Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano admits 1.5m euro tax fraud
By Mark Baber
October 30- Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano admitted to two counts of tax fraud totalling 1.5m euros in a five minute hearing on Thursday in Gava near Barcelona.
Salman adamant there was no Bahraini ‘sports’ task force investigating protestors
By Paul Nicholson
October 30 – AFC president and FIFA presidential candidate Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has issued a stinging rebuke of the reports that he led a task force that identified and prosecuted footballers active in Bahrain’s democracy protests in 2011.
Chelsea face legal battle over Carneiro amputation
October 30 – Lawyers acting on behalf of Eva Carneiro, the Chelsea team doctor who was verbally lambasted by manager Jose Mourinho and had her position downgraded, have served notice of a claim of constructive dismissal against the club after she failed to agree a severance package.
Sheikh Ahmad says an AFC/UEFA deal makes FIFA election sense
October 30 – The most powerful official in Asian sport says his continent and Europe should strike a deal to carve up support and avoid going head to head for the right to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.
Women call for Carrard to balance FIFA’s ‘institutional’ gender issues
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – FIFA’s reform guru Francois Carrard is being urged to address the question of gender imbalance as an immediate priority as part of the measures to lift football’s world governing body out of the dark ages.
Nakhid claims Caribbean and FIFA stitch-up over his failed nomination
By Andrew Warshaw
October 30 – The US Virgin Islands has been identified as the country that scuppered former Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder David Nakhid’s hopes of standing for FIFA president.
Man City link up with Ideas Britain to back young entrepreneurs
October 30 – Manchester City are supporting an ‘Innovation in Sport’ competition launched by Ideas Britain via its app which connects young people with great ideas to expert business coaches and brands.
Carrard to speak at Securing Sport 2015 in New York
October 30 – The chairman of FIFA’s Reform Committee François Carrard will make his first public appearance since his committee submitted its reform proposals at the Securing Sport 2015 conference in New York next week.
Learning Miami lessons. ‘Beckham High’ school warms local politicians
By Ben Nicholson
October 30 – Miami’s public education authority wants a piece of the Beckham action, having pitched Beckham’s group on the idea of developing a high school on the 10.5-acre city-owned site in Little Havana.
Table topping Inter Milan break Serie A gate receipt records
October 29 – Rejuvenated Inter Milan who currently top Italy’s Serie A after a 1-0 win over Bologna are reporting chart topping attendance records.
FIFA sponsors say they want deeper, independent reform
By Andrew Warshaw
October 29 – Four of FIFA’s biggest sponsors have once again denounced the ongoing corruption scandal and say the current reform process being spearheaded by former Olympics guru Francois Carrard is too much of an inside job and needs far more independence.
Matt Scott: Think Platini’s been taking bribes? It’s time to assess the facts
Everyone knows that putting living things in a vacuum is not to be advised. Apparently the tongue dries up and becomes covered in ice as consciousness is lost. Expulsion of digestive gases causes unpleasant things to happen with bodily fluids. The entire body then swells like a balloon and eventually the subject suffers fatal cardiac arrest. It is very nasty indeed.
Sportradar widens its investor base and signs FAM data deal
By Mark Baber
October 29 – The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has signed a deal with sports data provider Sportradar to set up a football management system allowing it to better manage its leagues, data collection and distribution.
Slovakia to build €68m national stadium in Bratislava
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
October 29 – Slovakia’s government is aiming to complete the construction of a new national football stadium in 2017, according to the country’s Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport Juraj Draxler.
Exclusive: D’Hooghe says no deal on 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes
By Andrew Warshaw
October 29 – Michel d’Hooghe, Belgium’s long-serving FIFA executive committee member, has dismissed Sepp Blatter’s remarkable disclosure of a fixed agreement to hand the 2018 World Cup to Russia, insisting no pre-vote deal took place.