David Owen: Brazil are coming to Wembley. But will the World Cup really help Pelé’s country to make more out of football’s global money machine?

David Owen_IWF

Here’s something to ponder in a week when Brazil are expected at Wembley for a friendly international: for more than half a century, the canary-shirted Brazil playmaker has been the embodiment of all that is best about the game that conquered the world; yet, as the sport has grown rich, the home of o jogo bonito has been reduced to a dusty outpost of the shiny multinational that is Planet Football.

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Reggae Boyz fuelled by Coke sponsorship

reggae boys

February 3 – Coca-Cola has come to the rescue of Jamaica’s Reggae Boys through its local distributor Wisynco, who have committed US$1.6-million to support the national team through its World Cup qualifying campaign and provide a much-needed cash injection into Jamaican football.

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[b]Exclusive:[/b] Trio of Premier League window shoppers help carry January spending to £120 million

deadline day

By David Owen
English Premier League clubs spent about £120 million in the latest January transfer window, double their outlay in January 2012, but well short of the record £225 million splurged two years ago, when strikers Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll were the subject of deals thought to amount to a combined £85 million. The top clubs generally refrained from buying, with the result that – according to analysis by Deloitte,

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Transfer window closing sparks last gasp activity

transferwindow

January 31 – Europe’s big spending clubs are reporting winter flurries of activity as they rapidly manoeuvre in the player transfer market to close their deals as the window starts to close across the continent tonight  – from 19:00 CET in Germany to 24: 00 CET (23:00 GMT) in England and France.

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