Who’s going to win the Champions League this year?
Bayern? Barca? One of the newly rich clubs – a PSG or Manchester City?
Maybe an EPL club – Chelsea? Manchester United?
Or what about one of the teams who came through the second round this week.
By Mark Baber
July 25 – Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia and the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) have agreed a S$1.8 million ($1.4 million) sponsorship deal, including the cost of flights for the under-21, under-23 and senior national teams, as well as the National Football Academy’s age-group teams and women’s teams.
By Mark Baber
July 25 – South African Football Association (SAFA) vice-president and respected anti-apartheid activist Dr Danny Jordaan has been appointed to serve as advisor to Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – Six months after Kevin Prince Boateng famously walked off the pitch during a winter break friendly because of racist abuse that led directly to strict new anti-discrimination measures by football’s two main authorities, another AC Milan player has followed suit.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – Egypt’s volatile political situation briefly gave way to football on Wednesday as Al Ahli drew 1-1 with arch-rivals Zamalek in the African Champions League. Domestic Egyptian football is currently suspended.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – Italian giants Lazio could start next season with a six-point deduction and be without their captain Stefano Mauri for more than four years following the start of their match-fixing trial.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 25 – Troubled Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia, who are under new ownership, have announced that there will be a salary cap for players and staff, reducing salaries to below last season’s levels. Alexander Tomov (pictured), said that the highest wages of the top players will be about 15,000 leva (€7,500) per month. He said he will be talking to new head coach Stoycho Mladenov in the next few days.
By Mark Baber
July 23 – A week after an emergency meeting between the Nigerian Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi (pictured) and board members of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the League Management Company (LMC) and Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), doubts are being expressed about the feasibility of the measures promised by the Sports Minister, which included paying players the money they are owed and instituting a minimum wage.
By Mark Baber
May 23 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law Tuesday legislation that increases the sanctions which can be applied to convicted hooligans at sports events. The so-called Fan Law will come into effect on January 19, 2014.
July 23 – The Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), chaired by FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein (pictured), is stepping up its support of the grass-roots game in less established footballing nations by targeting Tajikistan, with special emphasis on advancing girls’ football.
July 23 – Tonight’s double header semi-finals of CONCACAF’s Gold Cup at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, will be split between matches by the final of the CONCACAF Interactive Gold Cup 2013 (CIGC13), played out live on the big screen in the stadium by gamers using Playstation 3 consoles.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – Players and officials of four Nigerian clubs involved in two promotion play-off games that produced farcical 79-0 and 67-0 scorelines have been thrown out for life by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).
By Andrew Warshaw
July 24 – The financial importance of playing in the cash-rich Champions League for Europe’s top clubs has been starkly underlined yet again by the latest figures from UEFA which show that €904.6 million was distributed among the 32 teams competing in the competition from the group stage onwards last season. The payments cover participation, TV pool and performance-related revenue.
By Paul Nicholson
July 23 – The Asian Football Confederation has announced plans to create its own Ethics Committee that it expects will be operational by January 2014. An initiative of new AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, he said he hoped that the committee will help fight AFC corruption at all levels.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – Palestine has made another bold move to make its political presence felt in Middle East football by putting its name forward to host the FIFA Congress in 2017.