Inside World Football - Page 1770 of 2243 - For the Business of Football

Qatari chief says World Cup is bringing change to a ‘football-nuts’ region

Hassan Al-Thawadi.1

By Andrew Warshaw
April 7 – The head of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising team says his country is “committed to positive change” despite the latest outpouring of adverse publicity over the treatment of migrant workers. Hassan Al-Thawadi admits he is “hurt” by the barrage of negative reporting, much of it emanating from the British media, and insists the World Cup will act as a catalyst for doing away with some of Qatar’s antiquated laws.

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Former Romanian club owner ready to invest to save Rapid Bucharest

Rapid Bucharest

By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 7 – Marian Iancu, the former owner of Poli Timisoara, has announced plans to become a shareholder in Rapid Bucharest as the troubled football club is struggling to stay financially afloat and return to the top tier of Romania’s professional football league.

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Cellino wins appeal and declared ‘fit and proper’ to takeover at Leeds

Massimo Cellino

By Andrew Warshaw
April 7 – English football’s guidelines designed to prevent anyone with a suspect or unscrupulous background taking over its clubs have been plunged into farce after Italian entrepreneur Massimo Cellino was cleared to complete his takeover of Leeds United.

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US sack Sermanni ahead of Women’s World Cup finals in Canada

Tom Sermanni

By Andrew Warshaw
April 7 – After just 15 months in the job, Tom Sermanni has been sacked as coach of the United States’ women’s team just a year ahead of the World Cup finals in Canada.

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Nissan takes over from Ford at Champions League to drive up market share

Nissan sponsorship

By Mark Baber
April 7 – Nissan confirmed it has agreed a four-year global partnership with the UEFA Champions League including the UEFA Super Cup. The agreement represents the Japanese manufacturer’s largest ever sponsorship deal and will establish Nissan as an official partner worldwide from 2014/15 to and including the 2017/18 seasons.

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CONCACAF debuts its first Beach Soccer training course

El Salvador Beach Soccer team

April 7 – CONCACAF is holding its first ever Beach Soccer coaching course starting this week in Fort Lauderdale, Miami. The course is the next extension of the confederation’s development programme led by CONCACAF’s director of development Hugo Salcedo.

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Webb and Platini sign for a more co-operative future in Cayman

Webb and Platini

April 7 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb hosted UEFA president Michel Platini in the Cayman Islands this weekend. The two confederation chiefs signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) “for mutual co-operation towards the development of the game”.

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Costa Rica breaks records with hosting of U-17 Women’s World Cup

Sepp Blatter and Eduardo Li

By Paul Nicholson
April 4 – The final of FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica takes place tonight with Japan and Spain competing for the top honour. Italy and Venezuela will face off for the bronze medal.

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British government acts to shake-up English football’s transparency

Houses of Parliament

By Mark Baber
April 4 – A bill passing its way through the British Parliamentary system will increase transparency in football club ownership and remove the protection so-called ‘football creditors’ have when clubs fall into financial difficulty.

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Man City leads Premier League’s digital drive with top end stadium wi-fi

Manchester City

By Tom Parsons
April 4 – Following Liverpool’s move last year to introduce Wi-Fi to its 12,000 seater Centenary Stand, Manchester City has become the first Premier League Club to install free Wi-Fi throughout their whole stadium.

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New evidence prompts more arrests as English spot-fixing scandal deepens

April 4 – The spot-fixing scandal that rocked English football at the back end of last year has escalated with the revelation that seven more professional players, all from the north of the country, have been arrested taking the number suspected to 13.

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Barca say there will be ‘no change’ and searches for whistle-blower

Josep Maria Bartomeu

By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu (pictured) says the transfer ban imposed by FIFA for signing under-age players is “unjust” and is standing firmly behind the Catalan giant’s system of nurturing some of the world’s biggest stars.

2014 News

Blatter confirms Uruguayan team will be in Brazil despite federation suspension

uruguay shirt

By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has stepped into the Uruguayan crisis by declaring the country will not be kicked out of the World Cup – even though the federation has now been suspended by Conmebol, the confederation that runs South American football.

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Lokomotiv flies into trouble as players unpaid and owner goes off the radar

Loko train

By Alexander Krassimirov
April 4 – Players at Bulgaria’s Lokomotiv Plovdiv refused to train yesterday in a protest against unpaid wages. Meanwhile the club’s honorary president Hristo Bonev said publically that the future of the club was in doubt.

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Uruguayan politicos backtrack and will continue to police matches

Uruguayan policing

April 3 – Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has backtracked over his decision to withdraw policing at domestic matches, a move that led to the entire board of national football federation resigning.