By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Following the unprecedented impact of substitutes at the World Cup, football’s lawmakers will be asked to consider a proposal that teams be allowed to use a fourth sub during extra time.
By David Owen
July 3 – FIFA has set up a three-man electoral committee to supervise the process of what may yet be a bitter and divisive presidential election.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – FIFA has asked the German news magazine Der Spiegel to come up with the evidence of its conversation with convicted match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal amid the ongoing confusion over whether Cameroon’s players deliberately rigged their games at the World Cup.
The Uruguayan polemicist and football fanatic Eduardo Galeano once wrote: “Tell me how you play, and I will tell you who you are.”
So now as the World Cup, in the country made for football and made by football, draws to a close it is worth asking what this World Cup has told us about football and about us. That such a question can be raised about what is essentially 22 men in shorts kicking a ball around shows us how football is seen in Latin America.
At this rate will an African nation win the World Cup by the end of THIS century?
Pele regularly demonstrates why he was an infinitely better footballer than pundit, but his famous line that an African team would triumph by the year 2000 is quoted more than any of his other theories.
Watching the exciting Cameroon and Nigeria in the 1990s raised hopes that defensive frailties may one day be improved upon,
By David Owen
July 2 – Clubs as diverse as Aalesunds FK, Columbus Crew and Deportivo Saprissa are set to receive bigger-than-expected World Cup windfalls, as a consequence of Costa Rica’s improbable run to the quarter-finals of Brazil 2014.
By David Owen
July 2 – It’s neck and neck in the Battle of the Brands as the World Cup takes a pause before moving on to the quarter-final matches. Sportswear heavyweights Nike and Adidas each supplies the kit for three of the eight Brazil 2014 survivors. Puma, however, has faded from the picture, after none of its eight teams progressed beyond the Last 16 stage.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – Twenty years after the darkest episode in their country’s footballing history, a Twitter campaign has been launched to mark today’s anniversary of the death of Andres Escobar, the Colombian defender tragically gunned down for scoring an own goal in a World Cup group match against the United States.
July 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter says UEFA will be tempted to perform a u-turn and introduce goal-line technology for the 2016 European Championship finals even though UEFA boss Michel Platini has long stated his objection to the innovation and prefers his system of two additional referee’s assistants.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – Barcelona have seemingly upped the stakes in their bid to sign shamed Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez with Barca’s sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta (pictuded) praising Suarez for his public apology for his bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup,
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – The convicted match-fixer at the centre of allegations surrounding Cameroon’s World Cup squad has denied he predicted the outcome of their match against Croatia which prompted international speculation of corruption at the tournament.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 2 – Financially challenged Bulgarian club Levski Sofia has moved again to fill the gaps in its finances by looking to get help from its fans, Owner Todor Batkov is to transfer 15% of ownership of the club to the supporters’ trust Blue Bulgaria.
July 2 – A poll has found that the majority of fans attending the 2014 world cup games are white and wealthy. This might be surprising, seeing as Brazil is a racially diverse nation and has a higher population of blacks than all nations in the world excepting Nigeria, yet probably isn’t since we are used to this demographic being over represented at the world cup due to the costs of tickets, travel and accommodation.
“Everyone loves a conspiracy.” The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
With more than 200 million copies of his novels in print, it turns out the Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown had a point. There is something thrilling to be found in the hidden truth that only the beholder can see.
In football it has many guises: from the ‘in-the-know’ reporter or supporter who purveys gossip about a club’s transfer activity,
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
July 1 – The Czech football association (FACR) is to launch a series of measures to increase safety at stadiums, curb violence and improve communication with fans, said Dusan Svoboda, head of the country’s Football League Association (LFA).