Inside World Football - Page 1882 of 2235 - For the Business of Football

Mihir Bose: FIFA and football could learn about democracy from the Olympics

During the London Olympics last year much was made about how much football could learn from the Olympics. Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president, speaking at Wembley just before Team GB played Brazil, was asked whether the world’s most popular game could learn from the world’s greatest sporting event.

“Absolutely,” he answered, “At the beginning of the game, [the behaviour] is okay in football. But, at the end, we still have problems to bring the players together.

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FIFA Congress preview: reforms and women dominate the political jostling

FIFA Congress in mauritius

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Mauritius
May 30 – “Nobody loves us, we don’t care” is the mantra of one of England’s less popular football teams. Barring one word in that phrase, one could argue FIFA is adopting pretty much the same mentality as they approach the climax of Sepp Blatter’s two-campaign to rid his organisation of slease and corruption.

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UEFA backs Brits to keep their FIFA exco privilege

alex horne

By Andrew Warshaw in Mauritius
May 30 – Despite all expectations to the contrary, Britain will after all maintain its position at the top table of FIFA after striking a deal with other European member federations.

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Qatar adds specialists for Al Wakrah stadium build

Al Wakrah stadia and precinct

By Paul Nicholson
May 30 – Following hard on the heels of the appointment of Stadium Operations Consultants for the infrastructure build towards the 2022 World Cup, the Qataris have now appointed KEO as project managers and AECOM as the design consultant for the ambitious Al Wakrah Stadium.

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Zhang is back! China’s top football official takes FIFA exco seat

zhang jilong

By Andrew Warshaw in Mauritius
May 30 – Zhang Jilong (pictured), the Chinese official who ran Asian football as interim president for two years yet opted not to apply for the job full-time, is back at the top table of FIFA. Zhang has been unexpectedly parachuted back on to the FIFA executive committee in place of Sri Lankan’s Fernando Manilal.

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Europe’s bookies demand better governance to beat match-fixing

By Mark Baber
May 30 – The European Sports Security Association (ESSA), the betting industry’s ‘integrity’ body, published its annual integrity report Tuesday, claiming the evidence shows the battle against match-fixers from defrauding Europe’s licenced bookmakers is being won, The organisation argues the greatest threats to sporting integrity lie in poor governance and unregulated bookmakers outside Europe.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: Benitez could be a great coup for Napoli

Have Napoli just landed themselves the best manager in world football?

It would be a quite a coup for a club that isn’t amongst Europe’s elite – I think it’s time to consider the evidence in favour of Rafa Benitez being, well, the true special one.

The only thing he has in common with the great Napoli hero Diego Maradona has been a comedy beard, but he might be the best chance the club has had of real success since the Argentinian legend inspired them to glory in Serie A and the UEFA Cup in the late 1980s.

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Emirates adds Real Madrid to roster of leading clubs across Europe

emirates and real madrid

By Gareth Messenger
May 30 – It’s official, Emirates Airline has confirmed a four-year sponsorship deal with Spanish club Real Madrid believed to be in the region of around €120 million.

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Sticky Toffee puddings! Twitter storm forces Everton u-turn on club crest

Everton logos

By Tom Parsons
May 29 – Everton fans caused a twitter storm over the club’s proposed new club badege with 20,000 people signing a petition against the change. The club moved quickly to apologise and reverse the decision.

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Blatter promises more support for Palestinians in fight for football equality

Palestinian fans

By Andrew Warshaw in Mauritius
May 30 – The head of the Palestinian football federation says the harsh treatment of his country’s players and officials by Israel is showing no sign of receding despite the best efforts of FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

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Crisis over, Fonte Nova Arena roof failure was human error, the show will go on

Fonte Nova Arena

May 29 – The roof failure during heavy rain on Monday at the Fonte Nova Arena was down to “human error” according to a statement by engineering director José Luis Goes, of the Fonte Nova Participacoes (FNP) group, which manages the stadium.

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Iran accuses UAE of racism in renaming Pro League to the Arabian Gulf League

By Mark Baber
May 29 – A row has broken out between the football authorities of the UAE and Iran after the announcement that the UAE Pro League will be renamed the Arabian Gulf League from next season.

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Qatar hires consultants to advise on 2022 stadia business planning

Qatar stadium

May 29 – The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee has appointed Amsterdam Arena and IMG as the Stadium Operations Consultants for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.

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UEFA isolated at FIFA’s top table over age and term reforms

Blatter and Platini

Exclusive: by Andrew Warshaw in Mauritius
May 29 – The full extent of the split between Europe and the rest of FIFA – and potentially between Sepp Blatter and his possible successor Michel Platini – over the much-touted reform process has been underlined with the revelation that UEFA were officially outvoted over the decision to postpone age and term limits for senior officials for another 12 months.

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FIFA’s top auditor blasts Warner and Blazer and warns of criminal charges

Domenico Scala

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Mauritius
May 29 – The official charged with enforcing proper financial controls at FIFA after a spate of corruption scandals has launched an astonishing attack on Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer, the disgraced duo who led CONCACAF for the best part of a generation.