Inside World Football - Page 1883 of 2248 - For the Business of Football

High-flying Swans land new shirt sponsorship deal

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By David Owen
June 29 – Further evidence of the Barclays Premier League’s remarkable international pulling power has emerged with a new shirt sponsorship deal announced by Swansea City. The South Wales club, whose rapid advance from the lower reaches of the professional game in Britain was underlined last season by victory in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley, has agreed a £2 million deal with a Hong Kong-based financial services provider called Goldenway.

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Inside Insight: Just another day at the Confederations Cup of contrasts

Spain’s Confederations Cup semi-final win on penalties over Italy in Fortaleza was marred by more protests as 5,000 protestors clashed with police who responded with tear gas prior to the game.

Inside the stadium a 58,000 capacity crowd watched Spain break the world record by marching to 29 consecutive competitive matches unbeaten. A match that to the world’s TV audience had drama and celebration of the positive football kind – in abundance.

The vast majority of colour in the stadium was the yellow of Brazil and TV pictures couldn’t resist the image of the parents feeding their baby at half time.

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Players to get panic buttons to report match fixers

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By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – Players who are approached to fix matches or who suspect games are being rigged will be able to push a ‘panic button’ on their mobile phones to report their suspicions. The plan has been devised with European funding so that footballers across the continent can download an anti-match-fixing app to their phones and will be given a password to blow the whistle on fellow professionals via a red button.

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Digital sports leaders Perform sees shares fall on profit warning

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By Mark Baber
June 28 – Shares in Perform, a leader in the distribution and commercialisation of sports content across digital platforms, have fallen by over 10% after a warning that spending on acquisitions and content would slow profit growth this year.

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Huawei dials up smartphone deal with La Liga

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By Mark Baber
June 28 – China’s Huawei, a global provider of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), has signed with the Spanish Football League (LFP) as its exclusive Technology Partner for Smartphones.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: Is hosting worth it?

Brazil. World Cup hosts. Olympic hosts. 2014-2016. What an opportunity, what an honour, what a privilege and a pleasure.

But during a fraught fortnight off the pitch at the Confederations Cup the Brazilians – and FIFA – have been reminded that hosting is a double edged sword. Underestimating the power of the public can have major consequences, whether or not their ire is deserved, whether or not the event is actually the cause of the trouble.

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Cypriots close to ‘burying the hatchet’, and not in each other

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By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – Turkish Cypriot football officials believe their landmark talks with the Greek side aimed at unifying football on the politically divided island should move a vital step forward by the end of August. That’s when both bodies hope to have secured enough common ground to finally request FIFA to meet them after months of tortuous negotiations over a draft agreement.

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Scottish clubs finally agree merged professional league structure

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By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – A new dawn has finally broken for Scottish football after the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League finally agreed to merge – but it took 16 hours of painstaking last-ditch talks bring about a deal.

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Obituary: ‘B2’ striker Borgonovo dies, aged 49

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By Paul Nicholson
June 28 – Stefano Borgonovo died yesterday in Florence, Italy, aged 49. Borgonovo had fought ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a rare disease which kills nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain in the latter years of his life. His life will be remembered for his humility and grace in his battle against ALS, as well as for his style and potency on the football pitch.

Rolf Willi

Yeah, you’re right…

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Fans vote launches with £50,000 prize incentive

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June 27 – The Fans All Star Global Vote (FAS) had its official launch today in London, with former England player and manager Glenn Hoddle and former Argentina captain and world cup winner Ossie Ardiles weighing into the debate on who the best players in Europe and the Rest of the World are.

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Cash-strapped Macclesfield Town withdraw pay-to-play offer to fans

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By Mark Baber
June 27 – English Football Conference side Macclesfield Town has withdrawn their pay-to-play offer to fans. The cash-strapped club had planned to allow a fan to make a 10-minute appearance in the league or cup in exchange for a £20,000 donation.

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Doping agency WADA warns of cuts unless Government funding rises

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By David Owen
June 27 – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will be forced to scale back its activities if Governments are not prepared to stump up more cash, chairman John Fahey (pictured) has warned. Writing in an annual report that reveals a 60%-plus advance in WADA’s annual deficit, Fahey describes limited funding as WADA’s “biggest constraint ahead”.

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Granada shakes off tax debt, but Xerex hit rock bottom

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By Gareth Messenger
June 27 – Good news, bad news in Spain. During the launch of the club’s new season ticket drive this week, Spanish Primera club Granada announced that within the coming days they will be clearing all outstanding tax debt. At the same time Xerex, relegated from Segunda B, missed payments to the Spanish taxman and moved a step closer to bankruptcy.

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UEFA confident France will have no problems delivering 2016 stadia

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June 27 – UEFA is convinced France will be ready to stage Euro 2016 even though a good deal of the necessary stadium construction has yet to get under way. At a news conference to unveil the 2016 tournament logo, both UEFA president Michel Platini and his number two Gianni Infantino shrugged off any doubts about the tournament stadia, the first tournament to comprise 24 teams, not being ready on time.