Next time you go and watch your local team and you see a totally unnecessary foul or an unexplained provocation leading to a red or yellow card, it might not be because of a rush of blood to the head by the player involved.
Likewise next time you see a crazy penalty or some other ridiculous refereeing decision, it might not be because of genuine if irritating human error.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Zahir Belounis, the footballer whose story of being “trapped” in Qatar against his will made him an international cause celebre, was in London today for preliminary talks with unidentified clubs over possibly extending his career in the English league.
December 11- The opening game of the FIFA World Club Cup today in Morocco will see the first time the official Handshake for Peace has been integrated formally into the match protocol. The Handshake for Peace campaign is a joint initiative between FIFA and the Nobel Peace Center in Norway and will feature at all the matches in the Club World Cup.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 11 – Poland’s Ekstraklasa is planning to launch its own television channel. Under the plan, the channel will hold Polish league football broadcast rights and resell them to digital platforms and cable operators.
December 11 – Barcelona will make a decision in January whether to move from the iconic Nou Camp stadium, their home for more than half a century.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Almost unnoticed in the aftermath of the World Cup draw in Brazil, FIFA’s Club World Cup competition was getting under way in Morocco today – finally presenting the north African country with their own international tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Three years after winning the bid to stage the 2022 World Cup by a landslide vote, Qatar’s organising chief is back on the offensive, rebuffing any suggestion that the Gulf state was guilty of any impropriety. Hassan Al-Thawadi, Secretary General, Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, insists Qatar complied with FIFA regulations and that allegations to the contrary have “absolutely no basis”.
By Paul Nicholson
December 11 – Chinese brewer Tsingtao has become the first Chinese brand to sign a deal with the Asian Football Confederation. In a three-year tie-up, starting 2014, the Tsingtao brewery will sponsor the AFC’s club competitions.
By David Owen
December 11 – Not that there is any connection, but Manchester United’s latest Premier League woes have coincided with the installation of new display boards – “the largest, brightest and clearest pitch-side electronic boards in football,” the club says – at its Old Trafford base.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – Scottish champions Celtic have taken what appear to be steps to disband their notorious Green Brigade fans group after a reported £10,000 worth of damage was caused to the away end of the ground at Motherwell’s stadium during last Friday’s league game between the clubs.
December 10 – Ministers of sport and representatives of sports bodies from over 20 countries have urged policy makers to change their outlook and give sport greater priority as a tool for change.
December 10 – The usual suspects have again lined up to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or award as the world’s best player – but there is no place in the final shortlist for the world’s most expensive player, Gareth Bale.
December 10 – Last weekend’s fan violence in Brazil, at the final round of the season’s Serie A fixtures, has not put off a scramble for World Cup match tickets, with 86% of requests for match tickets coming from Brazilian fans.
December 10 – A fanatical Kenyan Manchester United fan, seemingly unable to cope with the club’s recent defeat against Newcastle which put them 13 points adrift of leaders Arsenal in the Premier League table, tragically took his own life.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – FIFA and World Cup organisers have been quick to re-assure an anxious public that the shocking scenes of violence at a Brazilian championship game at the weekend, screened across the world, were far removed from what can be expected next summer.