By Mark Baber
April 5 – Whilst a football match last weekend between Bollywood AllStars and Cricket AllStars, won 4-3 by the cricketers raised money the Virat Kohli Charity Foundation, the involvement of the Bollywood superstars in popularising the game in India seems to be far more talk than action.
April 5 – The speaker line up for the FT/IFA is taking shape with FIFA president Sepp Blatter to give the keynote and British Airways chairman Sir Martin Broughton headlining.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 5 – Supporters of Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa insist he is emerging as the favourite to win the race to become the next President of the Asian Football Confederation.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 5 – Three Lebanese officials who were suddenly pulled out of an Asian Football Confederation cup game in Singapore have been charged over allegations of receiving sexual bribes in exchange for match-fixing, according to the country’s anti-corruption unit which acted on a tip-off.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 5 – Leading Egyptian club Zamalek have been fined for allowing fans into their stadium to watch a league game, defying security orders that all matches be played in empty stadiums, a stipulation put in place in order for football to resume following last year’s Port Said disaster.
By Tom Parsons
April 5 – The English Premier League may lead the world in TV sales and as a commercially driven league, but its clubs have been slower to embrace the opportunities of new technologies to connect and communicate with fans, particularly with in-stadia experiences.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 4 – FIFA’s reform process has been “haunted by the past”, according to Sylvia Schenk, senior advisor for sports for the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, which produced an eight-page report in 2011 that was used as basis for FIFA’s subsequent and ongoing clean-up campaign.
By Tom Parsons
April 4 – Real Madrid will have to wait longer for the EU decision on whether they received illegal state aid surrounding property deals, a decision that could have wider consequences for other clubs in Europe.
By Mark Baber
April 4 – Congressman Romario has been stepping up his attacks on Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) president Jose Maria Marin (pictured) over his alleged links to the country’s former military dictatorship.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – Controversial England midfielder Joey Barton, currently playing for Marseille, is in trouble again after arch-rivals Paris St Germain threatened action against him for likening PSG’s Brazilian defender Thiago Silva to a transsexual on his Twitter account.
By Mark Baber
April 4 – As the UEFA Congress vote in May on Gibraltar’s football status nears, the Spanish Government has declared that it will back the Spanish Football Federation in trying to block Gibraltar’s full membership. In answer to questions from Ezquerra Republicana de Cataluña (ERC) representative Alfred Bosch in the Madrid Cortes, a Spanish government spokesman said: “At this point in time, the Government does not consider the possible staging of official football matches between Spain and Gibraltar.
Why is it impossible to decide who is the Lionel Messi of football’s men in suits?
Forget the argument about whether Lionel Messi is the greatest player. That argument can never be resolved as it depends on a variety of factors, many of them intensely subjective.
For instance, people of my generation who were brought up on the greatness of Pele will continue to believe that while Messi is a wonderful player,
By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – Lebanese football, already reeling from an ongoing match-fixing scandal, has suffered even more embarrassment after three of its officials were suddenly pulled out of taking charge of an AFC Cup game in Singapore.
April 4 – Singapore and Vietnam will be co-hosts for the AFF Suzuki Cup group stages in 2014, the region’s premier competition held every two years.
Anyone seeking revolutionary change to the way in which FIFA does its business would certainly be underwhelmed with the changes to be proposed at next month’s congress in Mauritius.
As the stone-cold reality continues to sink in, that key suggestions of the IGC, led by Professor Mark Pieth, are not going to be implemented in the way originally proposed – a roadmap which well-meaning people within the fraternity keenly support – it is time to acknowledge that the harsh,