By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 10 – Between 60 and 80 countries have reported cases of football match-fixing per year over the last three years. That was one of many stark revelations at a hard-hitting session on the subject at the Soccerex Convention in Manchester today.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
September 10 – Czech football side FK Usti nad Labem has reopened its revampled stadium which was modernised at a cost of CZK 168 million (€6 million). As part of the redevelopment, a new stand was added with a seating capacity of 4,000.
It’s just NOT cricket. That, in a nutshell, is the biggest obstacle the Indian Super League faces when it launches in October. It is football sold and packaged with the successful IPL formula. A burst of action over an intense couple of months. Big names, star backers (none bigger than team owner Sachin Tendulkar). Not too may teams (eight), a good spread around the country’s major cities, and a big focus on marketing, promotion, sponsorship and advertisers.
By Mark Baber
September 10 – With Chris Giwa, who firmly believed he was the legitimate President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), having seemingly disappeared from the scene, the governance crisis at the top of Nigerian football may be entering a period of calm, prior to new elections, as FIFA has confirmed the NFF is not suspended from international football.
September 10 – The CIES Football Observatory has released its 2014/2015 season standings predictions for the big-5 European leagues. The data driven predictions have Bayern Munich and Paris St Germain retaining their league titles. But predicts new champions in England, Spain and Italy.
By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 10 – Professional matches in world and European competitions could be held up for up to three minutes if radical plans to treat players suspected of suffering from concussion are passed by FIFA and UEFA.
By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 10 – Organisers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar believe they will be exonerated in the 350-page report into possible corruption surrounding the ballot for the tournament which also covered the 2018 event in Russia.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 10 – Europe’s clubs are still to be convinced that a switch to a winter World Cup in 2022 is a fait accompli. The clubs say they want “strong, decisive” reasons before accepting a decision to move the Qatar tournament from its usual summer slot.
By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 9 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb says the reforms FIFA have put in place do not go far enough and that world football’s governing body has “huge challenges” ahead in terms of building trust and confidence amongst the general public.
September 9 – Moscow’s telecoms operators are gearing up for a streamed 2018 World Cup with task forces dispatched to work out how this can best be done, according to Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.
September 9 – India’s national men’s and women’s football teams, preparing for the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, are stranded in a training camp in Shanghai, with the chances of them getting to the tournament diminishing by the hour as the Indian government dilly-dallies.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – FIFA have revived the possibility of the 2022 Qatar World Cup being staged in January if it is switched to winter, putting it on a direct collision course with the winter Olympics. The first meeting of the multi-stakeholder Task Force set up to decide once and for all when to stage the tournament discussed three possible time frames, including January/February, even though FIFA president Sepp Blatter has previously ruled that out.
By Alexander Krassimirov
September 9 – Bulgarian champions Ludogorets have been handed a reduced stadium sanction by UEFA for their first home group game in the Champions League on October 1.
September 9 – Web-driven network Fieldoo, which connects players with agents and clubs, has now registered over 150,000 users after just a year of operation, making it the biggest specialist independent network for players and agents.
By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 8 – FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan says he in favour of term limits for senior officials even though the idea was firmly rejected by the organisation’s Congress three months ago.