By Alexander Krassimirov
April 23 – There was yet more chaos in Bulgarian top tier football after the shocking scenes of violence that caused the abandonment of the Plovdiv derby at the weekend. This time it was the extreme Ultras of Levski Sofia who took action into their own hands amid fears that the top level of the game is getting out of control in the country.
“To sell a bargain well is as cunning as fast and loose.” William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost
Football fans today must be as literate in financial matters as in the intricacies of the midfield-diamond formation or of the Cruyff Turn. Recent reports that some clubs will face regulatory sanctions in the first application of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play environment show that to be the case, and columns such as this owe their existence to money’s ever-growing role in the world’s biggest sport.
April 23 – Sportlobster, a social network for sports fans, has raised £2.2 million for a minority stake in the business from MBM Capital Partners and Wychwood Capital. The new money into the year old company will be used to update the website and app.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers are reported to have agreed to radically scale back the number of stadiums being built for the tournament, possibly by up to one third.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – David Moyes, the man personally recommended by Sir Alex Ferguson to succeed him as manager of Manchester United, has been sacked after only 10 months in the job – the third shortest reign of any manager in the club’s illustrious history.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 22 – Legia Warsaw could launch an initial public offering on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) in the few next years, according to Dariusz Mioduski, the majority shareholder of the Warsaw-based club.
By Alexander Krassimirov
April 21 – Ferocious scenes terminated Bulgarian derby between Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Botev Plovdiv. The match, which in Bulgaria has become known as the Battle of Plovdiv, was stopped in the 41st minute after the home crowd started to throw missiles, stones and flares towards the ground in protest against club owner Konstantin Dinev.
April 21- Embroiled in constant negative headlines about the World Cup, Brazilian football has now been rocked by a shambolic domestic dispute when relegated Portuguesa abandoned their opening game of the new league season after just 17 minutes after a court order ruled they had a right to remain in the top division.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 20 – Australia’s national women’s team coach Hesterine de Reus has been sacked less than a month before the country’s defence of the AFC Women’s’ Asian Cup. Football Federation Australia announced the decision following an internal review into the Dutch woman’s methods.
Names can be powerful things, particularly today when almost no-one is beyond the reach of electronic media.
In these superficial times, your name can be one of the most important factors in determining what people think about you and, hence, your destiny.
It is worth bearing this in mind when contemplating the fate of Saadi Gaddafi.
Now in prison in his native Libya having recently been extradited from Niger where he took refuge following the overthrow of his father,
By Andrew Warshaw
April 20 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter says points deductions are a far better deterrant for tackling racism than stadium closures – which UEFA have been particularly keen on – since the latter are ‘unduly excessive’ punishments that hurt the game itself rather than penalise the guilty parties.
April 20 – With the clock ticking towards kickoff, FIFA secretary-general Jérôme Valcke returns to Brazil next week to visit four World Cup host cities – São Paulo, Curitiba, Cuiabá and Fortaleza.
April 20 – Asian football’s flagship tournament, the Asian Cup, is being expanded in 2019 from 16 to 24 teams, abandoning the lower-level Challenge Cup in the process.
By Mark Baber
April 17 – This week has seen the launch of the Panini Online Sticker Album for the 2014 FIFA World Cup hosted on FIFA.com in association with presenting partner Coca-Cola, and the roll-out of the official video game for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, published by EA Sports for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
April 17 – The MLS has added a 22nd franchise in Atlanta. The team will play its first season in 2017 in a 29,000 capacity stadium it will share with NFL team the Atlanta Falcons, Both franchises are owned by Arthur Blank.