Paul Nicholson, Author at Inside World Football - Page 1787 of 1891

David Owen: Brazil 2014: England will be hoping for something better than Brazil 1950

It isn’t World Cup fever, but Tuesday night’s win over Poland has left England gripped by what I would diagnose as a mild case of World Cup euphoria.

More than 15,000 fans were said to have registered their interest in going to Brazil; bookies predicted a £100 million betting bonanza; and a much-publicised tabloid story about manager Roy Hodgson’s half-time team-talk seems only to have redoubled the country’s determination to get behind the team.

2014 News

Brazilian crime gang issues ‘World Cup of Terror’ warning

drug gng raids

By Paul Nicholson
October 20 – Fears of a series of terror attacks during the Brazil 2014 World Cup have emerged following a threat from Brazil’s largest organised crime group, the First Capital Command (PCC) drug cartel, to unleash a ‘World Cup of Terror’ during the summer of 2014, as well as attacks during local political elections.

Archive

UEFA club audit calculates €4.9bn of fixed assets across Euro clubs

uefa flag

By Jake Gable
October 20 – Arsenal have topped a UEFA benchmarking report of tangible fixed assets with the governing body, valuing the club’s long-term assets at over €500 million. UEFA carried out an audit of all 237 clubs competing in this season’s Champions League and Europa League for its report in line with Financial Fair Play regulations.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Fight against racism is too important to be derailed by tabloid sound bites

The problem with race these days is that the whole subject too often gets reduced to a tabloid presentation with the result that England manager Roy Hodgson, a cultivated man of wide culture and sensitivity, ends up by being absurdly labelled as racist. We can all accept that Roy Hodgson made a mistake in repeating an old NASA joke about the monkey in his half time talk as an illustration to remind English players that they should get Andros Townsend involved in the play as often as possible.

John Yan

John Yan: An insult to the public mood 中国足球，侮辱公众情绪

Away to Indonesia on October 15, the away round of qualification group matches of the Asian Cup, Team China earned an embarrasing draw, 1:1. Indonesia’s FIFA ranking before the match was 170th.

Funny thing happened again. A week before the match, the President of China, Mr. Xi Jinping, was visiting Indonesia, and made some comments about his beloved game of football: “I hope one day that China and Indonesia could meet in the finals of World Cup,”

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Is Libya safe for a 2017 Cup of Nations?

As the opening stage of the 2014 World Cup play-offs for Africa ended on Tuesday, another four weeks must pass before knowing, for certain, the quintet that will represent the continent in Brazil.

But Algeria, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria and particularly Ghana’s Black Stars, which gave Egypt a surprising 6-1 wallop in Kumasi, will be feeling they are closer to earning their qualification tickets.

Whilst fans were concentrating on the action taking place across the continent,

Archive

Sexwale to open landmark CONCACAF summit

Tokyo Sexwale

October 16 – The landmark CONCACAF summit in the Cayman Islands next week (October 21-22) will kick off with an address by South African freedom fighter and football supporter Tokyo Sexwale (pictured) at a dinner hosted by president Jeffrey Webb.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: World Cup Qualification, a drama you live through over and over again

Apologies to those whose national football teams face a nerve wracking World Cup play-off.

And to those who dreams of reaching Brazil 2014 are already over.

For I’d like to talk about qualification. As in achieving it, sealing the deal.

As an Al Jazeera Correspondent I must be neutral, yet all around me in England there has been the agony, the pain, then the relief at securing a place in the finals.

Archive

Murdoch in five-year deal to take Bundesliga to the world

Bundesliga TV

By Mark Baber
October 16 – The DFL (German League Association) and Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox have agreed a new broadcast deal which will take the Bundesliga to more than 80 TV markets including Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, all of North and Latin America and much of Asia from the start of the 2015/16 season.

Archive

Crowdfunding comes to Kettering’s rescue

Kettering town fc

By David Owen
October 16 – A 141-year-old English football club may have been saved from closure thanks in part to the generosity of fans from as far afield as Iceland and Vietnam.

Archive

IFA: Is there a future for mega events?

Brazil fan in stadium

By Paul Nicholson
October 15 – The second day of the IFA conference in Zurich, October 29, has picked a topic that goes to the very heart of questioning the existence of major world championship sporting events in their current form. Titled ‘Is there a future for Mega sports events?’ a panel will discuss the demands major events put on host nations and whether the model is broken or not.

Matt Scott

Matt Scott: Spanish tuning in to collective bargaining

“Everything was interconnected… This created a blanket that allowed him to dive without fear into the unknown and conquer the challenges that lay before him.” From Together We’re Heavy, The Polyphonic Spree

Against Georgia tonight Spain will likely confirm their qualification to the 2014 World Cup as Group I winners. It will extend the world champions’ playing record over 30 international matches to W22 D7 L1.

As football lovers recognise,

Archive

Rosell trumpets record revenue and reduced debt at Barca

Camp Nou

By Gareth Messenger
October 14 – Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has praised his own financial management of the club after an annual general meeting predicted record revenues.

Archive

CONCACAF launches first referees symposium in Mexico

Concacaf ref Symposium

October 14 – CONCACAF held its first International Referee Symposium over the weekend in Mexico, aimed at improving the standard of professional football referring across the region. The symposium marks another step forward for the confederation, following on from its first series of coaches courses, in its drive to improve standards through education and support throughout its federations.

Africa

Namibia boosts MTC sponsorship, bringing stability to national game

Namibia football

By Mark Baber
October 14 – The Namibia Premier League (NPL) has agreed a new, more lucrative sponsorship deal with its long-time partner, telecoms operator MTC. The new deal will generate almost $2 million per season for the next three seasons giving a major boost to top flight football in the country.