Inside World Football - Page 1883 of 2249 - For the Business of Football

Thailand’s Makudi digging heels in over elections as opponents threaten to go it alone

Worawo Makudi (FIFA/Simon Bruty)

By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – Controversial Fifa executive committee member Worawo Makudi (pictured) continues to cling to power as boss of Thai football despite growing demands for fresh presidential elections which he, so far, has refused to implement. Thailand avoided being thrown out of world football by FIFA last month after a tiny fourth-tier club agreed to withdrew a lawsuit that threatened to stop the Thai FA (FAT) from holding elections.

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Deutsche Bank signs one-year sponsorship wth Inter Milan

deutsche bank

July 3 – Deutsche Bank have struck a one-year deal with Italian giants Internazionale to become one of the club’s leading sponsors in a partnership which will see the financial service provider become the club’s official bank.

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adidas gets shirty after Götze springs an unpleasant surprise

Mario Gotze

By Mark Baber
July 3 – adidas is to Bayern, as the Oktoberfest is to Munich, whilst Nike are adidas’ main competitor in the global soccer apparel market, having consolidated that position with the sponsorship of the England, French and Brazilian national sides. So adidas officials were not amused when, at the official unveiling of his new adidas Bayern Munich shirt in Munich, Bayern’s new 37-million-euro man, Mario Götze wore a T-Shirt featuring a giant Nike Swoosh logo.

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Calm after the storm, South Korea and Iran patch their differences

iran and south korea flags

By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – South Korea and Iran, whose recent spat made headlines throughout Asian football, have agreed to bury their differences and sign a symbolic sporting exchange agreement barely two weeks after a war of words ahead of and following their crucial 2014 World Cup qualifier which ended in ugly scenes of chaos when the Iranian players were pelted with bottles of water from the stands.

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FIFA members miss Olympic vote

olympic rings2

By David Owen at the Beaulieu conference centre in Lausanne
July 3 – Neither Sepp Blatter, FIFA president, nor Issa Hayatou, the African football leader who is also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, are to attend this week’s extraordinary Session of the body behind the Olympic Games in Lausanne.

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UEFA expands blood tests to club competitions

blood tests

By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – UEFA have given more details of their plans to introduce blood tests for players in their two main club competitions, first announced in May. Until now UEFA has only conducted blood tests at international tournaments – Euro 2008 and 2012 – but from this month the detection regime is to be extended to the Champions League and Europa League. Checks will be made during and out of competition and players may be asked at routine doping controls to give urine samples,

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GoalControl in poll position to roll out for Brazil 2014

GoalControl

By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Despite not being needed for any contentious decisions during the Confederations Cup, GoalControl, the German goal-line technology system, looks like being employed at next year’s World Cup as planned.
The camera-based system was the last to throw its name into the hat for both tournaments after the International Football Association Board finally approved GLT last year. It was surprisingly selected ahead of Hawk-Eye and GoalRef,

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Will Cameroon’s woes ever end?

Whilst amusing – even outrageous – events provide much-needed cannon fodder for writing interesting commentary, my unhappiness with the pervasive absence of astute management across the African game, whose administrators appear to be falling even further behind their global peers, often leaves me in a depressed mood.

And the ever unfolding diary of (mal)administration, in Cameroonian football, rudely reminds me that the continent’s leading nations continue to revel in their nasty old habits.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Concern about money is the real reason for the spat between FIFA and UEFA

When back in 1992 Bill Clinton launched his campaign for the US Presidency his campaign team told the workers forget all the other slogans, remember: It is the economy, stupid.

Much the same can be said of the spat between FIFA and UEFA over the World Cup in Brazil. There can be little doubt that concern about protecting FIFA’s money lies at the heart of the attack on UEFA launched by Jerome Valcke,

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Italian football pays tribute to Borgonovo: Applause and tears at the funeral

Stefano Borgonovo

July 2 – Italian football yesterday paid an emotional tribute to Stefano Borgonovo, who died last Thursday after a battle against ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) aged 49. His funeral in his home town of Guissano was attended by representatives from across the sport including his closest friend from his days at Fiorentina, Roberto Baggio, but also Paolo Maldini, Arrigo Sacchi, Juventus CEO Marotta and many well-known faces who formed part of the cheerful striker’s all-too-short life.

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Ethiopian blunder punished by FIFA, reopens African WC qualification hopes

ethiopian football fans

By Mark Baber
July 2 – In a set-back to Ethiopia’s ambitions to qualify for a World Cup final tournament for the first time, FIFA has overturned Ethiopia’s original 2-1 win against Botswana and awarded a 3-0 victory to Botswana. FIFA has confirmed that the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) has been sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in the preliminary competition match for the 2014 FIFA World Cup between Botswana and Ethiopia played on 8 June 2013.

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Blatter declares success as Cup fever dies down after a blockbuster finish

blatter3

By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter once again declared the Confederations Cup a success at his final news conference of the two-week event – and re-iterated that football was playing a unifying rather than divisive role in the country.

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FIFpro’s Evangelista calls for share of the FIFA and UEFA TV cash

joaquimevangelista1

By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – FIFA and UEFA should share television revenues from their respective tournaments with footballers who most need financial help, according to international players union FIFPro board member Joaquim Evangelista. Evangelista, head of the Portuguese Professional Footballers Association, said he would urge fellow board members at this week’s FIFPro general assembly in the Netherlands to lobby football’s governing bodies to hand out more of their money to unions in countries where players are struggling.

Rolf Willi

Will football unite Cyprus?

iwf cyprus

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Thailand’s True Corporation partners Manchester United

True Corp

By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – Manchester United have announced yet another new sponsor – specifically to co-incide with their pre-season tour of Thailand. United, who won their 20th English league title in May, have struck a three-year deal with Thai telecommunications group True Corporation Plc though no figure has been made public on the agreement.