By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 29 – Partizan Belgrade has signed a sponsorship deal with the country’s leading operator Telekom Srbija. Under the contract, which will see the Serbian company serve as the club’s main sponsor until the end of 2016, Partizan will receive a total of RSD 140.7 million (€1.2 million).
By Alexander Krassimirov
March 29 – Bulgaria’s Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) has refused to allow release of the prospectus for a second attempt in year at an initial public offering (IPO) by CSKA Sofia. Meanwhile, after a desperate plea by management for cash to save the club, fans have been donating money to ensure the club can get its license to play.
By David Owen
March 29 – A 20% jump in income from its Asia and North Africa region enabled FIFA to generate marginally more TV revenue from the 2014 World Cup than the previous edition in South Africa. This was in spite of a near 10% decline in revenue from the key European region.
The Premier League cannot get it wrong? Or can it? You would have thought that with no English clubs in either of the European competitions the Premier League will be just a little bit concerned. But not Richard-Scudamore, soon to move from long standing chief executive to executive chairman.
March 27 – Moldovan top division club Dinamo-Auto have indefinitely suspended two players over allegations of match-fixing.
By Mark Baber
March 27 – Turkish Airlines has announced to the Istanbul Stock Exchange that it intends to add the UEFA Champions League to its list of football sponsorships. The value of the three-year deal has not been revealed, but current Champions League sponsor packages are currently between €55-65 million per season.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 27 – FIFA are to send their Director of Security Ralf Mutschke to Sierra Leone to help tackle a match-fixing crisis that has caused deep division between sports administrators and government officials.
By Samindra Kunti
March 27 – Tax authorities in Belgium are stepping up their investigations into domestic football following unannounced inspections at the Belgian FA and the Pro League.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 27 – He is guarded about how many votes he will pick up and where they will come from. And he won’t guarantee he will stay the course. Yet there is a certain gravitas, authority, self-belief and dry humour about Michael van Praag that gives the impression the Dutch FA president might, just might, just have a fighting chance of upsetting Sepp Blatter at the FIFA presidential election on May 29.
March 27 – CSKA Sofia, champions of Bulgaria 31 times, have issued a desperate plea to their supporters to cough up emergency funding to avoid being expelled from the country’s top division over mounting debts.
March 27 – With Russia having completed its final planning for 2018 World Cup stadium build and construction underway, the current focus is now switching towards budgets and planning for infrastructure around the championships.
Watching developments in English football can be a trying business, whether we are talking on or off the pitch. So it is characteristic that a week which brought a big step forward in manoeuvring a respected English voice on to the sport’s top table should also have featured a proposal from the boss of the Football Association that would, in my opinion, represent a significant backwards step both for the Premier League and the England team he is trying to strengthen.
By Paul Nicholson
March 27 – English Premier League clubs have agreed to share at least £1 billion of league income in the period 2016/17-2018/19. The money will be shared through the English football pyramid as well as to good causes.
From journalist to the most important official in German football: Wolfgang Niersbach has never planned his upward career path and would have liked to save the job in the FIFA Executive Committee.
March 26 – Copa90, the digital football network, will showcase a new broadcast distribtuion option for rightsholders and sports-sponsor brands at the Stade de France tonight when the Brazil World Tour kicks off.