By Paul Nicholson
May 10 – FIFA’s top brass and the three CEO’s of the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cup organising committees are among the headliners for the FT/IFA one-day conference at the Copacabana Palace Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, June 17. With five weeks to go the speaker line-up for Rio is taking a star-studded shape.
By Monica Villar
May 10 – Sevilla president José María del Nido has again spoken out against the LFP, blaming the league for creating the economic difficulties Spanish clubs now face.
I have wondered, since March, after Issa Hayatou secured an unprecedented seventh term as Confederation of African Football (CAF) president in Morocco – with the ‘luxury’ of having no opponent to challenge him – when retribution will be visited upon those who challenged the controversial changes to the election rules, which made the Cameroonian’s continued stay in power a mere formality.
CAF’s disciplinary committee eloquently answered my nagging question, by handing a six-month ban and a $10,000 fine to Musa Bility,
By Andrew Warshaw
May 9 – As widely anticipated, David Moyes was appointment Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor today as manager of Manchester United and handed a six-year contract to take over on July 1. The highly respected Moyes, who leaves Everton after 11 years in charge, was the retiring Ferguson’s personal recommendation.
If the case of Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson doesn’t serve as a warning to trigger-happy football club owners and chief executives, nothing ever will.
Three trophy-less years into Alex Ferguson’s reign as Manchester United manager the fans were restless.
But the board stuck by him in those dark days of 1989.
24 years and a record 38 trophies later – including 13 Premier League titles – it’s just about safe to say Ferguson repaid the club’s faith.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 9 – Of all the present and former greats who have paid tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson in the past 24 hours following the announcement that he is stepping down after 26 years as Manchester United manager, few have Fergie in their hearts as much as United legend Denis Law.
By Monica Villar
May 9 – Sporting Clube de Portugal President Bruno de Carvalho has struck out at players agents and representatives after newspapers published reports regarding his team’s squad.
By Mark Baber
May 9 – The game between Bayern and Borussia Dortmund on May 25 at Wembley Stadium is the game every German football fan wants to get tickets for – an all-German final of the Champions League!
By Mark Baber
May 9 – The Pakistan Football Federation have signed a long term strategic partnership with Forward Sports International who will become the ‘Uniform, Kit and Gear’ sponsors of Pakistan Football.
By Paul Nicholson
May 9 – The holy grail of how to monetise large Facebook groups has taken a step closer with the launch of a social ticketing application, SitNearMe. A Facebook app that sits within the Facebook canvas.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 9 – Landmark talks with FIFA aimed at creating an historic deal to unify football in Cyprus have stalled as Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials grapple with the wording of a firm agreement.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 9 – Rio de Janeiro politicians want the name of disgraced former FIFA president Joao Havelange removed from the city’s Olympic stadium in the wake of recent bribery findings.
It is a measure of how much Sir Alex Ferguson changed football that his retirement should have overshadowed the Queen’s speech and led to newspapers printing souvenir editions. It is hard to imagine any other football manager leaving his job, and that too at the age of 71, having such a profound impact. Indeed the amount of time and space devoted to his retirement suggests he is no longer regarded as a football coach but more like a statesman or world thinker who shaped all our lives.
News of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement brought to mind two scenes nearly three decades apart.
In the first, it is 11 May 1983 and I am with friends clustered around the TV in a cramped London apartment.
A strong Scottish contingent is hoping to witness a miracle: the humbling of Real Madrid by Ferguson’s new kids on the block from Aberdeen, a side built around the indefatigable Gordon Strachan and the formidable centre-back pairing of Alex McLeish and Willie Miller.
By Paul Nicholson
May 8 – FIFA and EA SPORTS have extended their existing licensing agreement until December 31, 2022. EA SPORTS has exclusive rights to release FIFA-branded action and management videogames as well as the official FIFA World Cup videogame.