Inside World Football - Page 1369 of 2022 - For the Business of Football

Matt Scott: US criminal investigation is a matter of life and death for FIFA

“Do you understand, sir, do you understand what it means when you have absolutely nowhere to turn?” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

There is something fundamental about the allegations in this FIFA crisis that recalls Dostoyevsky’s anti-hero Raskolnikov. Not a naturally vicious man, it was an intellectual compulsion that drove him to commit murder. He convinced himself that his crime would be justified due to his intellectual brilliance. As a virtuoso student,

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Turkish Lassa Tyres tread new path with FC Barcelona

Barca and Lassa

By Mark Baber
June 4 – Barcelona has signed a wide-ranging partnership agreement with leading tyre brand Lassa, of Brisa (a joint venture of Turkey’s Sabancı Holding and Bridgestone) worth a reported €21.6 million ($24 million). As well as making Lassa the title sponsor of Barcelona’s indoor sports teams (Basketball, Handball, Futsal and Roller Hockey) which will be known by the name ‘FC Barcelona Lassa’ until 30 June 2019, the agreement sees the Turkey based company become an Official Partner of the Club and Lassa become the club’s official tyre.

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Premier League clubs turn in £187m aggregate profit, the first for 15 years

premier league2

By David Owen
June 4 – English Premier League clubs achieved their first aggregate pre-tax profit for 15 years in 2013-14, as lucrative new broadcasting deals combined with more effective cost control to spark a remarkable financial turnaround.

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Race to replace Blatter sees pre-start jostling for position

Blatter resigns

By Andrew Warshaw
June 4 – The race to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president is picking up pace after South Korea’s Chung Mong-joon announced he is considering making a comeback.

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South Africa confronts FBI saying the $10m was ‘no bribe’ for 2010 vote

Fikile Mbulala

By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – South Africa’s government has issued a powerful denial of paying bribes to secure the 2010 World Cup, denouncing accusations that the infamous $10 million payment cited in the US indictment into widespread football corruption was linked in any way to buying votes.

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David Owen: Blatter’s long goodbye

Not for the first time, he wrong-footed us all. When the invitation to a FIFA press conference thudded into our inboxes on Tuesday at 3.36pm UK time, I don’t think anyone seriously expected two hours later to be listening to Sepp Blatter, one of the great survivors of our world, setting out how he proposed to “lay down my mandate” as FIFA President.

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Mixed reactions to Blatter resignation, as global battle lines start to be drawn

iwf seppquits

By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – Sepp Blatter’s shock resignation as FIFA president has prompted mixed global reaction, with England leading western relief over his departure after 17 years but African federations ruing the loss of the man who helped the continent grow and many of its nations to stay afloat.

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India enters partnership with French federation

By Mark Baber
June 3 – The new partnership was agreed in Zurich with President of the AIFF Praful Patel signing on behalf of the Indian side, with Kushal Das the AIFF’s General Secretary also present.

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Crisis, what crisis? UEFA cancel Berlin meeting, Gill pleads to rejoin the gang

Platini and Blatter

By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – No more World Cup boycott threats. No more breaking away from FIFA. Or so it seems. UEFA have cancelled a proposed emergency meeting of their top brass scheduled for Saturday in the wake of Sepp Blatter’s resignation.

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Bidding war escalates for Ekstraklasa €34 million TV rights deal

By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 3 – A new competitor has reportedly entered the ongoing race to secure the broadcasting rights for Poland’s Ekstraklasa, with Polish direct-to-home platform nc+ and Eurosport competing against a new broadcaster, Eleven.

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Qatar urge Dyke to focus on his promise of winning 2022, not hosting it

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By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – As the FIFA corruption scandal continues to snowball, Qatar’s World Cup organisers, whose recent statements when facing criticism over staging the tournament have been relatively diplomatic, have clearly lost their patience with outspoken English FA boss Greg Dyke.

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Gracenote enters sports with $54m buy of data giants Infostrada and SportsDirect

Gracenote Sports

By Paul Nicholson
June 3 – The sports data business has a new powerplaying corporate entrant in the form of world leading data and technology provider Gracenote, which has acquired Europe’s Infostrada Sports and Canada-based SportsDirect for $54 million.

Andrew Warshaw: The king is dead, but not quite buried

What tipped him over the edge? Did he walk or was he pushed? Is the net tightening around him in the United States as is being reported? Or was it simply that the sheer weight of pressure and the almost daily dose of bombshell allegations into systemic corruption simply became too much to bear – even for the great survivor?

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End of an era: Sepp Blatter resigns FIFA presidency

Blatter resigns

By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has sensationally announced he is to resign. Just four days after triumphantly being elected president for a fifth term at the FIFA Congress last week.

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Leoz under house arrest as US seek 86 year old’s extradition

Nicolas Leoz

By Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – Former CONMEBOL powerbroker Nicolas Leoz has been placed under house arrest in his native Paraguay as the FIFA corruption scandal snares yet another alleged culprit.