Moldovan match-fixer targeting U17 women gets life ban
February 17 – A Moldovan sports official has been banned for life for trying to bribe the coach of the country’s women’s under-17 team to fix an international match.
Mihir Bose: Sochi and the lessons Brazil can learn
On the face of it a winter Games should hold no lessons for a summer football World cup. Yet Sochi 2014 does have lessons for Brazil 2014 and it would be unwise of the Brazilians to ignore what is taking place along the Black Sea.
Brazil it must be said starts with an advantage that Sochi could never have had. For anyone interested in football Brazil is the home of football. England may have invented the game and framed the rules but Brazil,
Legia Warsaw eyes legal fireworks display to beat ban and sanctions
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 14 – After being hit by several heavy fines for its fans’ behaviour at home and away matches last year, Legia Warsaw has announced plans to organise the first legal fireworks display at its stadium. Legia’s management aims to overcome the fireworks ban which has led to sanctions and subsequent financial losses for numerous Polish football clubs.
Andrew Warshaw: Qatar needs time to clean up its act
Amid the often emotional rhetoric and highly-charged language used by human rights and trade union leaders at this week’s European Parliament session denouncing Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers were the usual trademark demands for the country to be stripped as 2022 World Cup hosts.
This is not being an apologist for some of the Gulf state’s notoriously archaic and antiquated laws. I, as much as anyone, believe that Qatar needs to rid itself of the totally unacceptable kafala employment system that has no place in the modern era and which French-Algerian footballer Zahir Belounis so movingly brought to the attention of fans worldwide.
The end of the line or the start of a proper football journey?
By Paul Nicholson
February 14 – “Barrow’s Holker Street ground is no more. It is now the Furness Building Society Stadium, Wilkie Road. But on emerging through the turnstiles on to the terraces, it is difficult to see what substantive changes the Furness Building Society have actually made, beyond financing a new mundane rectangular administrative block at one end of the ground, from which the teams later came out,” writes Steve Leach,
Zwanziger says Garcia’s World Cup bidding ethics report will be released this year
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
February 14 – The eagerly awaited report into whether any of the contenders for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were involved in corruption and broke bidding rules is expected to be released later this year according to a senior FIFA official.
Palestinians to demand FIFA expels Israel and say they have support
February 14 – Jibril Rajoub, chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, has said they will seek the expulsion of Israel from FIFA at the next FIFA Congress, and that he has the support of other Arab and North African nations.
‘No, no, no’, stadium will be ready and Curitiba will be a 2014 World Cup host
February 14 – FIFA and local officials have dismissed reports that contingency plans are being made to move World Cup matches away from Curitiba if authorities there fail to meet a February 18 deadline for completing the stadium.
Monaco fury as club rivals turn to law over their €50m LFP deal
By Andrew Warshaw
February 14 – The bitter row over Monaco’s special tax status in French football has intensified after seven other top-flight teams, including arch-rivals Paris St. Germain, threatened to take legal action, leaving the principality club “astounded”.
Osasu Obayiuwana: South Africa must confront the bitter truth
Had Fikile Mbalula, South Africa’s angry minister for sport, possessed a statutory right to execute members of Bafana-Bafana, for their dismal performance at the last Championship of African Nations (CHAN), I have little doubt he would have been sorely tempted to use it.
I’m also certain that some equally irate fans would have gladly paid for the privilege of watching the deed being done.
Having failed to qualify for the knockout rounds of the tournament they were hosting,
Zwanziger promises no ‘blind eye’ as EU hearing turns up heat on Qatar
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
February 13 – One of FIFA’s most influential administrators today stepped up the pressure on Qatar to comply with international employment standards as the 2022 World Cup hosts came under fierce scrutiny at the European Parliament.
Moroccan Ouaddou wins FIFA case as Qatar SC ordered to pay wages
By Andrew Warshaw
February 13 – FIFA has backed the case of former Morocco defender Abdeslam Ouaddou, the latest foreign footballer to claim he did not receive his salary whilst playing in Qatar and was not allowed to leave the country under its notorious kefala employment system.
Man Utd report record results and set aside war chest for Summer
By Paul Nicholson
February 13 – Manchester United announced another quarter of record financial revenue with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward confident that the club would still be able to sustain financial momentum even if it failed to qualify for the Champions League 2014/15 competition. He also indicated the club would be spending substantially in the summer looking to a long-term future as the first team is re-built.
Spurs push deeper into Asia with AIA shirt sponsorship
By Andrew Warshaw
February 13 – Tottenham Hotspur are the latest top-flight English club to launch a major push into the Asian market by announcing a five-year multi-million pound shirt sponsorship deal with Hong Kong-based insurance giants AIA. The deal drives the club deeper into the Asian markets having recently launched a Chinese language add-on to its website as well as securing new TV deals in the region.