Inside World Football - Page 1741 of 2100 - For the Business of Football

David Owen: Financial fine print makes interesting reading, especially for Arsenal and Villa fans

I have been trawling the fine print of the new Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance (so you don’t have to).

Since football fans like league tables, I have used the data to put together 26 top-threes ranking English Premier League clubs according to different financial parameters.

I wouldn’t read too much into them without scrutinising the big picture.

However, Arsenal supporters, starved of real on-field success, may have mixed feelings about the north London club’s top ranking for most cash,

Archive

CIES Survey values Messi at twice Ronaldo and Barça squad at €658m

By Mark Baber
June 13 – The CIES Football Observatory has published the 2013 edition of its Annual Review analysing an eclectic mix of statistics, based on data from OPTAPro on the ‘Big 5’ leagues of Europe – the Premier League, Liga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga and Serie A.

Archive

Players Union and government seek common ground to expand football economy

By Gareth Messenger
June 13 – The headquarters of the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) yesterday hosted the first visit of D. Miguel Cardenal Carro (pictured) since he became the secretary of state for sport.

Archive

Manchester United fans get shirty over Cantona’s collar

By Tom Parsons
June 13 – Manchester United Megastore officials caused a stir when they announced that they would not print some of their ex-players’ names on the back of the club’s newly launched home kit.

Africa

CVMóvel renews Cape Verde deal and dives deeper with the Blue Sharks

June 13 – CVMóvel, a subsidiary of Portugal Telecom in Cape Verde and the Cape Verde Football Federation have renewed their sponsorship partnership for a further three years, whilst launching the CVMóvel Blue Sharks, aimed at training a new generation of Cape Verde players.

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Chevy in cruise control as it adds US Soccer to portfolio alongside Man Utd

By Mark Baber
June 13 – The United States Soccer Federation and Chevrolet announced a three-year sponsorship deal on Monday which makes Chevrolet the Official Partner of U.S. Soccer for the next three years.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: Tahiti the whipping boys

What on earth are Tahiti doing in the Confederations Cup?

They will be the biggest Tahitian whipping boys since Captain Bligh sailed the south Pacific in the 18th century and there was a ‘mutiny on the Bounty’.

It underlines the problem FIFA have had since Australia became part of Asia’s football family, and even they would not be an ideal ‘eighth’ team in a major tournament on current form.

Australia’s departure in 2006 has given opportunities to New Zealand in international and club football that may not be entirely fair,

Archive

Lionel Messi faces tax fraud charges in Spain

By Gareth Messenger
June 13 – Barcelona forward and World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is under investigation by Spanish tax authorities for allegedly defrauding the state of more than €4m. The Argentina international and his father Jorge have reportedly filed fraudulent tax returns for 2007, 2008 and 2009, according to a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, for tax crimes in Catalonia.

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Argentine FA issues two-match ban on away supporters after fan shot dead

By Mark Baber
June 12 – Argentinean fans have been banned from attending away games for the next two matches following the death of Lanus football fan Daniel Jerez at the Clausura match between Estudiantes de La Plata and Lanus at the Ciudad de La Plata Stadium, near Buenos Aires, on Monday night

Archive

Gerrard testimonial to open BT Sport’s assault on Sky Sports dominance

By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – BT will kick off its live football coverage on its new sports channel, BT Sport, with excusive Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard’s testimonial game, Liverpool vs Olympiacos, August 3.

Archive

Quebec Soccer suspended over refusal to lift turban ban

By Mark Baber
June 12 – The Quebec Soccer Federation has been suspended by the Canadian Soccer Association after failing to reverse its decision to ban the use of turbans/patkas/keski on the football pitch.

Africa

Lagos football film festival opens with ‘slave ship’ story

By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – The first African Football Film Festival (AFFF) opens tomorrow in Lagos, Nigeria. Starting small, the first edition of the festival will be over three days and will screen five films. The organisers, non-government organisation (NGO) PLAY!YA have set up a cinema in Gowon Estate in Lagos, one of the more neglected districts in the Nigerian capital Lagos.

Archive

David Owen: Not being there – how television became football’s chief paymaster

Nothing in recent years has changed football as much as television.

The box in the living-room corner has spawned Manchester United fans from Tacoma to Tahiti and made top players as wealthy as successful bond traders.

Few of us now, not even the most avid groundhoppers, consume as many matches live as on TV.

Even professional football reporters, who think nothing of covering 100 games a season, will turn instantly to the screens scattered around the press stands to assess whether a foul has been committed or the ball has crossed the line.

Africa

Togolese players refuse to travel to Libya for World Cup qualifier

By Mark Baber
June 12 – Despite FIFA’s decision to move Friday’s Libya-Togo World Cup qualifier from Benghazi to Tripoli, Togo’s captain Alaixys Romao (pictured) and Jonathan Ayite are refusing to take the trip on the grounds of personal security.

Archive

Global fan vote opens for first ever ‘All Star’ football concept

By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – Pick the best 30 players in the world and play them off against each other – Europe vs Rest of the World – is something that could generally only happens in a computer game. Having football fans globally pick the top 30 players makes it slightly more unlikely. Or is it?