Replacement AFCON hosts accused of poor facilities
January 16 – Teams arriving for the Africa Cup of Nations which starts tomorrow in Equatorial Guinea have reportedly been suffering from a lack of hotel rooms and other facilities.
Archive
Matchfixing at Asian Cup being strictly monitored
January 16 – The Asian Football Confederation says every effort is being made to avoid match-fixing at the Asian Cup.
Ronaldo – the €60 million man
By Mark Baber
January 16 – Ronaldo’s conquest of the Golden Ball, football’s top individual honour, will have added five to ten million euros to the value of his CR7 brand, probably taking his value over the 60 million euro mark, according to Professor Daniel Sá, author of a IPAM School of Marketing study.
Africa’s European players flood back for Nations Cup duty
January 16- European clubs look set to count the cost of losing vital players to the 30th African Nations Cup that starts tomorrow.
Figures released by the European Club Association shows that two thirds of the players involved come from European clubs.
Heartthrob Ginola heads for top job in FIFA’s beauty parade, really?
By Andrew Warshaw
January 16 – It was always possible that a left-field candidate would put his name forward for FIFA president but few expected it to be a former left-sided international midfielder with little or no experience in football administration.
Kumho Tyres treads sponsor path in Europe with FC Schalke 04
January 16 – FC Schalke 04 have agreed a partnership with South Korean tyre manufacturer Kumho Tyres until the end of the season 2016/2017 including an option for further cooperation.
Betting security beefed up as Italy and Estonia increase vigilence
January 16 – Italy’s Serie B and the Estonian Football Association (EJL) have moved to improve their betting fraud protection, signing up Sportradar to deliver packages of education and match monitoring.
Collina backs move towards White cards and Sinbins
January 16 – UEFA president Michel Platini’s idea of referees using white cards for sinbins has been supported by the organisation’s refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina (pictured) who says it will help prevent diving.
Santos in turmoil as players sue for unpaid wages
By Samindra Kunti
January 16 – Brazilian club Santos is facing a mutiny in its ranks after four players took the club to court over arrears for outstanding salaries and fees. The judicial trouble is hampering Santos’s preparations for the new domestic season which begins with the state leagues this month – Santos play in the Paulista.
CSKA Sofia dress Italian, picking Lotto over Nike
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 15 – Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia have opted to sign a kit deal with Italian firm Lotto instead of switching to US giant Nike. The new three-year contract with the Italian supplier starts next season and replacing another Italian company, Legea.
Summit or lynch-mob? Brussels meeting adds more lobbyists
January 15 – Next week’s inaugural summit at the European Parliament by the so-called New Fifa Now campaign has added new speakers to the line-up.
Turkish football rocked by loss of major sponsor, blaming drop in brand value
By Mark Baber
January 15 – Murat Ülker, the chairman of Yıldız Holding, the major sponsor of the Turkish national team, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce has written to the Turkish Football Federation saying his company, which has ploughed $215 million into football in the last nine years, will no longer be supporting Turkish football.
Serie A is latest big league to add goalline technology
January 15 – Italian football is to introduce goalline technology from next season in Serie A after a task force appointed by the Italian Football Association (FIGC) ratified plans for its implementation.
AFC defends dope test disaster, but Hayel unlikely to return to play
By Andrew Warshaw
January 15 – Rocked by embarrassing allegations of negligence at the most prestigious event in its calendar, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has hit back at claims by Jordan that they botched a doping test on striker Ahmad Hayel during the Asian Cup in Australia.
Huth trips over tweets and lands up with a misconduct charge
January 15 – The pitfalls of professional footballers using social media for the wrong purposes have again been underlined after an English Premier League defender was charged with “aggravated misconduct”.