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By David Owen
April 15 - Guus Hiddink (pictured), the internationally renowned Dutch football manager, is to go to Korea at the end of this month as part of his efforts to help the Dutch/Belgian World Cup bid.
April 15 – Singapore have unveiled a new six-year strategic plan which has set the target of the national team being ranked among the top 10 nations in Asia by 2015.
By David Owen in Istanbul
April 14 – Turkey may bid to stage the 2026 World Cup. Orhan Gorbon, manager of Turkey’s current bid for the 2016 European Football Championship, told insideworldfootball exclusively that a campaign for the 2026 tournament was part of a personal “10-year plan”.
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April 14 - Alisher Usmanov (pictured), one of Arsenal’s largest shareholders, is keeping all his options open as speculation over the ownership of the club intensifies.
April 14 – UEFA President Michel Platini today renewed his attack on the Premier League when he claimed that the massive debt being carried by clubs was destroying the sport.
April 14 – Global food supplier Seara, part of the Marfrig Group, has signed up as a sponsor of the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup, it was announced today.
By David Owen in Istanbul
April 14 – Coaches call it a winning habit. Usually it refers to events on the field of play. But Turkey is starting to develop a winning habit when it comes to bids to host international sports events.
April 13 – Chelsea’s wage bill in the last financial year was £142.6 million ($219.3 million) while the value of the club’s squad, including John Terry, Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack (pictured), dropped by nearly £40 million ($61 million).
The national stadium is supposed to represent the maximum a country can offer, an iconic venue that provides the best possible platform for deciding the outcome of the most important fixtures.
A venue that should give players the freedom to express themselves, managers the ability to change tactics without fear of accident and fans the unique experience of watching football at its most expansive.
April 13 – West Ham United need to make sure they avoid relegation from the Premier League first before they start thinking about plans to move into the Olympic Stadium, Sir Trevor Brooking (pictured) has warned.
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April 13 – A UEFA delegation has completed its two-day inspection of Italy’s bid to host the 2016 European Championships.
April 13 – Stan Kroenke (pictured), the single largest shareholder in Arsenal, has decided to buy the 60 per cent of the NFL team St Louis Rams he does not already own which puts a big question mark over whether he plans to bid for the Premier League club.
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“Why are we so enthusiastic about Barcelona and Lionel Messi?
“[It’s] because he is playing like a kid.
“It’s like he is leaving his house and saying to his mum, ‘I’m going to play football, I’ll be back at 9 o’clock.’”
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This year’s FA Cup should have been a classic, one that should have helped to relaunch the oldest cup competition in the world.
By David Owen in Istanbul
April 12 – Mahmut Özgener (pictured), President of the Turkish Football Federation, today expressed confidence in the integrity of the Euro 2016 bidding process, as the body unveiled a new four-year strategic plan.