By Tom Parsons
October 10 – One of England’s finest footballers has joined twitter, racking up 275,000 followers in the first 24 hours he was part of the social community. Fans and friends joined in welcoming the former England star to twitter, with @GazzaOfficial promising to show us “the real Gazza” on the social network.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 9 – New English Football Association chairman Greg Dyke had another dig at the influx of foreign players in English football today and said the importance of a successful national team should not be under-estimated.
By Andrew Warshaw
Ocotber 9 – The United States will only seriously consider going for the 2026 World Cup if the bidding process is changed and FIFA’s rules are tightened up, US Soccer federation president Sunil Gulati declared today. Gulati, one of the newest members of FIFA’s executive committee, said his country was still bruised over their crushing 14-8 defeat by Qatar for the 2022 tournament and would not be prepared to go through the expense and stress of bidding again unless there was more clarity.
By Mark Baber
October 9 – Qatargas and Qatar Football Association (QFA) signed a three-year deal on Monday at QFA headquarters in the Al Bidda Tower, as part of which Qatar’s 2nd Division will be known as the Qatargas League.
By Mark Baber
Ocotber 9 – Just days after US Army Delta Force snatched high-profile al Qaeda member Anas al-Libi from outside a mosque in Tripoli, and amidst Libyan jihadi calls for the country’s “courageous youth” to launch kidnappings of Americans, the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has announced the appointment of 63-year old Javier Clemente as the new national team coach.
By Alexander Krassimirov
Ocotber 9 – Frantic fans of Levski aggressively interrupted the first news conference of the new team coach Ivaylo Petev. A group of about 10 ultras broke into the briefing room and ordered him to take off his cliub shirt.
October 9 – Hull City AFC fans have formed a new community group and are campaigning to protect the club’s historic identity from a name change to Hull Tigers by owner Aseem Allam.
When a whole nation just has one club to support, there must be something wrong. Even though the club might become the most successful one ever in China’s football history.
Guangzhou Evergrande, yes, the club from Guangzhou again. After winning convincingly in the Asian Champions League (ACL) semi-final, they took their third successive domestic league title with 4 rounds to spare. This time they won the league at their nearest rival’s pitch, defeating Shandong Luneng FC 4:2 on October 6.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 9 – FIFA’s Asian vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein has called on the organisation to make Arabic one of its official languages in addition to English, French, German and Spanish. In a wide-ranging statement on a number of issues, Prince Ali said FIFA needed to recognise how many people across the world spoke Arabic as a first language.
By David Owen
October 9 – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has hinted there may yet be time for the Rio de Janeiro doping control laboratory to win back its accreditation in time for it to handle samples collected at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
By Matt Scott
October 9 – Serie A clubs are considering a proposal to sell their TV rights from the 2015-6 to 2020-1 seasons for an up-front €5.49bn (£4.63bn).
Definition:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry; by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety; or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions. Symptoms of the disorder include excessive washing or cleaning; repeated checking; extreme hoarding; preoccupation with sexual, violent or religious thoughts; relationship-related obsessions; aversion to particular numbers; and nervous rituals, such as opening and closing a door a certain number of times before entering or leaving a room.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – FIFA’s leading corruption buster Michael Garcia has broken his silence over his much-publicised upcoming tour of 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding countries by warning that anyone who breaks an obligation to co-operate with the investigation could face sanctions.
By Mark Baber
October 8 – AC Milan have been fined €50,000 and ordered to play their next Serie A home game, against Udinese, behind closed doors, due to some of their fans chanting “We are not Neapolitans”, at their game against Juventus in Turin on Sunday.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke, charged with sorting out the Qatar 2022 World Cup debacle, has more pressing matters on his hands having returned to Brazil amid uncertainty about whether next year’s hosts will be able to deliver the final six stadiums by the December deadline.