Inside World Football - Page 1628 of 2019 - For the Business of Football

Spend, spend, spend: English top Europe with record £630m outlay

money bag

By Andrew Warshaw
September 3 – Despite UEFA’s financial fair play regulations, English Premier League clubs spent a record £630 million in the summer transfer window that slammed shut on Monday, according to Deloitte’s Sports Business Group. The new tally easily beat the previous record of £500 million set back in 2008, with clubs able to take advantage of the Premier League’s massive television deal without which spending would have been far lower.

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FCK København refuse CL tickets for ‘foreign-sounding’ names

FC Copenhagen

By Mark Baber
September 3 – There have been calls for UEFA to intervene as the ticket office of FCK København has been cancelling ticket purchases for its forthcoming Champions League games against Juventus, Real Madrid and Galatasaray made by people with ‘foreign-sounding’ names. The clubs it is acting on “security grounds”.

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Police escort after Helsingborg fans turn on rival player spotted in stands

Helsingborg fans

September 3 – A Swedish footballer who was watching his brother play was forced to have a police escort from the ground following death threats from rival fans.

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Germans opt for Munich over Berlin for 2020 Euros hosting pitch

allianz arena1

By Andrew Warshaw
September 3 – Munich has been given the nod over Berlin to bid for part of the 2020 Euro finals which are to be played across 13 venues under UEFA president Michel Platini’s unprecedented pan-Continental blueprint.

Rolf Willi

Platini: Will He, Won’t He?

iwf platini2

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Oman goes professional with launch of new Omantel league

Omantel league

By Mark Baber
September 2 – The Oman Football Association (OFA) is to launch its first professional league, the Omantel Professional League (OPL), the with new league starting with the new season on September 13.

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Teixeira heads for safe haven of Andorra and out of Brazilian reach

Ricardo Teixeira

By Paul Nicholson
September 2 – Ricardo Teixeira, the former FIFA executive committee member and head of the Brazilian football federation (CBF) for 23 years, has applied and, according to reports, been granted residency in Andorra. The landlocked micro-state in the Pyrennees, bordered by Spain and France, does not have an extradition treaty with Brazil, effectively putting Teixeira out of the reach of any potential Brazilian court summons.

Andrew Warshaw: Breakfast with Platini, Qatar 2022, but don’t mention the FIFA presidency

Breakfast with Michel Platini is an annual media gathering on the fringes of the Champions League draw in Monaco that has become almost de rigueur for anyone trying to get inside the head of the UEFA president.

Informal and charmingly mischievous, you invariably get him in an engaging, outgoing mood – in a variety of languages – away from all those official functions and formalities.

Yet among the nods, winks, innuendos and wise-cracking,

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Blatter says Swiss wage proposals would create problems for football

Sepp Blatter 6

By Mark Baber
September 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has warned urgently against the Swiss 1:12 initiative which he says would create a real problem for football in the country and the hinder the possibility of attracting talent from abroad, in an interview with the newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag.

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Finally, Bale deal is done, records broken and all sides ‘moving on’

Gareth Bale

By Andrew Warshaw
September 2 – The worst kept secret in football was officially rubbed-stamped on Sunday as Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale joined nine-time European champions Real Madrid on a six-year deal for a staggering world record transfer fee of €100 million (£85m).

Africa

Khoza stands aside in South Africa, opening way for Jordaan or Mazibuko

Danny Jordaan

By Andrew Warshaw
September 2 – Danny Jordaan, the public face of the 2010 World Cup who has waited patiently to fulfil his ambitions amid a myriad political manoeuvring, is one step closer to snaring the most powerful football position in his native South Africa after his one-time ally turned bitter rival, Irvin Khoza, withdrew his candidacy for the presidential election on September 28.

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Powerbrokers head for Zurich to seek Palestinian solutions

palestinian football

By Andrew Warshaw
September 2 – The landmark first meeting of the newly created FIFA Task Force set up to try and break the bitter divisions between Israel and Palestine over travel restrictions imposed in the West Bank and Gaza will be held tomorrow (September 3) at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

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Platini calls for transfer window shake-up and a healthier system

football money

By Andrew Warshaw in Monaco
August 30 – UEFA boss Michel Platini wants to shorten the summer transfer window to try and end the instability and brinkmanship across Europe that is increasingly infuriating coaches who are unable to plan ahead.

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FFP is working with UEFA reporting club losses cut by €600m

michel platini 5

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Monaco
August 30 – With the threat of sanctions hanging over them, European clubs have drastically reduced their losses in order to abide by UEFA’s strict financial fair play regulations which include the ultimate punishment of throwing teams out of the Champions League and Europa League. Figures provided by European football’s governing body show that overall losses among the 237 clubs participating in UEFA competitions fell from €1.7 billion in 2011 to €1.1 billion last year –

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Team India land Oil and Natural Gas Corporation as lead sponsor

Team india

August 30 – The All India Football Federation (AIFF) President, Praful Patel, has said that the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will be the sponsor of the Indian national team for the next season.