August 24 – Former FIFA executive committee Worawi Makudi’s last-ditch attempt to regain some kind of foothold within global or Asian football has failed after he withdrew from the election for the presidency of the 12-member Asean Football Federation (AFF) on the eve of the vote.
By Alexander Krassimirov
August 24 – Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia may have been relegated to the country’s amateur leagues for failing to pass the financial criteria to receive their club license, but their fans still manage to capture national headlines.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 24 – The Swiss probe into possible money-laundering linked to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process has now uncovered more than 100 incidents of “suspicious financial activity” according to the Swiss attorney general’s office.
By Paul Nicholson
August 21 – Expanding the digital experience to connect with more fans in more locations and in different ways, has become a holy grail for clubs worldwide. It is all about building big numbers of connected people to your brand. But what if that digital experience could be turned into a physical experience. Rather than just hearing and seeing action as it happens you could physically feel it as well.
I was interested to read Laila Mintas’s recent column on voting reform at FIFA. But while I can see much logic in the position she stakes out, and can certainly appreciate the democratic anomaly of China (population 1.3 billion) having the same voting power as American Samoa and Andorra (populations each less than 100,000), it seems to me there are more important matters to focus on before the introduction of Mintas’s Point-Voting-System can have any bearing on the calibre of governance in world football.
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” Winston Churchill
It was at Harvard University in September 1943 that Winston Churchill spoke those words. Britain’s prime minister presumed to tell the flower of American youth that they should prepare themselves for death on a distant battlefield because, well, that’s your lot in life, lads.
By Paul Nicholson
August 21 – Manchester United have continued their seemingly unstoppable march to the top of the overall premier league club Twitter table, again clawing back more than 15,000 followers on the lead of table toppers Arsenal and Chelsea.
August 21 – The Financial Integrity and Transparency in Sport (FITS) Forum being held in Geneva on 3-4 September has announced more speakers to its already heavyweight line-up.
What’s good for the goose, as the old saying goes, is good for the gander. When former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon entered the presidential race earlier this week by casting aspertions on both on his rival Michel Platini and the outgoing Sepp Blatter, he must have realised reaction to his comments would be swift.
By Mark Baber
August 21 – Two men were sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison for selling BSkyB viewing cards for Premier League football matches, intended for domestic use, to pubs and other businesses.
By Paul Nicholson
August 21 – US Club Soccer, the 500,000 member organisation that launched its Players First initiative for youth clubs earlier this month, has officially launched its technical partnership with Spain’s LaLiga.
By Ben Nicholson
August 21 – Forbes has published estimated values of MLS teams, showing an average increase in value of around 50% since 2013.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 21 – As the overhaul of FIFA’s reform process picks up speed, the women’s game is determined not to be left behind and has called for a target of 30% of women’s participation in the body’s decision-making heirarchy.
By Samindra Kunti
August 21 – In 2015 Brazilian broadcasting behemoth TV Globo invested about €335 million in football and TV-rights, but its vice-like grip over football in the country is for the first time being seriously challenged by competitors, with Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Sports at the forefront.
August 21 – Catania have been relegated to the third tier of Italian football for their involvement in a match-fixing scandal last season. The Sicilian side were also deducted 12 points for this season and fined €150,000 while club president Antonino Pulvirenti has been banned for five years and fined €300,000.