given further recognition by the Commonwealth Games Federation in order to enhance good governance across its various sports.
By Samindra Kunti
January 26 – Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam are restricting their spending during the transfer window to minimise the risks of a financial pitfall, despite the club’s finances being in a good position.
January 26 – Gianni Infantino’s bid to squeeze over the line in next month’s FIFA presidential election has been given impetus after he received the bloc support of the central American Football Union (UNCAF), which carries seven votes in next month’s ballot.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 26 – FIFA presidential candidate Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the emerging favourite to take over from Sepp Blatter, has intriguingly left the door open for a deal with rival contender Gianni Infantino to become his number two if he wins next month’s election.
By Mark Baber
January 26 – Jack Warner’s solicitors have won a victory in their battle to prevent, or at least delay, their client’s extradition from Trinidad and Tobago to face charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money-laundering in the US.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 26 – South Africa’s Tokyo Sexwale, increasingly regarded as an outsider, has been challenged by his own federation to explain his low-profile FIFA presidential campaign.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 25 – A number of European federations want more time before committing themselves to UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino’s bid to succeed Sepp Blatter at next month’s FIFA presidential election, Insideworldfootball has learned.