By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 26 – Gornik Zabrze has signed a sponsorship contract with Browar Lomza, owner of the Lomza beer brand. The company is the new main sponsor of the Polish football club, Gornik said in a statement.
February 26 – The takeover of Leeds United by controversial Italian agricultural entrepreneur Massimo Cellino has still not been approved by the relevant authorities, it has emerged. The Football League has said it “remains in discussions” with the club even though the 57-year-old Italian businessman exchanged contracts with current owners GFH to buy a 75% stake in the Championship club earlier this month.
February 26 – Borussia Dortmund, last season’s beaten Champions League finalists, have banned a supporter from their stadium until 2020 for shouting “Sieg Heil” during a minute’s silence before last weekend’s game at Hamburg SV.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 26 – The hearing into former French international striker Nicolas Anelka’s infamous ‘quenelle’ gesture is reported to have begun at an undisclosed location. Anelka has been charged by the English Football Association for use the reverse Nazi salute, brought to prominence by controversial French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, as a goal celebration. The much-travelled striker, who faces a minimum five-match ban if found guilty, has denied the charge of making a gesture that was “abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper”.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 26 – The political crisis in Ukraine has forced the country’s March 5 friendly against the United States, scheduled to take place in Kharkiv, to be moved to Cyprus due to the unstable and often violent situation.
By Paul Nicholson
February 26 – Adidas has fallen foul of the Brazilian government and, following a formal complaint, has pulled a range of World Cup products that were using sex appeal to promote Brazil-themed T-shirts.
By David Owen
February 25 – Newcastle United has announced an after-tax profit of £9.9 million for the year to June 2013, after booking a £10.6 million profit on player trading. If the business continues to progress in the same way this year Newcastle look set for a serious profit in 2013-14. Maybe as much as £30 million.
By Matt Scott
February 26 – Spain’s three leading clubs are exploring major naming-rights partnerships to support their new-stadium construction projects, according to the sponsorship agency Euromericas Sport Marketing.
By Matt Scott
February 26 – Puma, Europe’s second-largest sportswear manufacturer, has suffered a damaging drop in sales amid what its chief executive, Björn Gulden, has described as “a challenging year”.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 25 – German company Aurubis (formerly Norddeutsche Affinerie AG) is poised to sign a co-operation agreement with Bulgarian champions of Ludogorets Razgrad to provide a boost to the club’s youth academy. In March the company will sponsor trials with those selected joining the club’s academy.
“I have hit rock bottom and I don’t see any way out of it,” Chelsea’s former European Cup Winners’ Cup winner, Alan Hudson
Alan Hudson is 62 years of age now but when he was the playmaker for a useful Chelsea team during the 1970s he was one of the Kings of the King’s Road. He was a household name, leading a lifestyle as flamboyant as the football he played over the 400-plus top-flight appearances he made as the creative force of clubs that consistently challenged for trophies.
February 25 – FIFA has extended the bans worldwide to one English and two Slovakian players following allegations of match-fixing. The sanctions are an enforcement of penalties that have already been issued by their national federations.
February 25 – Scottish giant Rangers have announced to the stock exchange £1.5 million loan from shareholders to provide short term working capital to the club. The club is listed on the London AIM market.
By Paul Nicholson
February 25 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has awarded Kenya the rights to host the 2018 African Nations Championship (Chan), Rwanda will host 2016. CAF has also outlined details of the Morocco 2015 Orange Cup of Nations (CAN).
In the sensible regions of planet football, a manager that does the tough work of qualifying a team for a World Cup finals has earned the right to manage the team at it.
But what is obviously the logical, common-sense thing, is certainly not the established rule in Nigerian football, where they operate from a different playbook.
Over the last 20 years, as well as in the four tournaments the Super Eagles have played in (1994,