Inside World Football - Page 1844 of 2248 - For the Business of Football

Andrew Warshaw: More questions than answers in the long ball game

As an autumnal evening sunlight settled over FIFA House in Zurich last Friday and a phalanx of cameramen packed away their equipment after a somewhat anti-climactic Sepp Blatter press conference that focussed almost entirely on Qatar, I found myself humming the lyrics to that 1970s hit, More Questions Than Answers, by Johnny Nash.

Two generations after it was released, I reasoned, one could quite easily apply the title of the reggae ditty to the position we are still in as far as the 2022 World Cup saga is concerned.

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Pieth blows out, Israelis and Palestineans blow in

Mark Pieth

By Andrew Warshaw
October 7 – With all the focus on the Qatar 2022 World Cup, a number of other ongoing issues went relatively unreported following FIFA’s executive committee in Zurich last week, not least the announcement that Mark Pieth (pictured), the Swiss governance expert appointed two years ago to make recommendations for change, would be terminating his association with FIFA at the end of this year, by mutual agreement.

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Aussies expect to make a profit in 2014 with World Cup and Wanderers sale

David Gallop2

By Mark Baber
October 7 – With the Hyundai A-League season starting on Friday, Football Federation Australia forecasts a profit for its activities in the 2014 financial year due to an increase in broadcasting revenue and sponsorship.

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Football’s key influencers: Balotelli in Top 20, Beckham beats Messi

Balotelli 3

October 7 – Mario Balotelli, at only 23, is now the 19th most powerful person in world football with fellow players Messi (14th) and recently retired Beckham (8th), according to a list of ‘Football’s 20 Most Influential People’.

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Fancy Footwork as Beckham piles on the pounds – £14.1m of them

David Beckham 3

By Mark Baber
October 7 – Annual accounts for 2012 filed by Footwork Productions show David Beckham received a £14.1 million pay package as director of the company set up to handle much of the former Manchester United, Real Madrid, Milan, LA Galaxy, Paris Saint-Germain and England star’s sponsorship and image rights income.

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Lazio captain loses match-fixing appeal and has ban extended

Stefano Mauri2

October 7 – Lazio captain Stefano Mauri has had his ban for failing to report match-fixing increased to nine months after losing an appeal against the original six-month suspension, effectively ruling him out for the rest of the season.

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FIFA approves extra breaks to help players keep their cool

water break

By David Owen
October 7 – High-profile matches at next year’s World Cup tournament in Brazil may effectively be played over four periods rather than two, following FIFA’s endorsement of additional “cooling” breaks to protect the health of players.

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Clubs to cash in with $2,800 a day for each 2014 World Cup player

money ball

By David Owen
October 7 – Clubs which supply squad members for teams qualifying for the 2014 World Cup can look forward to receiving about $2,800 a day for each player selected. The figure represents a substantial increase from the $1,600 per player per day paid by FIFA after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

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Exclusive: Blatter plans joint approach to Brazil with IOC over drug testing lab

Doping control

By David Owen
October 7 – FIFA President Joseph Blatter is aiming to join forces with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to urge the Brazilian Government to do its utmost to ensure the country’s new doping control facility is operational, and duly accredited, before next year’s World Cup, insideworldfootball has learnt.

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Blatter confirms Salman to lead Commission and Qatar 2022 will be in Qatar

Sepp Blatter 6

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Zurich
October 4 – Sepp Blatter admitted today he “took responsibility” for the Qatar 2022 World Cup winter-summer debacle – but left open a key number of questions, not least the eventual rescheduling of the tournament. Announcing, as expected, that a commission involving all the game’s stakeholders would be set up to try and find a way through a myriad of complexities, the FIFA president was in typically canny mood.

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Garcia road trip will not get past the Russian borders

Michael Garcia 2

By Mark Baber
October 4 – The Russian Foreign Ministry commented on Thursday evening on the possible entry into Russia of Michael Garcia, confirming that the head of the FIFA ethics committee was not welcome.

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2014 World Cup ticket requests jump to over 4.5 million, 77% from Brazil

Brazil 2014 image

October 4 – With a week to go before the end of the first phase of ticket sales for the 2014 World Cup, over 4.5 million tickets have been requested for the 64 matches.

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FIFA agree to establish Commission to examine 2022 date change, but no hurry

FIFA House

By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
October 4 – No decision on switching the 2022 Qatar World Cup to winter will be made until next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil, at the earliest, Insideworldfootball has learnt. As FIFA’s eagerly awaited two-day executive meetings in Zurich wound up, as anticipated, an agreement was reached to set up a commission to examine the issues of moving the 2022 World Cup date away from the heat of the Qatar summer.

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Iran continues to build links with friendly against the USA

Iranian fans

By Mark Baber
October 4 – Head of Iran’s Football Federation (IFF), Ali Kaffashian said on Thursday that the US football federation has welcomed the prospect of a friendly football match between Iranian and US national teams.

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Hearn can look to Europe for help on Olympic Stadium battle

Barry Hearn

By Paul Nicholson
October 4 – Leyton Orient owner Barry Hearn (pictured)may have lost his £750,000 legal battle to allow the club to ground share London’s Olympic Stadium with Premier League club West Ham United, but he hasn’t given up hope and he could be handed a lifeline by the EC.