FIFA fines Poland and England after Wembley flare-up
November 14 – FIFA has fined both England and Poland for the crowd trouble that occurred at their decisive World Cup qualifying match at Wembley last month.
Author: Paul Nicholson
Latino giants take next steps to Brazil with big play-off first round wins
By Andrew Warshaw
November 14 – Uruguay and Mexico have all but booked their places in next year’s World Cup with thumping victories over rank outsiders Jordan and New Zealand respectively.
SAP signs Bierhoff and signals intention to drive deeper into football
By Paul Nicholson
November 14 – German data giant SAP has increased its foothold in football and signalled an intention to grow its business in the sports area with an expansion of its relationship with the German Bundesliga football club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and the addition of German national team manager Oliver Bierhoff as a brand ambassador.
Lyon stadium construction begins in race to ready for 2016 Euros
By Paul Nicholson
November 13 – The foundation stone for the €250 million Grande Stade de Lyon was laid yesterday. The new Lyon stadium. also known as the Stade des Lumières, will be one of France’s 10 UEFA Euro 2016 venues and the race is now on to make sure the stadium is finished in time for the championships.
Aussies express fear that civil unrest will make Brazil 2014 unsafe
November 13 – Australia are believed to be the first country to publicly raise concern about security at next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil because of all the recent civil unrest.
Barca’s ‘reverse’ sponsorship deal with Unicef extended for 2 years
November 13 – Barcelona have agreed a two-year extension to its partnership with the United Nations Children’s fund, Unicef.
Yeung money laundering trial continues, Birmingham City future in balance
By Andrew Warshaw
November 13 – Carson Yeung, the Hong Kong businessman who owns English club Birmingham City, has lost a second appeal to have his money laundering trial thrown out. A district court judge said Yeung wasn’t prejudiced by new evidence submitted by the prosecution during the trial which has been going for almost two months.
Name calling continues at Hull as Allam refuses to back down
By Andrew Warshaw
November 13 – What’s in a name? Quite a lot, it seems, when it comes to the history of football clubs. Not for the first time, fans of an English top-flight club are up in arms over plans by ambitious owners to do away with deep-rooted traditions for commercial reasons.
CSKA fan group launches text campaign to raise funds for academy facilities
By Alexander Krassimirov
November 13 – Non-profit organisation CSKA Forever is raising funds via premium short text messages to be used in several ways. The bulk of the money raised will go towards the construction of several small football grounds which will be used by the club’s Academy. Currently young CSKA players train and play matches at different stadiums in Sofia and the surrounding area.
Osasu Obayiuwana: Winning is certainly not everything
Over the years, I’ve been forced to develop a rather sceptical, hard-nosed attitude towards the achievements of particular African teams in FIFA’s Under-17 and Under-20 competitions, because some Cup ‘victories’ were certainly achieved by using over-aged players.
In an ‘off-the-record’ conversation I had with an ex-Nigerian player, who captained the ‘Golden Eaglets’ to one of their four Under-17 World Cup wins, he freely admitted to me – long after retiring from the game,
World Cup blood and urine samples to be sent to Switzerland for testing
By David Owen
November 13 – Blood and urine samples from players competing at next year’s FIFA World Cup are to be analysed in Switzerland, in a move likely to cause new embarrassment to Brazilian authorities.
Matt Scott: Satellite titan should end hostilities before the Sky falls in
“Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you,” Alexander Graham Bell, March 10, 1876
The first words ever spoken down a telephone line might be laced with a menacing undertone were Sky’s chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, to pick up a handset today and repeat them, this time to his counterpart at BT Vision, Marc Watson.
BT Vision is a subsidiary of the British former monopoly telecoms provider,
Bien-Aime becomes first woman on CONCACAF Executive Committee
By Paul Nicholson
November 12 – Sonia Bien-Aime has been appointed to the executive committee of CONCACAF. Bien-Aime is also one of three women on FIFA’s Executive Committee, having been co-opted to the top table of world football at the FIFA Congress in Mauritius earlier this year.
Mexico head for Costa Rica finals after taking CONCACAF U17 Womens title
November 11 – The CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship ended with a penalty shoot-out win for Mexico over Canada in Montego Bay, Jamaica, this weekend. Mexico and Canada will join host Costa Rica as CONCACAF representatives in the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which starts in March.
Premier League players get charitable via Twitter
By Jamie Styles
November 12 – Not all footballers on Twitter cause a storm of controversy. Sunderland striker Connor Wickham used his Twitter following over the weekend to help raise money for charity.