Bayern break into US with Beckenbauer spearheading MSN content deal
April 21 – Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich have agreed a new media partnership with MSN for the broadcasting and publication of the club’s content in the USA.
Blatter meets Putin and says 2018 will not be derailed by political grandstanding
By Andrew Warshaw
April 21 – Sepp Blatter has a habit of deliberately saying the appropriate thing depending on his hosts at the time. So it was no surprise that the FIFA president sweet-talked Russian president Vladimir Putin when he visited Sochi for SportAccord.
CSKA Ultras step up abuse and force players to strip off shirts
By Alexander Krassimirov
April 21 – CSKA Sofia Ultras have taken extreme measures after the team suffered loss. Yesterday CSKA lost to Lokomotiv Sofia and after the game the fans summoned the players to one of the stands of Bulgarska armia stadium.
UEFA will back Israel against Palestinian suspension demands, says IFA
By Andrew Warshaw
April 21 – UEFA president Michel Platini has promised Israel he will do everything he can to stave off a Palestinian bid to suspend them from FIFA, according to Israeli media reports.
Matt Scott: The Premier League relegation contagion
“Ring a ring o’ roses, A pocketful of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down.” Traditional British nursery rhyme
For centuries British children of what we now describe as primary-school age have been singing this popular tune: holding hands and dancing in a circle before falling on their bottoms together. It is widely believed (though it is disputed by some) that the song dates back to the age of bubonic plague,
Artistic venue selected for FIFA banquet and preliminary World Cup draw
By David Owen at the SportAccord Convention in Sochi
April 21 – A highly cultured venue has been chosen for the FIFA banquet coinciding with the Preliminary Draw for the 2018 World Cup. Russia 2018 chief executive Alexey Sorokin has told Insideworldfootball that the banquet is to be held at the Russian museum of fine arts in St Petersburg. The draw itself – the first official event of the World Cup – has been scheduled for this coming July 25 at the restored 17th century Konstantinovsky Palace.
Blatter sides firmly with IOC’s Bach as SportAccord head goes on offensive
By David Owen at the SportAccord Convention World Sport & Business Summit in Sochi
April 21 – FIFA President Joseph Blatter has sided firmly with Thomas Bach, his International Olympic Committee (IOC) counterpart, as the IOC boss came under withering attack from SportAccord’s Marius Vizer in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday.
Real and Barca thump Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea in Euro Twitter league
By Paul Nicholson
April 20 – Real Madrid and Barcelona are not just giants on the pitch, they are social media monsters off it. The two Spanish clubs head Insideworldfootball’s European club ranking in terms of followers, with the English Premier League’s Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea in 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively.
Leeds Utd row ignites after six players fail to travel for league match
April 20 – Iconic English club Leeds United, back in the news for all the wrong reasons, insist that six players who suddenly withdrew ahead of Saturday’s defeat at Charlton were injured.
Russia commits to investing in sports facilities in Crimea
April 20 – Russian authorities are to build two new sports centres in Crimea in the latest move to cement their influence in the annexed peninsula where UEFA have already barred Russian-administered teams from competing in their competitions or the Russian domestic league.
Eleven fans sentenced to death in 2012 Port Said retrial
By Mark Baber
April 20 – Eleven fans were sentenced to death on Sunday over the February 2012 Port Said stadium riot which left 74 people dead and more than 500 injured. The sentences have been referred to Egypt’s grand mufti whose opinion is required before any execution can take place.
Indonesian football under threat as government steps in to suspend FA
April 20 – In a further escalation of a dispute that seems certain to once again incur the wrath of FIFA, the Indonesian government has suspended the activities of the country’s national association.
Law: Has the FA opened the door to discrimination claims?
The English FA wants to cut down the number of foreign players in the Premier League but are the proposed rules opening the FA’s doors to legal challenge? Luca Ferrari, partner and global head of sports, and Libby Payne, associate at Withers, examine the new proposals and warn of stormy waters ahead.
Israelis fear ‘judgement day’ as Palestinians refuse to back down
By Andrew Warshaw
April 20 – Israeli officials headed to Switzerland today to fight their corner with UEFA and FIFA in order to stave off a potential “day of judgement” with regard to their very existence as a footballing nation.
Lee Wellings: Disrespectful FA Cup clash is bad business
That English football sold its soul to television many years ago is hardly a contentious subject any more. And partly because the small screen has enabled to us to consume and enjoy more of the game from across the globe than we could ever have imagined possible. But with football and TV ever more reliant on each other, is there really a need for football to have humiliated itself for television in the way it did for the FA Cup semi-finals?