Canada 5 Honduras 0
June 17 – Canada over the past six years have forced their way into Concacaf’s elite but have so often flattered to deceive. They are the team everyone quite likes but have never delivered the championship title their talent screams for. Re-adjust everyone.
October 21 – The inaugural finals of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women’s Under-20 Tournament kicked off Friday at the Waterhouse Mini Stadium in Jamaica with a 7-2 win for Cuba over Grenada. In the second match of the doubleheader, Trinidad & Tobago took the maximum three points with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Anguilla.
By Paul Nicholson
October 20 – CONCACAF has moved against the scourge of match-fixing by appointing a new full time executive to lead the fight regionally. Dr. Laila Mintas will take up the new position of Director of Sports Integrity on November 15 with a brief to design and implement processes that will prevent and investigate match-fixing issues in the region.
It isn’t World Cup fever, but Tuesday night’s win over Poland has left England gripped by what I would diagnose as a mild case of World Cup euphoria.
More than 15,000 fans were said to have registered their interest in going to Brazil; bookies predicted a £100 million betting bonanza; and a much-publicised tabloid story about manager Roy Hodgson’s half-time team-talk seems only to have redoubled the country’s determination to get behind the team.
By Paul Nicholson
October 20 – Fears of a series of terror attacks during the Brazil 2014 World Cup have emerged following a threat from Brazil’s largest organised crime group, the First Capital Command (PCC) drug cartel, to unleash a ‘World Cup of Terror’ during the summer of 2014, as well as attacks during local political elections.
By Jake Gable
October 20 – Arsenal have topped a UEFA benchmarking report of tangible fixed assets with the governing body, valuing the club’s long-term assets at over €500 million. UEFA carried out an audit of all 237 clubs competing in this season’s Champions League and Europa League for its report in line with Financial Fair Play regulations.
The problem with race these days is that the whole subject too often gets reduced to a tabloid presentation with the result that England manager Roy Hodgson, a cultivated man of wide culture and sensitivity, ends up by being absurdly labelled as racist. We can all accept that Roy Hodgson made a mistake in repeating an old NASA joke about the monkey in his half time talk as an illustration to remind English players that they should get Andros Townsend involved in the play as often as possible.
By Alexander Krassimirov
October 18 – German company IFS has unveiled its plans to build a new modern stadium in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. The stadium will have a capacity of 24,000 (22 000 plus 2000 VIP) seats and should be completed in 2016.
By Gareth Messenger
October 18 – Portuguese giants FC Porto have turned in a chunky €20.3 million profit for the 2012/2013 season. The profit came against a loss of €35.7 million in the previous campaign and despite a 39% slump in ticket revenue.
By Mark Baber
October 18 – With the upcoming debate at the International Football Arena on October 29 focussed on the future for mega sports events, a recent survey in Brazil suggests that despite the protests in country, there is a majority positive public feeling towards the World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 18 – After months of sensitive negotiations, Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials are celebrating securing a landmark meeting with FIFA president Sepp Blatter aimed at possible footballing re-unification on the disputed Mediterranean island.
By Mark Baber
October 18 – Pay TV provider BSkyB said it is enjoying record demand for its TV and broadband services, despite the launch of BT’s new rival sports service. BSkyB, which is 39% owned by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, added 111,000 broadband customers and 37,000 TV customers in the quarter to the end of September.
By Mark Baber
October 18 – The slogan for UEFA EURO 2016 was announced in the Marseille city hall, after being approved by the tournament’s steering group. The new slogan is ‘Le Rendez-Vous,’ which represents the organisers’ desire to bring together the best of football, of Europe and of France.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 18 – Controversial Thai football boss Worawi Makudi has finally retained control of his federation after months of internal squabbling. Makudi was re-elected president of the Football Association of Thailand for another four years after defeating former national team boss Virach Chanpanich 42-28 in a secret ballot to earn his fourth straight term. Two votes were deemed invalid.
By Mark Baber
October 17 – Libya’s most popular football club, Tripoli’s Al-Ahly, have withdrawn in protest from the newly relaunched Libyan Football League after their coach was shot at while at home, players were threatened and star player Mohamed Al-Maghrabi was shot in the arm.
By Mark Baber
October 17 – After failing in a forlorn attempt to get FIFA to make a last minute change to the seeding system, this morning’s FIFA Ranking confirms that France have missed out on being seeded for the decisive World Cup qualifiers, after being ranked 21st in the world on 870 points, just a single place and a single ranking point below Ukraine, who are in 20th place on 871 points and who will be seeded.