Inside World Football - Page 1704 of 2022 - For the Business of Football

AFC presidency race heats up as candidates declared and Al Serkal calls for withdrawals

By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
March 4 – One of the three west Asian candidates seeking to replace Mohamed bin Hammam and run football in the entire Continent until 2015 has urged his two rivals to step aside to avoid a potentially damaging split.

As the Asian Football Confederation announced a four-man race for the presidency on May 2, Yousuf al Serkel (pictured), of United Arab Emirates, said he is to ask the two other regional candidates bidding against him to stand down. Read more …

Africa

Federation bans Nigerian Lesbians from football activity

By Mark Baber
March 4 – Dilichukwu Onyedinma, chair of the Nigeria Women Football League and a member of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) executive committee, has reportedly announced after the Annual General Assembly on Thursday, that lesbianism is now officially banned from Nigerian football.

Archive

Auxerre on edge of financial cliff staring relegation in the face

March 4 – Former French club giant Auxerre, currently in Ligue 2, is under scrutiny by French football’s financial watchdog and has until the end of the season to recapitalise or face possible relegation.

Archive

FT hitches up with IFA and heads to Rio for June Summit

March 4 – What better place could there be to head for a football business gathering and what better timing? In a major announcement the International Football Arena (IFA) has teamed up with the Financial Times (FT) to host a summit, June 17, in Rio de Janeiro.

Andrew Warshaw

Andrew Warshaw: A slow creep towards a Winter World Cup

Every time you ask FIFA whether they would sanction switching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the winter, you get the same answer: only if Qatar, as the host nation, officially requests us to do so.

And every time you ask Qatari organisers the same question, you also get the same answer: only if we are asked to do so by FIFA as world football’s governing body.

It’s a clever tactic,

Archive

Webb to demand tougher anti-racism penalties and more education

By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 4 – FIFA’s new anti-racism chief says tougher penalties need to be introduced to help eradicate abuse and wants to meet with both the perpetrators and victims. FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb, who runs the CONCACAF confederation that covers north and central America and the Caribbean, believes black players have been let down by football’s authorities and is determined to do something about it.

Africa

CAF steps into Congo row as League sets up interim committee

By Osasu Obayiuwana in Lagos
March 3 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has warned DR Congo’s government to stop interfering in its domestic football or face severe sanctions.

Archive

Webb to head new FIFA anti-racism task force

By Andrew Warshaw in Edinburgh
March 2 – FIFA are setting up a new crack unit to deal with the worrying resurgence of racism throughout the game, Sepp Blatter has announced.

Archive

Benfica TV picks up Premier League rights

March 1 – In a world first, a club TV channel has bought the broadcast rights to an international football league. Benfica TV has been awarded exclusive audio visual broadcast rights for all Barclays Premier League matches per season for from 2013/14 – 2015/16 in Portugal.

Archive

US and Qatar forget bid troubles to forge economic 2022 relations

March 1 – An unlikely trade mission this week pitched former World Cup bidding foes together in a show of friendship and economic opportunity. The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee and the US Embassy in Qatar concluded a joint trip to Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle.

Archive

Exclusive: Prince Ali summons West Asian candidates to Jordan to explain themselves

By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 1 – FIFA vice president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein (pictured) has summoned three of the candidates hoping to run Asian football to a summit in Jordan next week to make sure they have a proper agenda and are not just playing politics.

Archive

Deals rumoured as Zhang pulls out of running for AFC presidency

By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 1 – The race to lead Asian football into a new era of unity and stability has suffered a dramatic blow amid reports that China’s Zhang Jilong (pictured), who has been in charge on an temporary basis for almost two years, has decided not contest the presidential election in early May.

Archive

Football’s rule-makers head to Edinburgh for IFAB meetings

By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 1 – Football’s lawmakers, meeting in Edinburgh on Saturday, are to discuss the idea of trialling an electronic chip in players’ shirts that could potentially prevent cardiac attacks such as the one suffered by Fabrice Muamba (pictured) last year.

Archive

FIFA pull U17 women’s finals from Costa Rica

By Andrew Warshaw
March 1 – In a move that evokes memories of the 1986 World Cup being switched, FIFA has been forced to make a late change for next year’s under-17 women’s tournament after hosts Costa Rica failed to meet certain deadlines.

Archive

Rangers keep their history but previous owners hit with fines

March 1 – Beleaguered Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers will not be stripped of any of their league titles over alleged undisclosed payments to players during the club’s former guise. But the company that used to run the club have been fined £250,000 by a commission appointed by the Scottish Premier League.