Inside World Football - Page 1766 of 2208 - For the Business of Football

Osasu Obayiuwana: Up for Champagne, anyone?

It’s one thing to throw pre-fight verbal salvos or shadow box in the dressing room.

But walking through the political gauntlet and stepping into the ring, especially when you don’t know the opponents you’re competing against, is certainly a huge leap of faith.

That’s what Jerome Champagne, the 55-year-old Frenchman and FIFA’s former deputy secretary-general and director of international affairs, took when he announced his decision, in London on Monday, to seek the most powerful position in football and,

Andrew Warshaw: Stalking horse or a real contender for the crown?

Decent man, strong principles and some seriously sensible ideas for modernising the game. But can Jerome Champagne really become the Comeback King at FIFA?

The more one analyses Champagne’s somewhat poorly structured launch announcement on Monday that he is to stand for president of world football’s governing body next year, the more one has to question not only whether he chose the right place to unveil his manifesto but also his motives and whether there is a hidden agenda.

Archive

Levski’s former coach takes to TV to threaten action over unpaid wages

Slavisa Jokanovic

By Alexander Krassmirov
January 21 – Serbian former head coach of Levski Sofia Slavisa Jokanovic has threatened to sue the Bulgarian club for unpaid wages. Jokanovic took over the team in July 2013, but remained at the helm just three months before being sacked last October because of poor results.

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Have boots will travel. Expats swamp Europe’s top 31 leagues, finds report

By Paul Nicholson
January 21 – The percentage of club-trained players making it into first team squads in Europe has hit an all-time low, according to data from the CIES Football Observatory’s sixth annual Demographic Study.

Archive

Ribery comments kick ‘political’ Ballon d’Or vote into play

Franck Ribery

By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – Some might call it sour grapes, others that it is a totally justified argument. But Franck Ribery’s angry reaction at being overlooked at last week’s Ballon d’Or award has certainly stirred up debate.

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Barca scrap plans for new stadium in favour of a €600m home makeover

Nou Camp redeveloped

By Paul Nicholson
January 21 – Barcelona have scrapped plans of a move to a new-build stadium at Avenida Diagonal in favour of a €600 million redevelopment of their iconic Nou Camp stadium. The new plan will now be put by the club’s directors to the vote of Barca’s 160,000 members in April.

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Valcke upbeat as Sao Paulo nears completion for 2014 opener

valcke inspection visit

January 21 – FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke at last had some good news after his latest visit to the new Sao Paulo stadium in Brazil which will host the opening game of the World Cup.

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Anelka charged as Zoopla follow up threat and pull £3m West Brom deal

Anelka and Mel

By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – Zoopla have followed up their threat to pull out of their £3m shirt sponsorship deal with English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion after the club refused to axe former French international Nicolas Anelka over his now-infamous inverted Nazi gesture. The FA have now charged the player with abusive and improper conduct.

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Third player given court date over English match-fixing charges

Moses Swaibu

January 20 – Moses Swaibu has become the third English Conference player to be charged with conspiracy to defraud. He, along with former teammates Michael Boateng and Hakeem Adelakun, played for Whitehawk FC, a Conference South team based in Brighton.

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Blatter calls for no political ‘grandstanding’ and no Sochi boycotts

Sepp Blatter 6

By Andrew Warshaw
January 20 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter says neither the World Cup nor the upcoming winter Olympics in Sochi should be targeted for political purposes. He also reiterated the importance of the fight against social exclusion but that boycotting Sochi would be a “surrender” on this issue.

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Poland’s Wroclaw sells majority stake in Slask to local businesses

Wroclaw Slask fans

By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 20 – Another Polish top tier club has had a change of ownership. Poland’s city of Wroclaw has sold a majority stake in troubled football club Slask Wroclaw to local companies Hasco-Lek, Supra Invest and Inter-System.

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Saints could soon be marching in to a Chinese tune

St Marys

By Paul Nicholson
January 20 – The richest man in China is rumoured to be lining up a move into Premier League football by buying Southampton. Last week Southampton’s chairman Nicola Cortese resigned, prompting immediate speculation that the Liebherr family who own the club were ready to sell.

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Sponsor flexes money muscle and demands Anelka is dropped

By Andrew Warshaw
January 20 – Shirt sponsors Zoopla have allegedly threatened to pull out of their £3 million deal with English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion unless the club drops former French international Nicolas Anelka over the allegedly racist sign he made over Christmas.

2014 News

Valcke back in Brazil as infrastructure build gets close to deadlines

jerome Valcke in brazil

January 20 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke is back in Brazil checking on the progress of World Cup stadiums – but has apparently cancelled a visit to Manaus because of a workers’ dispute at Arena Amazonas which is due to host a number of group games next summer.

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Champagne fizzes in to FIFA presidential race, but will he fizzle out?

jerome Champagne

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
January 20 – The first battle lines in the bid to become the next president of FIFA were drawn today when Jerome Champagne, one of the organisation’s most senior former administrators, officially announced his intention to run for the top job in world football. 