July 2 – Having looked like a team that were struggling to find any cohesion or common purpose after four straight losses, including a miserable performance in March at the Concacaf Nations League final, suddenly the USA look as though, if not the real deal, they are certainly worth a reappraisal.
July 2 – Elite football in the form of major tournament returns to Switzerland for the first time since 2008, with Euro 2025 and the quest for continental glory set to take over the Alpine nation this July with more than 600,000 tickets sold and increased prize money on offer for the 16 finalists.
On Monday Insideworldfootball ran a story titled ‘Whistle blown on FIFA whistleblower fraudster Mersiades’. The story was a pick-up from German public broadcaster ZDF’s interview with discredited Australian whistleblower Bonita Mersiades.
To re-cap the important part of the story: Mersiades, one of the FIFA whistleblowers in the FIFA World Cup bid investigation, has Australian court convictions for defrauding an Australian government department that employed her.
By Alexander Krassimirov
April 1 – Bulgaria’s two most successful clubs, CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia, just managed to beat the deadline to file their paperwork to obtain a license for European club tournaments. CSKA and Levski are plagued by deep financial problems which have threatened their eligibility for a license.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – UEFA and the international players’ union FIFPro have joined forces to try and re-inforce Fifa’s forthcoming worldwide ban on third party ownership. The two bodies are filing an official complaint with the European Commission about the practise in order to strengthen stopping outside investors partially owning transfer rights.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 1 – The municipal authorities of Poland’s Chorzow have unveiled plans to launch construction works on a new stadium for local club Ruch Chorzow in early 2017. In the first phase of the project, the facility will be fitted with a capacity of at least 4,500 seats.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – FIFA has confirmed that British-based camera-based company Hawk-Eye will provide goal-line technology for the Women’s World Cup in Canada in June – the first time the system has been employed for the tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 1 – In an unprecedented off-the-field success for Palestinian football over its Israeli neighbour, FIFA has ordered Israeli premier league club Hapoel Haifa and their former player, Ali Khatib, to compensate Palestinian side Jabal al-Mukabbar after Khatib broke his contract with them.
By David Owen
April 1 – The all too brief experiment with fielding men’s and women’s Great Britain Olympic football teams is over. Barely a few weeks after signalling its desire to continue sending teams to the Olympics, the Football Association (FA) has been obliged to backtrack and to formally withdraw its proposal.
April 1 – European club representatives will join the top table of UEFA in a major breakthrough in terms of the way European football is governed. Two European Club Association officials will sit on UEFA’s executive committee meeting as “co-opted” members with full voting rights to follow, to be implemented at next year’s UEFA Congress.
March 31 – UEFA has renewed its exclusive marketing deal with TEAM Marketing for a further six seasons from the end of the 2014/15 season. It has an option to extend for a further three years if it meets performance criteria.
By Mark Baber
March 31 – Real Madrid has signed its first Chinese sponsorship deal – with Luyuan, an electrical vehicle manufacturer based in Zhejiang.
By David Owen
March 31 – Southampton have joined the stampede of Premier League clubs reporting unusually strong profits for last season. The South Coast club, currently lying an impressive sixth in the league table and playing consistently well under Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, have announced that after-tax profit for the year ended June 30, 2014 reached £33.4 million, compared with a £7.1 million loss the previous year.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 31 – The resentment, you feel, still partially lingers and the wounds of defeat have perhaps not completely healed. But ask Lennart Johansson whether Sepp Blatter, who beat him to the FIFA presidency back in 1998 and has reigned ever since , has any chance of being dethroned on May 29 and the Swede provides a categoric one-word answer.
“No.”
By Andrew Warshaw
March 31 – The administrative footballing career of former Asian powerbroker Vernon Manilal Fernando has effectively come to an end after his appeal against a life ban was turned down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
By Andrew Warshaw
March 30 – Historic efforts to use football as a tool for change on the politically divided island of Cyprus have triggered an immediate backlash, with local politicians stepping in to try and block any deal.
I don’t envy the position UEFA are in with hooliganism on and off the pitch in their territories. It’s easy to criticise. What would you do? But I know what I’d like UEFA to consider when they read the referee’s report and decide in action. Something radical.