Inside Insight: ‘To Qatar or Not Qatar’, that is the (real) question

Winter or summer?

Confucius say: Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

A summer World Cup has always been the FIFA choice in the past. Ever since the first one in 1930 in Uruguay.

But then, in Switzerland for example, women were not allowed to vote until the sixties – hence women not voting “had always been the choice” until such time as they were allowed to become full-time citizens.

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David Owen: A big step forward, but where do you draw the new technology line?

I don’t know if Michel Platini is a fan of Ashes cricket.

If he is, he might have allowed himself a wry smile at the way debates relating to the sport’s attempts to harness technology to improve the quality of on-pitch decisions have provided an engrossing sub-text to the live action as the series has progressed.

Platini as far as I know still opposes use of the sort of goal-line technology that the Premier League will deploy for the first time at Anfield on Saturday when Liverpool and Stoke City kick off the 2013-14 season.

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Lee Wellings: Europe shouldn’t set Qatar 2022 temperature

FIFA admit it was a mistake to award two World Cups – 2018 and 2022 – at the same time.

But anyone expecting them to admit giving 2022 to Qatar was a mistake has a long wait.

As the issue is clouded with controversy and debate we get further away from a simple, important truth. That there hasn’t been a World Cup in the Middle East and that there should be a World Cup in Middle East.

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Osasu Obayiuwana: World Cup worries for Africa

As many within the fraternity would remember, the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa were coined as the ‘African World Cup’, for obvious ‘feel good’ reasons – being the first (and hopefully not the last) World Cup to be hosted on the continent.

But with five of Africa’s six teams knocked out in the first round of that tournament, it was anything but a successful advertisement for the strength of its football.

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No threat to status of Barca and Real, but EC still investigating illegal aid

Barca and Real

By Mark Baber
August 13 – The European Commission is looking into the issue of illegal state aid for Spanish clubs. A complainant, impatient over the delay in the investigation, has followed up with the European Ombudsman who has pressed the Commission for a reply. But there is no truth in the reports that Real Madrid and Barcelona would be forced by the EC to give up their privileged status as member-owned clubs and become plcs.

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News Corp scoop up digital rights to drive expansion in Asia

Robert Thomson

By Paul Nicholson
August 13 – News Corp has expanded its digital rights deals into Asia having secured the rights to show online digital clips for English Premier League matches in Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. The rights deals mark the extension of a new strategy for the traditional print publisher which has been suffering revenue attrition at its core newspaper, especially in the UK where the group, and its majority shareholder Rupert Murdoch,

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Autopsy finds Ecuador’s Benitez had pre-existing heart condition

Christian Benitez

By Paul Nicholson
August 13 – Ecuadorian striker Christian Benitez who died in Qatar a day after playing his first game for the Al Jaish club on July 29, had a congential heart ailment that had gone undetected in numerous physical examinations. The 27-year-old Ecuadorian striker’s death had added fuel to the debate over whether to switch the 2022 Qatar World Cup to winter, partly so as not to endanger players’ health. However,

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Europe’s leagues flex muscle and issue warning over Winter 2022 proposal

Frederic Thiriez

By Matt Scott
August 13 – European clubs have warned FIFA not to push for a winter World Cup in 2022 without due process. Frédéric Thiriez (pictured), the president of the European Professional Football Leagues [EPFL] and president of France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), has written to FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter, urging “exhaustive analysis” and “general consultation” before moving to hold the tournament in the Qatari winter. 

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Hull owner grabs Tigers by the tail, but upsets fan group

Hull City Tiger

By Mark Baber
August 12 – The announcement that Hull City AFC will be renamed Hull City Tigers has been met with some hostility from fans of the Yorkshire club, despite club owner Assem Allam touting the benefits of marketing the club as Hull City Tigers locally and Hull Tigers to national and international audiences.

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Mexican players escape drug sanction over contaminated meat

sombrero fan

By Mark Baber
August 12 – Two Mexican league players have escaped punishment, despite testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol, after they claimed to have eaten the substance accidentally in contaminated meat, according to the Mexican Football Federation (FMF). In Mexico, the eating of contaminated beef has been accepted as a legitimate excuse for the presence of clenbuterol in an athlete’s sample since 2011, when the Mexican government pledged to address the public health problem of contaminated meat.

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Bulgarian player arrested on murder charge in Sofia

picture 01

By Alexander Krassimirov
August 12 – Former Bulgarian under-21 international and Slavia Sofia midfielder Borislav Baldzhiyski has been charged with murder after a man was killed on Tuesday night in Sofia. Lawyer Peter Aleksov was beaten to death in front of a casino. Baldzhiyski could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.

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