Hull lose Tiger tag, but has this woken a more dangerous beast?
July 14 – What’s in a name? Quite a lot when it comes to fans and their beloved football club.
Players’ union to provide funds for speed skater in landmark legal case
By David Owen
July 14 – FIFPro, football’s international players’ union, is to provide financial support to Claudia Pechstein (pictured), a German speed skater, in a legal battle that could have profound consequences for the way international sport settles its disputes.
Capello leaves with $16m pay-off, but is it too little too late for Russia
By Paul Nicholson
July 14 – Russian preparations for the 2018 World Cup may be progressing smoothly when it comes to building stadia and planning transport infrastructure, but dissatisfaction with the national team’s progress under coach Fabio Capello has resulted in his contract being terminated three years before the finals.
Liverpool bed in new signings and a 650 tonne roof truss
By Paul Nicholson
July 14 – While Liverpool’s players visited Bangkok’s Grand Palace on the first leg of their pre-season tour, bonded with their new teammates and doubtless pondered the departure of £49 million Raheem Sterling, back home the Anfield Stadium was taking delivery of two of the UK’s largest cranes and a 650 tonne roof truss.
Arsenal fly colours on Emirates as they head out for Asia Trophy
By Mark Baber
July 14 – Arsenal Football Club finally have an aircraft branded in their name, it was revealed as the players set off for the pre-season Barclays Asia Trophy in Singapore.
Partizan Belgrade looks for €3m from stadium naming rights deal
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
July 14 – Partizan Belgrade is aiming to open a new stream of revenue with plans to sign a stadium naming rights deal, according to Milos Vazura, the chief executive of the Serbian football club.
Kiwis crushed by Olympic disqualification but open legal action
July 14 – New Zealand are to take legal action after their men’s team were controversially thrown out of Olympic football qualifying for fielding an ineligible player.
Blatter to face press in Zurich after exco meets, but declines US Senate invite
By Andrew Warshaw
July 14 – In what promises to be one of the most eagerly awaited appearances of his 17 years in charge, Sepp Blatter is set to face the media next week for the first time since announcing he is stepping down as FIFA president.
Doyen banking on Brussels court seeing value in football’s ‘slave trade’
By Andrew Warshaw
July 14 – An investment company supporting Third Party Ownership says it hopes to learn by July 24 whether it has been successful in challenging FIFA’s recently introduced global ban on the practise.
Telefónica picks up €600m La Liga rights in landmark Spanish deal
By David Owen
July 13 – Telefónica, the Spanish telecommunications group, has agreed to pay €600 million for domestic broadcasting rights to La Liga for the forthcoming season, in a landmark deal for Spanish football.
Andrew Warshaw: Who will climb FIFA’s Alpine heights?
In a week’s time, FIFA’s new-look executive committee is due to decide on a date for the eagerly-awaited extraordinary congress that will elect a successor to Sepp Blatter after 17 often turbulent years in charge.
CAS hits Serbia overturning UEFA decision with big award to Albania
By Mark Baber
July 13 – Friday’s decision by the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) to overturn the ruling of UEFA concerning the Serbia-Albania game of October 14 and award the game to Albania leaves the court open to accusations it has been influenced by anti-Serbian sentiment.
Man Utd celebrate Giggs’ career with dedicated exhibition
July 13 – It is said that no player is bigger than the club, and this is especially so at the big clubs. But some players, even within the ‘legends’ category, have a special status. Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs is one of those and the club has used his fame and achievements to open a special exhibition.
Swiss investigators flag more suspicious transactions around 2018 and 2022 bids
By Andrew Warshaw
July 13 – Despite persistent claims by Russia and Qatar that their respective 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids were clean, the Swiss investigation into possible corruption linked to the bids has flagged up another 28 acts of possible money-laundering which have been received since June, bringing the total to 81.
FIFA Seven: Webb agrees to US extradition
By Paul Nicholson
July 13 – The Swiss Federal Office of Justice last Friday said that one of the seven FIFA officials arrested in the dawn swoop on the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich on May 27, had agreed to extradition to the United States.