Pakistan plans new IPL-style football league
By Mark Baber
March 6 – Pakistan is planning to launch a new football competition, modelled on the successful Indian Premier League for cricket, in a bid to overcome Pakistan football’s problems.
Qatar Airways board Barça shirt in $45m per season deal
By Andrew Warshaw
March 6 – After more than a century without a commercial sponsor, Barcelona will break new ground next season by sporting the logo of Qatar Airways on its shirts – the starkest illustration yet of the club needing to embrace commercial reality as Qatar continues its drive to make inroads into European football.
Fox Soccer set to wind down as News Corp backs new Fox Sports 1
By Paul Nicholson
March 6 – Fox Soccer channel looks set for closure as News Corp announced it will launch a new cable sports network in August taking ESPN head on in the national sports broadcast marketplace. Fox Sports 1 be available to more than 90 million pay- TV homes.
CAS kicks out Anouma appeal leaving Hayatou to run unopposed
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – African football’s contentious presidential election was thrown even more sharply into focus today when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) threw out Jacques Anouma’s (pictured) last-ditch appeal against being barred from taking on the veteran incumbent Issa Hayatou.
IFAB stands its ground as FIFA pushes through reform
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – The International FA Board, football’s law-making body that has stood the test of time for over a century, looks set to repel any attempt to change its role or expand its personnel as the eternal guardians of the sport.
Egyptian players refuse to train over unpaid wages at Ittihad
March 5 – Egypt has started its league after a year’s suspension following the Port Said disaster where 74 fans were killed, but now the financial burden of sustaining clubs and playing squads looks to be hitting as players at one club are refusing to train.
3 out of 5 Premier League players go bankrupt
By Mark Baber
March 5 – Xpro, the charity for ex-professional players, has revealed the shocking fact that three out of five Premier League players go bankrupt within five years of retirement.
Rangers renew call for admission to English leagues
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – The idea of the two Glasgow giants abandoning Scottish football and being integrated into the English league has once again been raised – this time by Rangers chief executive Charles Green.
John Yan:龙哥听不到集结号 The Dragon will not hear the bugle call
张吉龙，人称”龙哥”。但这”龙哥”只是一个花名，连江湖绰号都算不上。他曾经是亚足联第一副主席，也曾经因缘际会，由于国际足联高层的权力斗争，而升级为亚足联代理主席、国际足联执委，但他从来都不是”龙哥”，和龙头大哥的威势、前呼后拥的行头，相去十万八千里。行走在国际足球政治的江湖上，张吉龙谨小慎微、如履薄冰，在夹缝里为中国足球争取些利益，可他始终都是一个人在战斗。
张吉龙被”牺牲”、被”放弃竞选亚足联主席”，新闻并不是从国内媒体产生的。消息最早由法新社披露，然后其他亚洲媒体跟进，最后才流转到中国国内。当网络舆情一片汹涌，对于这样的”牺牲”和”放弃”，表达的不仅是不解，更是愤怒时，张吉龙已经在吉隆坡的亚足联总部收拾工作、收拾心情，虚席以待亚足联真正的主席主人了。他将回归到亚足联副主席的席位上，大概干到2015年任期期满。
体制内还有人羡慕乃至嫉妒张吉龙者——”他已经60岁了，本该退休，要不是他在亚足联有个职务，否则凭什么是他啊……”就退休年龄论，张吉龙比较其他体制内司局级干部，或许是幸运的，他能多干两年，只是这样的际遇，这样的含辛茹苦，这样的孤立无援，我不相信张吉龙会恋栈不去。
West Ham say Olympic Stadium deal is near
By Andrew Warshaw
March 5 – After months of inconclusive meetings and several delays, English Premier League club West Ham could now be days away from finally securing agreement to move into the London 2012 Olympic stadium – and avoid it becoming a classic post-Games white elephant.
Becks signs to boost Chinese Super League season launch
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
March 5 – Rocked by corruption and controversy, Chinese football has gone for the boldest of coups in an effort to enhance its battered image on and off the field: signing up David Beckham.
Not all is rosy in the English Premiership money garden
By Paul Nicholson
March 5 – Manchester United may sit on top of the money league as the world’s most value sports club, but their colleagues in the Premier League are finding it much tougher to compete at their level, both on the pitch and off it.
AFC presidency race heats up as candidates declared and Al Serkal calls for withdrawals
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
March 4 – One of the three west Asian candidates seeking to replace Mohamed bin Hammam and run football in the entire Continent until 2015 has urged his two rivals to step aside to avoid a potentially damaging split.
As the Asian Football Confederation announced a four-man race for the presidency on May 2, Yousuf al Serkel (pictured), of United Arab Emirates, said he is to ask the two other regional candidates bidding against him to stand down. Read more …
Federation bans Nigerian Lesbians from football activity
By Mark Baber
March 4 – Dilichukwu Onyedinma, chair of the Nigeria Women Football League and a member of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) executive committee, has reportedly announced after the Annual General Assembly on Thursday, that lesbianism is now officially banned from Nigerian football.
Auxerre on edge of financial cliff staring relegation in the face
March 4 – Former French club giant Auxerre, currently in Ligue 2, is under scrutiny by French football’s financial watchdog and has until the end of the season to recapitalise or face possible relegation.