February 27 – This weekend’s Serie A games will kick off 15 minutes late as the players show solidarity with financially-stricken Parma. Twice former winners of the old UEFA Cup but currently bottom of the league, Parma took the dramatic step of calling off last Sunday’s league game against Udinese. Players and staff have not been paid all season and stewarding costs were unable to be met to stage the fixture.
February 27 – A pipe bomb exploded outside the home of a Cypriot referee early today, the latest in a string of threats and attacks against officials and their families.
By Paul Nicholson
February 27 – English Premier League leaders Chelsea have signed a 5-year £200 million shirt sponsorship deal with Japanese tyre manufacturer Yokohama. The deal is the second largest in the Premier League, behind Manchester United’s seven year £370 million Chevrolet sponsorship.
By Mark Baber
February 26 – Vincent Tan’s FK Sarajevo has joined Barcelona, Manchester United, Feyenoord and Borussia Dortmund as a recipient of sponsorship from the fast-growing Turkish Airlines in a three and a half year deal reported to be the most lucrative ever in Bosnian sport.
The cries of foul may have receded slightly since football’s most open secret – a winter World Cup for Qatar in 2022 – was all but confirmed, pending being rubber-stamped by FIFA’s executive committee. But the resentment in some quarters will linger for weeks and months to come.
February 26 – English Premier League champions Manchester City have signed a five-year development partnership with the Surf Soccer youth club in San Diego, California.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 26 – Kuwait’s Olympic supremo Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, arguably the most powerful figure in Asian sport, looks set to throw his hat into the ring to take up one of Asia’s slots on the FIFA Executive Committee.
February 26 – A new football on-line social platform is being trumpeted by its founders as a revolutionary way of interaction between fans and players.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 26 – Just as its new government struggles to come to terms with its enormous debt crisis, Greece now has a major sporting issue on its hands with domestic football plunged back into chaos after the authorities ordered the suspension of the top three league divisions.
By David Owen
February 26 – Munich’s other club has signed an exclusive marketing deal with Infront Sports & Media, the sports marketing company that China’s Dalian Wanda Group recently agreed to buy for more than €1 billion. The agreement covers all 1860 Munich’s sponsorship, advertising and hospitality between now and 2027-28.
By Paul Nicholson
February 26 – Nordeus, makers of the Top Eleven football management game, is reporting a successful relaunch with more than 2 million new downloads in the first week following the game’s release in the app stores.
By David Owen
February 26 – Phil Neville, the former Manchester United, Everton and England footballer turned BBC pundit, swam against the tide this week. While many in the country that invented football were bemoaning the FIFA task force recommendation to stage the 2022 World Cup in November and December, Neville said it might be “the best thing that’s ever happened” to England.
February 25 – Former Real Madrid and Juventus defender Fabio Cannavaro has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for breaking the police seal at his home in Naples.
February 25 – The hunt for Chelsea’s racist fans has been stepped up with British Transport Police having now issued pictures of seven men they want to question in connection with racist chanting at St Pancras International railway station last Wednesday February 18.
By Mark Baber
February 25 – The injunction taken out by the Football Kenya Federation last Friday, in contravention of its own statutes and those of FIFA, to bring the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) to a halt was served on Monday morning, plunging the league its players and Kenyan football into deeper crisis.