So now we finally know where we stand on the 2022 World Cup. More importantly, so does Qatar.
Six months ago, I wrote that every time FIFA was asked whether it would sanction a winter tournament, it gave the same answer: only if Qatar, as host nation, officially requested it. I also wrote that every time you posed the same question to the Qataris, you also got the same answer: only if they were formally asked to switch by FIFA.
By Mark Baber
July 18 – Striker Papiss Cisse is not participating in Newcastle United’s tour to Portugal, as the dispute between the player and his club escalates over the club’s insistence that he wear the logo of legal loan-sharks Wonga on his shirt, against his personal Muslim beliefs.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 18 – Bulgaria’s most successful football club CSKA Sofia looks set to open a new chapter in its illustious history and become a public company. The club has had a turbulent few months which has seen it flirt with bankruptcy and Bulgarian football legend Hristo Stoichkov, who was brought into the club but then quickly left.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 18 – The Lebanese referee jailed for six months after pleading guilty to accepting sexual favours in exchange for match-fixing has been back in court to give evidence in the trial of a Singaporean businessman accused of being behind the affair.
By Mark Baber
July 18 – UEFA Champions League Sponsor, Heineken on Wednesday had its “Road to the Final” advertisement banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority as “socially irresponsible, because it condoned or encouraged behaviour that was either illegal or not permitted.”
By Andrew Warshaw
July 18 – The Italian match-fixing scandal has snared one of its most high-profile figures to date, with Belgium’s national goalkeeper Jean Francois Gillet among 20 individuals punished by the Italian football federation over two matches involving Bari in Serie B in 2008 and 2009.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
July 18 – After months of strong hints and tactical manoeuvring, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has finally come out and supported the growing calls to switch the 2022 Qatar to the winter.
Are you watching the women’s European football championships?
If you have access to it why not? It’s a question that interests me but, more importantly, it will tax those who have been trying to increase interest in Europe and beyond.
In revisiting this subject, first let me give you the good news. The quality of the football has been pleasing. Not life changing, not Brazil 82, not Barcelona or Bayern no,
In European football, off-season is high season for football agents trying to sell their players to clubs for loads of money. So far, this year’s high season has been a successful one. Falcao left Atlético Madrid for €60 million to join new French First League Club Monaco. Neymar left his home country Brazil to continue his career with Barcelona. The Catalans paid €57 million. In the last few days, Paris St-Germain confirmed the transfer of Uruguay’s international player Edinson Cavani from Naples.
By Mark Baber
July 17 – With President Goodluck Jonathan due to inaugurate the Football House, the new headquarters of the Nigeria Football Federation, on Thursday, the crisis of football administration in the country, revealed by the FCT Queens scandal, has led to calls from the country’s Sports Minister for clubs unable or unwilling to pay the backlog in players’ salaries to be barred from competing in the coming season.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 17 – Fifteen months after an aggressive report into the way FIFA operates, the Council of Europe appears to have softened its stance towards football’s world governing body.
By Mark Baber
July 17 – The Premier League, supported by UEFA and other sports organisations, secured a landmark judgment in the High Court on Tuesday requiring the six main UK-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to live streaming site First Row Sports.
July 17 – Online gambling company Bwin.party has agreed a three-year digital sponsorship deal with Italian champions Juventus, its fourth partnership with a top European team.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 17 – Leading football clubs in India have hit out against moves to stage a rival tournament to the national league inspired by cricket’s cash-rich IPL that attracts top international names.
