By Paul Nicholson
February 3 – Pep Guardiola’s biographer Daniel Martinez reckons that the Bayern coach sees Philipp Lahm as his most important player. And if Bayern retain the Champions League and Germany win the World Cup then the aging defender turned midfield general would be nailed-on for the next FIFA player of the year.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 3 – Mental strength has long been regarded as one of German football’s greatest qualities but Franz Beckenbauer, the country’s most revered footballing icon, believes it may have been lost.
February 3 – French football stars Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema have been cleared on all charges in their underage sex trial in Paris. The prosecution had been tasked with proving they had illegally slept with a teenage prostitute – a crime which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
February 3 – The base camps for all the 32 teams at the World Cup have been confirmed by world federation FIFA, with two thirds choosing the more developed south of the country despite the fact that they have to travel huge distances for matches.
February 3 – Tributes have poured in from around the world for Luis Aragones, the man who ended Spain’s 44-year wait for a major international trophy by winning Euro 2008.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 3 – First he was the manager, then he wasn’t, then he was again: all within 24 hours. The mayhem surrounding the prospective Italian takeover of iconic English club Leeds United took several farcical twists over the weekend when Brian McDermott was re-instated by the club’s directors after seemingly being sacked.
February 3 – The Genoa derby, one of the most passionate in Italian football, will take place tonight after its original lunchtime kick-off on Sunday was called off when fans threatened to boycott the game in protest of a switch from the traditional afternoon start to accommodate television schedules.
By David Owen
February 3 – Premier League clubs spent a moderate £130 million in the January transfer window, far less than the record £225 million disbursed in January 2011, in spite of the boost to income provided by the new cycle of TV deals.
By David Owen
January 31 – The market continues to applaud BT’s high-profile push into sports broadcasting, in spite of the impact its strategy is having on costs both in its retail division and at rival Premier League broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.
By Paul Nicholson
January 31 – A new app using crowdsourced insights into betting patterns has been launched for iPads. BETFUZE, a London-based technology driven business, has developed the app as a tool for sports betting.
January 31 – The management-led buyout of English Chamoionship club Leeds United has fallen apart with the incoming consortium Sport Capital, headed by Leeds managing director David Haigh, failing to conclude a deal to buy 75% of the club from Bahrain-based investment bank GFH Capital.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 31 – The workers’ rights issue that has plagued 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar is back in the spotlight after FIFA set a February 12 deadline for the Gulf state to explain what measures were being undertaken to improve the situation.
What impact should we expect UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations to have on business conducted during player transfer windows such as the one that closes today?
You might think the break-even requirement enshrined in the rules would have a chilling effect, dissuading clubs from splashing the cash on these costly assets.
Actually though I think this will be far from the case. Why? Because of the lop-sided way player valuations are dealt with in corporate accounts,
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
January 31 – Former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has been forced to relinquish all his roles within the European Club Association following his decision to quit the Catalan giants. Rosell, who played a key role in promoting the interests of more than 200 clubs, is no longer taking part in any decision making at the ECA and has left a huge gap in ongoing club-versus-country negotiations with FIFA and UEFA.
January 31 – There is no let-up in the demand for tickets for Brazil 2014 as the five-time world champions battle against infrastructure delays to stage the tournament for the first time in over half a century.