By Mark Baber
April 22 – In a move that is being presented in some quarters as retaliation for their loss to USA in a blizzard in Colorado and in others as expected, the Costa Rican football federation has asked FIFA permission to play the return leg at the Saprissa Stadium which is known as “the Monster’s Cave”.
By Mark Baber
April 22 – The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) aims to raise at least $17.3m by auctioning off the premier league’s television broadcast rights for the next three years.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 22 – The entire membership of Asian football has been officially warned against accepting bribes or backhanders in the build-up to the forthcoming presidential election. Less than two weeks before the eagerly awaited vote, InsideWorldFootball has been leaked a confidential letter that urges delegates to behave properly and not discredit their already corruption-tarnished confederation.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – The career of former FIFA vice president Jack Warner lies in tatters after he resigned from the Trinidad and Tobago government following explosive new accusations of corruption during his time as football’s most controversial powerbroker.
By Monica Villar
April 22 – The first leg of the Champions League semi-finals take place this week with the giants of Germany facing the giants of Spain – Bayern vs Barça and Dortmund vs Real Madrid. Tickets are hard to get but if you are going to one of the German legs you will likely pay half the amount for a similar ticket in Spain.
April 22 – Brazil’s iconic Maracanã took a step closer to readiness this weekend with a sound and lighting test. The stadium is now 97% ready with just some seating to be installed.
By Paul Nicholson
April 21 – Uli Hoeness, Bayern Munich’s outspoken club president and supervisory board chairman, could face tax evasion charges in Germany after failing to declare a Swiss bank account. German public prosecutors are currently looking at his financial records to decide whether to proceed with a case against him.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 19 – Sunil Gulati, head of the United States Soccer Federation, was narrowly elected to FIFA’s executive committee by CONCACAF on Friday, defeating his only rival, Mexico’s Justino Compean, by a single vote.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 19 – Jack Warner (right) and Chuck Blazer (left), the one-time double act who fell out spectacularly and ended up as bitter foes, were denounced as “fraudulent in their management” of CONCACAF by an official report today.
The most recent spell of hooliganism in England (Millwall-Wigan and Newcastle-Sunderland matches) appears to have rung in a renewed era of primitive and vulgar fan behavior that had led to the ban of English clubs and the England team from international football in the 80s. Hooliganism defaced the English game throughout the 1970s and 1980s: in 1974, a Blackpool fan was stabbed to death at Blackpool’s home match with Bolton Wanderers. In 1985, after vile hooliganism of Liverpool fans led to the deaths of 39 Juventus supporters before the European Cup final at the Heysel Stadium,
In Britain this has been a great week for turning the clock back promoted by the death of Lady Thatcher and a necessary look back at her legacy.
Yet it is too simplistic to see the riots by Millwall fans at the Wembley semi-final as a return to the old spectre of football hooligan. There is, of course a historical twist to this. With the riots coming just days before Thatcher was laid to rest it was natural to reflect that it was Millwall and their riotous fans back in 1985 filling British television screens with violence which first prompted the Lady to think that the only solution for such behaviour was more stringent police control.
April 19 – Bahrain Football Association President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has issued the following statement regarding an article published by Insideworldfootball April 16.
By Tom Parsons
April 19 – Local Welsh footballers and clubs are being warned that they could face disciplinary action if they send abusive messages through social media and websites to their opponents.
19 April – Security fears surrounding next year’s World Cup have increased after two fans were shot dead near one of the new stadia being used for the tournament.
