Inside World Football - Page 1819 of 2235 - For the Business of Football

Exclusive: Cyprus’s landmark pact opens pathway towards a unified league

Hasan Sertoglu

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
November 7 – A joint football league could be resurrected in Cyprus within two years as a result of this week’s historic deal between Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials and FIFA. That’s the view of Hasan Sertoglu (pictured), head of the unofficial Cyprus Turkish Football Association (CTFA) following the provisional arrangement signed by both sides to organise the sport on the divided Mediterreanan island.

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Adidas reports 2013 slow down but watch out for $2.7bn World Cup bonanza

adidas - brazuca

By Paul Nicholson
November 7 – FIFA sponsor Adidas reported a third quarter drop in net profit by 8.1% to €316 million, with sales down 7% to €3.88 billion and operating profit down 6% to €463 million. But the sporting goods and appareil giant said that this was pretty much in line with expectations and analysts are expecting a bumper World Cup year in 2014.

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Ronaldo supports peaceful protests but insistent 2014 will be positive for Brazil

Ronaldo

By Andrew Warshaw
November 7 – Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldo has never been afraid to speak his mind whether as a player or in his new role as a prominent member of the organising committee for next year’s World Cup. The former striker, who scored both goals in the 2002 final and starred in European club football with PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Internazionale, Real Madrid and Milan, was in London this week to promote Brazil 2014.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Why is it impossible to form a WADA to deal with match fixing?

On the face of it seems very easy to find a solution for match fixing. Everyone agrees it is bad and if not controlled it will ruin sport – indeed in China it has all but destroyed Chinese domestic football. But having agreed how dreadful it is we run up against the problem that it is impossible to find a universal system to police it.

How difficult this can be was well illustrated when on Wednesday of this week a conference was held to discuss sport integrity.

Africa

Ghana concern grows over player safety for final World Cup play off in Cairo

ghana-vs-egypt

By Andrew Warshaw
November 7 – The Ghanaian government has urged FIFA to re-examine allowing the country’s forthcoming World Cup playoff second leg against Egypt to be played in Cairo. Earlier this week FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitted in a video interview that the organisation was looking carefully at its decision in the wake of the continuing violence in Egypt.

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Levski escape with minimum sanction after ‘death banner’ hearing

Bulgarian Football Union

By Alexander Krassimirov
November 7 – Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia was punished with a minimum fine for misconduct of its supporters during the championship game against Pirin Gotse Delchev last weekend. The club’s Ultras (extreme fans) raised banners calling for the “death of the refugees” in Bulgaria.

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WADA view on recreational drugs ‘stuck in 20th century’, claims UK players body

recreational drugs

By David Owen
November 7 – With just a week to go before anti-doping chiefs gather in Johannesburg to adopt a revised version of the World Anti-Doping Code, a UK body has slammed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s approach to athletes’ use of recreational drugs.

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Soccerex Rio cancelled in war of words over money and safety

rio2

By Andrew Warshaw
November 6 – The last minute cancellation of the Soccerex convention scheduled to be held in Rio later this month has sparked a war of words between the convention organiser Duncan Revie and Rio de Janeiro’s state government. Revie blames the government for pulling out due to civil unrest, the government says that the situation results from a commercial revenue shortfall.

Andrew Warshaw: A tricky day for 2014 public relations, but the tickets are selling even if the security stories aren’t

Whoever is being economical with the truth about the reasons for the Soccerex global football convention in Rio being cancelled, the news was timed with a shambolic attempt at promoting Brazil’s World Cup. What started out as a good idea and looked like smart timing for a push to get people to travel to the 2014 party, rapidly went downhill.

When Thierry Weil, FIFA’s marketing director, and Ricardo Trade, head of the local organising committee,

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CONCACAF draw sets scene for 2 years of Women’s championships

U20-Draw-Enrique-FEature

By Paul Nicholson
November 6 – CONCACAF held the draw for the confederation’s Women’s Under-20 Championship 2014 Cayman Islands, yesterday. The eight team finals will be played in Grand Cayman in January 2014, the top three teams qualifying for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals to be held in Canada in August.

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ICSS and UNICEF partner to ‘Save the Dream’ in Brazil

November 6 – The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), the Qatar-based organisation that is increasingly becoming an important player when it comes to tackling the integrity of sport – in particular match-fixing and discrimination – has signed a partnership with UNICEF in Brazil.

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Blatter questions World Cup play off format as last 11 places up for grabs

brazil2

By Andrew Warshaw
November 6 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter is keen to scrap World Cup qualifying playoffs in future – because they are too painful for the losers. Blatter may not be around in 2018 depending on whether he stands for president again but says so many playoffs is a hard way for teams to miss out on the finals.

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Greek authorities raid FA offices as part of financial investigation

Hellenic Football Federation

By Panos Bletsos
November 6 – The Hellenic Football Federation looks to be in serious trouble as more than 40 state officials, including prosecutors and financial crime investigators, raided the EPO headquarters unannounced on Monday in search of evidence of financial irregularities.

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58 years of separation ends as Cypriots reach milestone unification pact

Cypriot football

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
November 5 – After months of sensitive negotiations, a major milestone in the history of Cypriot football was reached today when Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials signed a provisional agreement with FIFA aimed at ending decades of mistrust and disunity between the respective footballing communities on the divided Mediterranean island.

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Blurred picture from medics over whether Lloris should have played on

Hugo Lloris down

By Andrew Warshaw
November 5 – Far too risky or a calculated move that paid off? Very much the former according to both FIFA and the international players’ union FIFpro who have criticised English club Tottenham Hotspur for allowing their French international goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to play on last weekend after he briefly lost consciousness before recovering.