By Andrew Warshaw
July 12 – If a hurt and bruised host nation thought it couldn’t get any worse, the sight of Argentina’s players emerging for Sunday’s World Cup final will dig the knife in even deeper. Especially at Rio de Janeiro’s ‘s iconic Maracana stadium.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 11 – Canada is hoping to use next year’s Women’s World Cup as a springboard to bidding for the men’s equivalent in 2026 when in theory it should be CONCACAF’s turn to host.
July 11 – South America vs Europe, The two dominant confederations have found their regional representatives for the final winner takes all match-up in the Maracana this Sunday.
July 11 – It wasn’t meant to be like this. The World Cup was planned to be a triumphal march through Brazil for the Seleção, ending at the Maracana for the grand finale at the grandest of football venues. Instead they meet Holland in Brasilia for the third placed play off Saturday. Wake, party or just time for Brazil to wake up?
July 11 – Still reeling from its World Cup humiliation, Brazil now has its most iconic female player demanding greater emphasis on the women’s game in the country.
July 11 – FIFA will appoint a temporary “normalisation” committee to run Gambian football until new federation elections are held. The move comes after the current Gambian Football Federation (GFF) board “lost the confidence of several major stakeholders.”
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
July 11 – Serbian Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovicic has held discussion with the management of the country’s leading football sides Partizan Belgrade and Red Star Belgrade on the possible privatisation of the state-owned clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 11 – The World Cup tickets scandal plaguing FIFA in the build-up to Sunday’s showpiece final is further intensifying with Brazilian police now treating the figure at the centre of their inquiries, Ray Whelan (pictured), who works for one of FIFA’s key associate companies, as a fugitive while his employers insist he is totally innocent of any wrongdoing.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 11 – CSKA Sofia is to have a second attempt at launching on the Bulgarian stock exchange. The club has said that a second public offering of shares is being prepared and that more details will be made available at a general meeting of the board later this month.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 11 – Not surprisingly Luis Suarez and the Uruguayan football federation have had their protest against his ban for that notorious World Cup bite rejected by the FIFA appeals committee.
By Mark Baber
July 10 – Russia’s Federation Council on Wednesday passed a bill which will suspend the ban on alcohol advertising which had initially been brought in to help tackle the country’s most acute public health crisis – alcohol abuse. The new measure allows TV advertising of alcohol, but only in conjunction with sports events.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 10 – Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad have signed a new kit deal with Italian sports apparel firm Macron replacing German giants Adidas as main technical sponsor. The sponsorship is for three years and starts from the 2014/2015 season.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 10 – FIFA have released their eagerly awaited regulations to make sure there is no foul play at next year’s presidential election campaign. The detailed 20-point set of rules follows the establishment at the FIFA Congress in May of a three-member Ad Hoc panel set up to supervise the process of the election.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
July 10 – Slask Wroclaw is poised to sign a new technical sponsorship contract with Adidas, replacing German rivals Puma which has been the Polish club’s kit sponsor since the 2009/2010 season.
July 10 – The son of Brazilian legend Pele has begun a 33-year jail sentence for money laundering, according to Brazilian reports.