By Andrew Warshaw at Soccerex in Manchester
August 7 – Breaking a three-month silence since losing to Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan gave the broadest hint yet today that he wants to have another crack at the job but left a number of questions unanswerered, not least where his votes might come from next time.
By David Owen
August 7 – Which Premier League club had the best summer transfer window in purely financial terms? By which I mean whose player trading will have the most positive direct impact on their club’s bottom-line?
By Mark Baber
September 7 – Headlines around the world have been incorrectly proclaiming ‘Palestinians ready to host 1st ever World Cup qualifier’, ahead of Tuesday’s 2018 qualifier against UAE which will be held at the Faysal Al-Husseini Stadium in Al Ram.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 7 – While Michel Platini bides his time before declaring exactly how he intends to improve FIFA if elected its president, his only heavyweight rival for the job so far has stolen a march on the UEFA chief.
By Paul Nicholson
September 7 – The divisions over the ban on third-party ownership of players’ commercial rights were opened up again in a no-holds barred debated at the FITS Forum in Geneva last week.
By Paul Nicholson
September 7 – Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros (pictured), CEO of ICSS Europe and Latin America, closed the FITS Forum last week with a powerful and passionate call for an international, independent and neutral clearing house for sport related financial transactions. His call was backed by ICSS president Mohammed Hanzab who said that the world needs an independent, neutral global integrity body.
Sports leaders are often keen to ascribe a higher purpose to the gloriously trivial pursuits to which they owe their positions. Hence last year’s agreement aimed at strengthening collaboration between the United Nations (UN) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC); hence FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s dogged attempts to use football to help map out a modus vivendi between Israel and Palestine.
By David Owen
September 6 – Infront Sports & Media, the Chinese-owned international sports marketing company, has announced a major expansion of its Italian football activities. The company has acquired Gsport, a leader in marketing rights management in Italian club football, as well as Sport09, an Italian sports media agency.
September 6 – Real Madrid, the world’s richest club, has become the latest side to join the drive to aid Europe-bound refugees after announcing it will donate €1 million to help those arriving in Spain.
September 6 – FIFA presidential candidate Zico, regarded very much as an outsider, has issued a 10-point manifesto saying he wants to rebuild the organisation based around “democratisation, transparency, governance and the permanent evolution of world football”.
The mad last-minute scramble is over and the dust is settling but the repercussions rumble on. Clubs being tapped up, chairmen squabbling over staged payments, frustrated coaches, disaffected players, disappointed fans. The summer transfer window may provide excitement and despair in equal measure but is it actually fair in producing a level playing field?
Ever since the Korean Grandee, Chung Mong-joon (lovingly called MJ by his friends) announced his candidacy for the post of FIFA President, he has been doing what he has done best in the past: throw stuff at people. Whilst “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” was his motto in May of 2009 when he supported Sheikh Salman of Bahrain against Mohamed Bin Hammam, his target, this time, have been broadsides against his former ally and ExCo candidate of 2009 whom he then fervently supported.
By Tom Parsons
September 4 – Ronaldo or Messi, one of the big questions of our time, is being voted on in London by commuters using their cigarette butts.
By Mark Baber
September 4 – Chelsea has unveiled Wipro, the Bangalore, India-based multi-national global information technology company, as the club’s new official digital and IT partner. Last week Manchester United announced a similar digital partnership with another Indian technology company, HCL Technologies.
September 4 – Hundreds of paramilitary and riot police were deployed in and around the stadium in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Thursday as China and Hong Kong squared off for a politically sensitive World Cup qualifier.