Inside World Football - Page 1827 of 2235 - For the Business of Football

John Yan: An insult to the public mood 中国足球，侮辱公众情绪

Away to Indonesia on October 15, the away round of qualification group matches of the Asian Cup, Team China earned an embarrasing draw, 1:1. Indonesia’s FIFA ranking before the match was 170th.

Funny thing happened again. A week before the match, the President of China, Mr. Xi Jinping, was visiting Indonesia, and made some comments about his beloved game of football: “I hope one day that China and Indonesia could meet in the finals of World Cup,”

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Is Libya safe for a 2017 Cup of Nations?

As the opening stage of the 2014 World Cup play-offs for Africa ended on Tuesday, another four weeks must pass before knowing, for certain, the quintet that will represent the continent in Brazil.

But Algeria, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria and particularly Ghana’s Black Stars, which gave Egypt a surprising 6-1 wallop in Kumasi, will be feeling they are closer to earning their qualification tickets.

Whilst fans were concentrating on the action taking place across the continent,

Archive

FIFA takes control of Solomon Islands football after budget bungle

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By Mark Baber
Ocotber 17 – FIFA and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) have appointed a normalisation committee to take control of the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) after the federation’s funding was put on hold whilst an investigation looks into poor accounting by the federation’s administrators.

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Barca chief Rosell defends new child ticket charges

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By Gareth Messenger
October 17 – Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has backed his decision to start charging under-sevens for entrance to games at the Camp Nou.

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Swiss climb puts them at the summit of World Cup seeding

October 17 – Switzerland’s meteoric rise in football’s world rankings has been rewarded with the central European country being seeded for next year’s World Cup finals.

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UAE U17 World Cup kicks off…and there are no issues

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By Andrew Warshaw
17 October – Amidst all the hullaballoo over the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a younger version of football’s biggest global jamboree was set to begin in the Gulf today (Thursday), almost unnoticed outside the region itself. The under-17 World Cup is being staged in six venues by one of Qatar’s neighbours, the United Arab Emirates, with little controversy and hardly any hot air – metaphorically speaking.

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Sexwale to open landmark CONCACAF summit

Tokyo Sexwale

October 16 – The landmark CONCACAF summit in the Cayman Islands next week (October 21-22) will kick off with an address by South African freedom fighter and football supporter Tokyo Sexwale (pictured) at a dinner hosted by president Jeffrey Webb.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: World Cup Qualification, a drama you live through over and over again

Apologies to those whose national football teams face a nerve wracking World Cup play-off.

And to those who dreams of reaching Brazil 2014 are already over.

For I’d like to talk about qualification. As in achieving it, sealing the deal.

As an Al Jazeera Correspondent I must be neutral, yet all around me in England there has been the agony, the pain, then the relief at securing a place in the finals.

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Bernabeu to get a facelift as Real Madrid put naming rights on sale

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By Mark Baber
October 16 – Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has revealed that a decision will be made on which project gets the go ahead for the planned refurbishment of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu by the end of October, with the club now looking to find a sponsor to add their name to the stadium.

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Manchester United to tour Premier League trophy worldwide

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By Mark Baber
October 16 – Manchester United, and their official logistics partner DHL, are to tour the Premier League Trophy to 31 destinations in 24 cities worldwide in the coming months to celebrate last season’s Premier League triumph.

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WC Qualifying drama as Bosnia go through and Mexico squeeze a play offs

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By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – The World Cup qualifying programme in Europe reached a nail-biting conclusion Tuesday night as Bosnia-Herzegovina celebrated reaching their first finals as an independent nation, beating Lithuania 1-0 to finish top of their group.

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New owners at Inter as Moratti brings in Indonesian money

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By Andrew Warshaw
October 16 – Inter Milan, winners of 18 Italian league titles, have become the latest iconic European club to be taken over by foreign investors. A trio of Indonesian businessmen led by media tycoon Erick Thohir have bought a 70% stake in the Serie A giants.

Africa

Zambia protest to FIFA after Congolese club refuses to release players

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By Andrew Warshaw
Ocotber 16 – Zambian football has been plunged into a bizarre footballing dispute after three international players refused to travel with the national squad ahead of a 2-0 friendly defeat by Brazil in neutral China.

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Murdoch in five-year deal to take Bundesliga to the world

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By Mark Baber
October 16 – The DFL (German League Association) and Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox have agreed a new broadcast deal which will take the Bundesliga to more than 80 TV markets including Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, all of North and Latin America and much of Asia from the start of the 2015/16 season.

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Crowdfunding comes to Kettering’s rescue

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By David Owen
October 16 – A 141-year-old English football club may have been saved from closure thanks in part to the generosity of fans from as far afield as Iceland and Vietnam.