By Alexander Krassimirov
May 12 – Half of the clubs in the Bulgarian top professional division do not use social networks. The research, by Insideworldfootball.com, also found that two of the 12 teams in the league do not even have an official website.
May 12 – The average age that young players are introduced into first team squads in Europe’s ‘Big 5’ leagues is lowest in France (23.66) but highest in Italy (25.5), according to latest research by the CIES Football Observatory.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 11 – China and India may be arguably the world’s two biggest untapped footballing markets but unless they solve the problem of match-fixing and betting fraud they will never catch up.
By Mark Baber
May 11 – As the 10 year anniversary of the Glazer takeover of Manchester United approaches, a story has emerged that the Florida-based owners have ruled out selling Old Trafford’s naming rights. Meanwhile another mischievous story suggests United players have had to be ordered to drive their sponsor-provided Chevrolets.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 11 – Adidas has extended its deal with Poland’s Ekstraklasa, under which it will remain the official ball supplier of the country’s top tier until the end of the 2016/2017 season.
Any journalist with experience of covering the Africa Cup of Nations knows it is not a particularly easy assignment at the best of times, as the lack of adequate telecommunications, transport and hotel infrastructure in several host nations often makes the three-week tournament a test of resilience and fortitude.
May 11 – Although the league season across Europe isn’t quite over, the managerial rumour mill is already in full swing – with Pep Guardiola’s switch to Manchester City top of the list.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 11 – Sepp Blatter will try one last time to forge a compromise to prevent Palestine’s call for Israel to be suspended from FIFA from being put to the vote at the FIFA Congress on May 29.
By Paul Nicholson
May 11- Chelsea received a boost in new Twitter followers in the week they confirmed themselves as Premier League champions, putting on more than 5,000 new followers than their north London rivals Arsenal. Man Utd are maintaining their run at the top of the Twitter weekly rankings – they put on another whopping 49,294 followers, over 14,000 more than Chelsea.
May 11 – The Caribbean Football Union’s senior club competition will go into its final round games in Trinidad, May 22-24. Three of the four qualifying teams will go into the June 1 draw for the 2015/2016 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
It being general election week here in the United Kingdom, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the FIFA Presidential election – via the medium of the four candidates’ Twitter feeds. Not because I judge this likely to offer great insights into the identity of the eventual winner: the football officials in whose hands the outcome lies are assuredly far too high-minded to be swayed by anything as trivial as social media.
May 9 – With the play-offs for promotion to the Scottish Premier League (SPL) beginning today, a row has broken out over ticket prices with both Rangers and Hibernian being disallowed from admitting season ticket holders without a fee.
By Alexander Krassimirov
May 8 – The largest shareholder in Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia Ivaylo Madzhukov (pictured) has admitted that the club is still threatened with bankruptcy. The new investors, however, have said they will do everything possible to prevent it. It is not yet clear whether the club will be granted a license for next season, because of the huge tax debt it owes the National Revenue Agency.
Back in his comfort zone on the banks of the Dead Sea in his native Jordan, the Prince who would be king charmed the pants off visiting delegates and dignatories with his trademark mixture of humility and hospitality.
May 8 – ‘Nice guys come last’, so the saying goes, but in UEFA’s world being a good corporate citizen wins your country an additional Europa League place.