By Alexander Krassimirov
April 11 – The Bulgarian Football Union, Bulgarian club Slavia and German investment company IFS have signed a preliminary agreement to build a new national stadium in Sofia. The deal between the three parties was finalised this week.
April 11 – Every senior fixture in England across all four professional divisions will kick off seven minutes later than normal this weekend as football marks the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough stadium disaster in Sheffield, when 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives at the club’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – The most comprehensive revelations to date into the scale and scope of match-fixing and betting fraud will be unveiled next month. The in-depth assessment is a partnership between the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security and the Sorbonne in Paris, with the goal being to influence governments in the fight against corruption in sport.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – A fresh development has emerged in the race for political power within Asian football with the news that Japan’s Tashima Kohzo, Vice President and Executive General Secretary of the Japanese FA, has officially announced he is to seek a seat on the FIFA Executive Committee at regional elections next year.
By Alexander Krassimirov
April 11 – Hakan Sukur’s nameplate in the Istanbul stadium named after him – Sancaktepe Hakan Sukur Stadium – has been removed by municipal workers after he resigned from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
April 11 – Football will be one of the main beneficiaries from a global growth in advertising rates, and commercial television will be the most dominant medium within that growth. For football’s rights holders that is good news as ad-driven TV stations will be able to afford premium rights, and sponsorship values will continue to grow as mass market audiences are delivered.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 10 – Despite continuing consternation by Serbia, Kosovo has broken yet new ground by arranging two more friendlies as it takes advantage of its new found status approved by FIFA.
April 10 – Stenden University Qatar (SUQ) is teaming up with Edinburgh Napier University for a two-year project titled ‘Leveraging the 2022 Qatar World Football Cup for the promotion of green and active living: A multiple stakeholder evaluation of strategic options’.
By Mark Baber
April 10 – The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) is putting forward Rome’s Stadio Olimpico as Italy’s candidate for Euro 2020. As the European football championship marks its 60th anniversary with a tournament to be hosted in 13 cities of the continent Italy will be bidding for a standard package only.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 10- The symbolic Hull City name change saga that has generated interest way beyond English shores has taken yet another turn — just days before one of the biggest games in the club’s history.
April 10- English football authorities are seeking a blanket ban on all gambling on matches by top-level players and officials following a string of embarrassing betting-related incidents.
By Paul Nicholson
April 10 – It has emerged that the Paynters St Georges football ground that is home to the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) has been mortgaged for EC$3 million ($1.1 million) at the Antigua Commercial Bank, where ABFA general secretary and Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president Gordon Derrick is vice chairman.
By Matt Scott
April 10 – UNICEF seems satisfied with Barcelona’s child-welfare practices despite the 12-month transfer ban the four-times European Cup winners received last week.
“Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.” William Blake
When Barcelona received a two-window transfer ban for their trade in minors last week, the reaction among the internet wits was predictable. “Must be horrible,” was the gist of it, “a life at Barça earning millions to play football. Wish I was suffering like them.”
But that kind of commentary misses the target as spectacularly as when Lionel Messi hit the bar from the penalty spot against Chelsea in the Champions League a couple of years ago.
Whether Massimo Cellino is allowed to remain an owner of Leeds remains an open question. The board of the Football League meet on Thursday to decide whether to let him run Leeds.
The story has all the makings of a modern soap opera. Cellino buys 75% of Leeds in February. But then he is disqualified by the League under its fit and proper test for owners because of Cellino’s conviction for tax evasion in a Sardinia court.