Inside World Football - Page 1340 of 2248 - For the Business of Football

Salman shows support in Thailand and welcomes new Indonesian boss to AFC family

February 21 – While FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been active in the South-east Asian region, the Asian Football Confederation’s own president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has similarly been travelling inaugurating a new Football Association of Thailand (FAT) headquarters in Bangkok on Saturday and yesterday visiting the new President of the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) Lt General Edy Rahmayadi.

Performance

Barca and Real top home trained players list but Arsenal have most still at the club

Champions League graphic

February 21 – Of the 16 teams left in the knockout rounds the Champions League, 86 of the 384 players registered (16 squads of 24 players) graduated to the first team via the academy of that club. However, 26 of those players were playing for different clubs than those that trained them.

Finance

Monaco eye stake in Belgium’s Cercle Brugge as a development club

By Samindra Kunti

February 21 – French club Monaco have made an offer to buy a majority stake in Belgian First Division B club Cercle Brugge.

Law

Cairo court upholds death sentences for 10 involved in Port Said stadium massacre

port said_tradegy_15-02-12

By Paul Nicholson

February 20 – Egypt’s top court in Cairo has this morning (Monday) upheld death sentences for 10 men for their part in the violence that left 74 football fans dead in the Port Said stadium disaster in February 2012.

Africa

Hayatou gets South African welcome as Infantino joins Ahmad’s birthday bash

Issa Hayatou3

By Andrew Warshaw

February 20 – The tension ahead of next month’s potentially game-changing Confederation of African Football (CAF) presidential election is mounting after South African president Jacob Zuma was reported – apparently wrongly – to have formally given his government’s backing to Issa Hayatou despite the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) executive committee officially endorsing Hayatou’s rival, Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad (sic).

Integrity

Osasuna match-fixing case lands 18 in court including three former Betis players

greece crime scene

February 20 – A total of 18 people, including three players, are to stand trial in the latest match-fixing case to hit Spain. Former Real Betis trio Xavier Torres, Antonio Amaya Carazo and Jordi Figueras are accused of accepting payments to rig results at the end of the 2013-14 La Liga season in an effort to ensure Osasuna avoided relegation.

FIFA

Beckenbauer under scrutiny over consultancy role in SA’s 2010 bid

Franz Beckenbauer_24-10-11

February 20 – After weeks of relative silence, Franz Beckenbauer’s much publicised business dealings while he was at FIFA have come under fresh scrutiny, this time over the award of the 2010 World Cup to South Africa.

Integrity

Yorke is trumped by travel ban and left stranded in Doha over Iranian passport stamp

February 20 – US president Donald Trump’s executive order barring those from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen entering the country – now on hold – has nevertheless had its first high profile impact on a footballer.

Football Marketing

French deal with Nike tops Germany and England at €50.5m a year

February 20 – French Football Federation President Noël Le Graët has revealed that the Nike kit deal for the French federation is worth €50.5 million a year for the next 10 years.

Europe

Racism returns with Serbian league restart at Belgrade derby

February 20 – No sooner had Serbia’s top flight resumed at the weekend after a two-month winter break than the same familiar racism-fuelled trouble re-occurred, with Rad Belgrade’s match against visiting city rivals Partizan marred by a player brawl.

Europe

Brussels Eurostadium hits new snag as Anderlecht say they will not move

Brussels Eurostadium

By Samindra Kunti

February 20 – RSC Anderlecht have announced that the club will not move to the Eurostadium, dealing another blow to the construction of the EURO 2020 venue.

Europe

FA Cup: Giantkillers Lincoln slay Burnley, Leicester fed to the Lions at Millwall

February 20 – Any doubts that the FA cup, the world’s oldest and most prestigious domestic knockout competition, has lost its romance were swept away at the weekend when Lincoln City – four divisions below the Premier League – became the first non-league side in 103 years to reach the quarter-finals.

FIFA

Will he won’t he? Infantino has not asked Mutko to stand down from FIFA Council elections

February 17 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino insists he has not asked Russian sports supremo Vitaly Mutko, the chief 2018 World Cup organiser, to resign over the doping scandal that has rocked his country.

Football Marketing

Three stripes and you’re out? Nike wearers win more, say stats

February 17 – Adidas’ recent signing of the world’s second best player Lionel Messi (according to recent awards events) to a lifetime deal may be a reflection of their overall brand positioning when it comes to winning. An analysis of Europe’s big club competition winners over the past 10 seasons finds that 51.4% of teams wore Nike kit, while Adidas were in second place with 28.5% of teams wearing their kit.

Europe

A head start: UEFA to study links between football and dementia

Youths heading the ball

February 17 – Following tentative research published in the UK earlier this week which suggested that repeated headers during a player’s career may be linked to brain damage, UEFA has commissioned its own research project examining links between dementia and playing football.