By Matt Scott
11 October – Real Madrid, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are among “15 to 20” leading clubs actively plotting the introduction of a closed European super league. Those are the explosive claims of Galatasaray’s chairman, Ünal Aysal. He said that a wholesale restructure of the Champions League is a “reality” that’s five years away.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – The head of the US Soccer Federation believes player eligibility rules need to be tightened up to stop promising young internationals having carte blanche to turn out for two different countries.
By Mark Baber
October 10 – Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi has become embroiled in a new row as he criticised the pitch at the refurbished National Stadium in Abuja, Nigeria, as bad for football, before rowing back on his comments yesterday.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Just when it is striving to enter a new era of unity and cohesion, Asian football has been rocked by a spat between Iraq and Saudi Arabia over the next Gulf Cup of Nations due to be held late next year or early in 2015. The competition, featuring the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), plus usually Iraq and Yemen, is little known outside the region but hotly contested whenever it takes place.
By Mark Baber
October 10 – Transfer Matching System GmbH (FIFA TMS) announced on Wednesday the launch of a new Premium Service – the first Domestic Transfer Matching System (DTMS), designed to facilitate domestic transfers for member associations and clubs acting in the same jurisdiction.
Nations over the centuries have found different ways to enhance their prestige.
They have waged wars; they have erected great buildings; they have cultivated institutions of artistic excellence.
We in Britain should take great pride in the fact that today, in the year of the Football Association’s 150th anniversary, one of the most popular ways in which nations strive to achieve this is by excelling in sports many of which were invented by our 19th century ancestors.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Ghana is demanding a neutral venue for next month’s all-important World Cup play-off against Egypt, saying it is too dangerous to play in Cairo.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Sri Lanka’s former FIFA executive committee member Vernon Manilal Fernando, regarded in some quarters as the Godfather of the region, has been banned for life by the governing body.
By Alexander Krassimirov
October 10 – Supporters of Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia have won their fight to get rid of new coach Ivaylo Petev, who has resigned just 24 hours after his appointment.
Harry Redknapp could never be accused of being a toff, let alone an intellectual. Yet his autobiography, Always Managing published by Ebury Press, a book that brings his story up to date following on from an earlier book 15 years ago, has some profound observations on how football has changed in this country. It should spark debate, if not some soul searching, among those who follow the people’s game.
What Harry is mourning is how the beautiful game has turned viciously ugly compared to his youth.
By Tom Parsons
October 10 – One of England’s finest footballers has joined twitter, racking up 275,000 followers in the first 24 hours he was part of the social community. Fans and friends joined in welcoming the former England star to twitter, with @GazzaOfficial promising to show us “the real Gazza” on the social network.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 9 – New English Football Association chairman Greg Dyke had another dig at the influx of foreign players in English football today and said the importance of a successful national team should not be under-estimated.
By Andrew Warshaw
Ocotber 9 – The United States will only seriously consider going for the 2026 World Cup if the bidding process is changed and FIFA’s rules are tightened up, US Soccer federation president Sunil Gulati declared today. Gulati, one of the newest members of FIFA’s executive committee, said his country was still bruised over their crushing 14-8 defeat by Qatar for the 2022 tournament and would not be prepared to go through the expense and stress of bidding again unless there was more clarity.
By Mark Baber
October 9 – Qatargas and Qatar Football Association (QFA) signed a three-year deal on Monday at QFA headquarters in the Al Bidda Tower, as part of which Qatar’s 2nd Division will be known as the Qatargas League.
By Mark Baber
Ocotber 9 – Just days after US Army Delta Force snatched high-profile al Qaeda member Anas al-Libi from outside a mosque in Tripoli, and amidst Libyan jihadi calls for the country’s “courageous youth” to launch kidnappings of Americans, the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has announced the appointment of 63-year old Javier Clemente as the new national team coach.