Andrew Warshaw: Turning over the Figo leaf
He can certainly talk a good game – in three languages in fact. And if prizes were given for glossy manifestos he would already have the keys to Sepp Blatter’s private office in Zurich.
Tunisia joins Morocco at CAS to get CAF sanctions over-turned
February 20 – The Tunisian Football Federation (FTF) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the sanctions imposed by African Football Confederation (CAF) after their dramatic and emotional exit from the Africa Cup of Nations last month. The country faces exclusion from the 2017 championships unless it complies to CAF’s demands.
IFA set September date for second digital talkshop in Berlin
February 20 – The International Football Arena (IFA) have set September 10 as the date for their second Berlin conference, following on from the success of last year’s inaugural trip to Berlin for the Zurich-based talk shop.
Kenyan power struggle leaves league chaos as teams scramble towards kick-off
By Mark Baber
February 20 – The failure of Kenya’s Premier League (KPL) and Football Federation (FKF) to come to an agreement has left football in the country in, with rival leagues set to kick off this weekend. One league is backed by the KPL and the other by the FKF, although no one is quite sure which clubs will be in which league and whether or not the Kenyan government and/or FIFA will intervene to try and restore order –
Young Celtic fan wins SPL Goal of the Month award with 97% of vote
By Jamie Styles
February 20 – Last week Jay Beatty, a young Celtic super-fan with Down’s Syndrome, was nominated in Scotland’s SPL Goal of the Month competition. Today the league announced that Jay had won the award with a landslide victory, receiving a massive 97% of the votes.
Vasco Da Gama line up sponsors for start of Brasileiro
By Samindra Kunti
February 20 – Brazilian club Vasco Da Gama will renew its major sponsorship deals with Guaracamp and Caixa. The news is a boost for the Rio club ahead of its return to the Brazilian top-flight.
Europe’s football racism comes from the top of the game, says Powar
February 20 – One of Europe’s leading anti-racism chiefs believes the episode involving Chelsea supporters blocking a black man from boarding a Paris Metro train is part of a wider problem of racism in football despite stringent efforts to cut it out.
Chelsea racists should be ‘locked up’, says Paris victim
February 20 – The 33-year-old victim of the highly publicised racist incident involving Chelsea fans on the Paris metro earlier this week says the perpetrators should be jailed for picking on him because is black – and is considering lodging an official complaint with police.
Man Utd top weekly Twitter table as they play catch up with Londoners
By Paul Nicholson
February 20 – Manchester United are chasing down London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea in the Insideworldfootball Premier League Twitter rankings chart, topping the table of weekly gains in followers, but still lieing some distance behind in third place in the overall Twitter Followers table.
Tomov cleared of fraud and sets sights on Bulgarian league title
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 20 – Sofia City Court (SCC) cleared the chairman of the supervisory board of CSKA Sofia, Alexander Tomov, of charges of misappropriation of funds from metallurgical plant Kremikovtsi and the football club. On Monday, prosecutors requested 10 years in prison for Tomov, but Sofia City Court dropped all the charges.
Matt Scott: English football’s Dutch Disease risk – PL clubs should take care to diversify
“I don’t want to be a thief of my own wallet.” Johan Cruyff
It is hard to imagine the nation that produced Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Dennis Bergkamp ever giving its name to something negative in football. But then Dutch Disease is an economic concept.
Figo appeals for federation votes with cash and World Cup promises
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
February 19 – Promising to prioritise grass-roots football and a fairer distribution of funds as well as increase the number of World Cup finalists, Portuguese icon Luis Figo today became the first candidate for FIFA president to launch an official manifesto as distinct from simply mission statements.
ESPN and Univision anger at 2026 World Cup rights staying with Fox and Telemundo
By Mark Baber
February 19 – The award of the US broadcasting rights for the 2026 World Cup to Fox and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo – they also hold rights to 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar – has raised a storm in US media circles.
Juventus fans put their best face forward with 45,000 entering selfie contest
February 19 – Juventus scored another social media success this month with its Social Selfie contest which generated a huge response with more than 15,000 selfies a week being sent into the club from around the world.
After 20 years, PSV swaps Nike for Umbro in new 5-year deal
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 19 – PSV Eindhoven has decided to swap Nike for Umbro as its kit supplier starting in the 2015/2016 Eredivisie season.