Serie B Catania faces drop as president admits buying matches
June 30 – Italian Serie B club Catania faces relegation after its president admitted fixing five games last season to avoid dropping out of the division.
Mutschke regrets Interpol pull-out but says war on match-fixing crime goes on
June 30 – FIFA’s main crime-buster has expressed his regret at Interpol’s decision to end the two organisations’ “unique collaboration” because of the corruption scandal that has rocked world football’s governing body.
Russians push on with stadia as St Petersburg readies for 2018 Preliminary Draw
By Paul Nicholson
June 30 – With build projects for the final two stadia in Yekaterinburg and Kaliningrad being approved by Russian central government, the 30 day countdown to the first official event of the 2018 World Cup has begun. The Preliminary Draw will be held in St Petersburg on July 25 with 141 teams in the pots that will be drawn by FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.
Inside Editorial: Swiss left wondering who is wearing the lederhosen
While FIFA continue to battle with snitches that cut deals to save their own backsides (literally yet metastatically, one hears), and after the movie-style orchestrated group-arrests have slowly lost their Zurich lustre, a New FIFA future is nowhere to be detected – as yet.
Warner extradition: US plays waiting game but Jack remains defiant
By Paul Nicholson
June 30 – News that Trinidad & Tobago had received extradition papers from the US seeking former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, who was indicted in the FIFA investigation, have been quickly denied by the US Department of Justice which said it has not sent “any final requests” regarding the extradition.
De Keersmaecker re-elected in Belgium but clubs threaten sanctions
By Samindra Kunti
June 29 – Francois de Keersmaecker has been reelected as president of the Belgian Football Association, the KBVB, but the Pro League has already threatened to take financial reprisals after a contentious voting procedure and more accusations of mismanagement at the KBVB.
Lyoness inks €1.8m sponsor deal with Rapid Wien
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 29 – Global shopping brand Lyoness has signed a contract to become the main sponsor of Rapid Wien. The company will serve as the Austrian side’s main sponsor, starting in the 2015/2016 season, for a five-year period under a deal worth some €1.8 million per year, Rapid said.
Andrew Warshaw: The AFC’s secret world of transparency
At the beginning of April, in the wake of serious allegations against him, I interviewed Asian football supremo Dato’ Alex Soosay. The under-fire Malaysian was unequivocal: he was innocent of any wrongdoing. Moreover, the dark days of the Asian Football Confederation’s corruption-tainted past were over, he said.
As UEFA top brass meet, will Platini take the FIFA challenge?
June 29 – UEFA’s new-look executive committee holds its first meeting today and tomorrow with financial fair play and the format for the 2016 Euro finals the top items on the agenda though discussions on a successor to FIFA president Sepp Blatter seem certain to take place, whether formally or informally.
Spanish league takes on FIFA over €65m losses of a 2022 Winter World Cup
By Mark Baber
June 29 – The Spanish League (LFP) has filed an appeal regarding the playing dates for the 2022 World Cup, according to a spokesperson for the Court of Arbitration for Sport, although a date for the hearing has yet to be set.
Scala puts reform before press in message to FIFA leadership
By Andrew Warshaw
June 29 – Dominico Scala, independent chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, has said that the time for playing the politics of the media is over, as FIFA prioritises its reform agenda and prepares for a change of leadership.
Del Nero property portfolio raises Brazilian eyebrows
By Samindra Kunti
June 29 – Marco Polo Del Nero’s real estate assets have grown 175% since joining the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) in 2012 as vice-president, according to Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. It has increased speculation and suspicion around Del Nero, the current CBF president, about management of the federation and its finances.
FIFA 7: Swiss court refuses bail for one of the ‘elders’
June 29 – News of the FIFA seven arrested in dawn raids at their Zurich hotels on May 28 has been sparse. But last Friday a Swiss court reported that it had turned down an application for bail from one of the arrested, believed to be Uruguayan Eugenio Figueredo, as it said he posed a “risk of flight”.
Martin Volkmar: Riding the wave of success back to Rio
For the German Football Federation and its President Wolfgang Niersbach, it has already been a successful week, even before the major knockout matches are played in the Women’s World Cup and the U21 European Championship this weekend.
Duchatelet sells Standard Liege but keeps his foreign club stakes
By Samindra Kunti
June 26 – Charlton Athletic owner Roland Duchatelet has sold leading Belgian club Standard Liege to Italian Bruno Venanzi for an estimated €30 million. Duchatelet insists that this does not signal a retreat from football.