Saudi Arabia 1 Trinidad and Tobago 1
June 22 – Saudi Arabia lived dangerously at the end of their final group encounter against Trinidad and Tobago at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to secure a spot in the quarter finals. Having dominated possession for most of the game, Trinidad came to life in the final 15 minutes but failed to put away a succession of chances.
“Ring a ring o’ roses, A pocketful of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down.” Traditional British nursery rhyme
For centuries British children of what we now describe as primary-school age have been singing this popular tune: holding hands and dancing in a circle before falling on their bottoms together. It is widely believed (though it is disputed by some) that the song dates back to the age of bubonic plague,
By David Owen at the SportAccord Convention in Sochi
April 21 – A highly cultured venue has been chosen for the FIFA banquet coinciding with the Preliminary Draw for the 2018 World Cup. Russia 2018 chief executive Alexey Sorokin has told Insideworldfootball that the banquet is to be held at the Russian museum of fine arts in St Petersburg. The draw itself – the first official event of the World Cup – has been scheduled for this coming July 25 at the restored 17th century Konstantinovsky Palace.
By David Owen at the SportAccord Convention World Sport & Business Summit in Sochi
April 21 – FIFA President Joseph Blatter has sided firmly with Thomas Bach, his International Olympic Committee (IOC) counterpart, as the IOC boss came under withering attack from SportAccord’s Marius Vizer in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday.
By Paul Nicholson
April 20 – Real Madrid and Barcelona are not just giants on the pitch, they are social media monsters off it. The two Spanish clubs head Insideworldfootball’s European club ranking in terms of followers, with the English Premier League’s Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea in 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively.
April 20 – Iconic English club Leeds United, back in the news for all the wrong reasons, insist that six players who suddenly withdrew ahead of Saturday’s defeat at Charlton were injured.
April 20 – Russian authorities are to build two new sports centres in Crimea in the latest move to cement their influence in the annexed peninsula where UEFA have already barred Russian-administered teams from competing in their competitions or the Russian domestic league.
By Mark Baber
April 20 – Eleven fans were sentenced to death on Sunday over the February 2012 Port Said stadium riot which left 74 people dead and more than 500 injured. The sentences have been referred to Egypt’s grand mufti whose opinion is required before any execution can take place.
April 20 – In a further escalation of a dispute that seems certain to once again incur the wrath of FIFA, the Indonesian government has suspended the activities of the country’s national association.
The English FA wants to cut down the number of foreign players in the Premier League but are the proposed rules opening the FA’s doors to legal challenge? Luca Ferrari, partner and global head of sports, and Libby Payne, associate at Withers, examine the new proposals and warn of stormy waters ahead.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 20 – Israeli officials headed to Switzerland today to fight their corner with UEFA and FIFA in order to stave off a potential “day of judgement” with regard to their very existence as a footballing nation.
That English football sold its soul to television many years ago is hardly a contentious subject any more. And partly because the small screen has enabled to us to consume and enjoy more of the game from across the globe than we could ever have imagined possible. But with football and TV ever more reliant on each other, is there really a need for football to have humiliated itself for television in the way it did for the FA Cup semi-finals?
By David Owen
April 20 – Infront Sports & Media, the Swiss-based sports marketing company recently acquired by Chinese businessman Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group, has unveiled new deals with three Asian football associations.
By David Owen
April 20 – Rising staff costs helped to prevent Premier League club Newcastle United from reporting even stronger financial results for the year to 30 June 2014. Financial statements for the club currently lying 14th in the league table, now available from Companies House, show that overall staff costs climbed 27% year-on-year to £78.3 million, with wages and salaries rising more than 28% to £69.3 million.
April 17 – The Irish Football Association has been advised to demolish a damaged stand at the national stadium following a preliminary structural report.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 17 – The Greek authorities are on a collision with FIFA and EUFA over plans to tackle violence in domestic sport, with the two bodies warning the country could be thrown out of international football because of government interference.