By John Duerden
April 16 – Hafez Al Medlej may be the forgotten candidate for the upcoming Asian Football Confederation presidential election but the Saudi appears to believe he could end up becoming the sole contender from West Asia at the May 2 ballot.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 16 – Scottish football was plunged into total disarray when Premier League clubs failed to reach a consensus on a groundbreaking deal designed to restructure and re-invigorate the game, prompting widespread anger and in-fighting.
While FIFA is trying to reform its own organisation, the Swiss government is considering changing the laws – changes that will impact on the (about) 60 international sports organisations that are headquartered in Switzerland. However, the non-governmental sports multinationals don’t have to fear too many new rules and laws as the Swiss administration is working closely with the Basel Institute on Governance – the University institute headed by Professor Mark Pieth, FIFA’s chief reformer. This actually means that FIFA has a direct influence on the decision as to whether Switzerland’s lawmakers will eventually put change into place.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 15 – The political instability in Greece has now been matched by football unrest after AEK Athens players were chased off the pitch by their fans, causing the abandonment of their top-division fixture at the weekend.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 15 – The deadline for the eagerly awaited judgement into the long-running ISL saga was extended yet again today with no explanation from FIFA other than more time was needed by its ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 15 – The race for the presidency of the Asian Football Confederation has taken a dramatic new twist with the news that FIFA vice-president Worawi Makudi may not be able to count on the unanimous support of his own south-east Asia region.
By Mark Baber
April 15 – The battle between Sky and BT, which has seen TV revenues for football reach record levels, continues with BT now significantly undercutting the prices Sky charges to pubs, using Sky’s own platform.
By Mark Baber
April 15 – The Kazakhstan football federation has poured cold water on the hopes of Georgian federation president Zviad Sichinava (pictured), who is pushing to submit plans to UEFA for a united football league for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan which he claims would be able to attract significant investment.
It was on 23 June 1998 – Sepp Blatter’s 15th day as FIFA President – that it started to dawn on me that the governing body was probably going to have to do something about compensating clubs for players injured on international duty.
In just the fourth minute of what turned out to be a drab group match between Italy and Austria in the Stade de France, Alessandro Nesta, the elegant Lazio and Azzurri central defender,
By Chloé A. Añón Pasleau
April 15 – “It was always difficult to imagine that UEFA would allow a team that they have punished to reach the final,” said Málaga’s manager Manuel Pellegrini in his post-match press conference after Málaga´s controversial 3-2 Champions League quarter-final defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
By Paul Nicholson
April 14 – FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia has been declared persona non grata and put on a ‘black list’ by the Russian government. He is one of 18 US citizens on the list who will be denied any entry to Russia.Garcia, who is central to the FIFA investigations into allegations of corruption, has yet to report any findings but is known to be looking into the ISL case and the 2022 Qatar World Cup award.
By Gareth Messenger
April 12 – The chief executive of La Liga, Francisco Roca, believes clubs in Spain will agree to sell their television rights colectively within the next three years as they look to slim down the gap in commercial sales revenues between their clubs, and also in comparison with international competition like the Premier League and the sales-revamped Bundesliga.
By Paul Nicholson
April 12 – The first TV deal by CAA Eleven, the newly formed rights company representing UEFA’s national federations for their World Cup and European Championship qualifiers has been announced with the European Broadcast Union (EBU).
By Andrew Warshaw
April 12 – The English Premier League’s decision to introduce goalline technology in time for next season has been lauded by most of football’s participants, not least the fans.
By Mark Baber
April 12 – Football contributed a massive £330 million in gross value added (GVA) to Greater Manchester’s economy in 2010-11, with the global profile that Manchester receives from football worth an additional £100m a year on an advertising-equivalency basis, according to a new report just published.