By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – FIFA and World Cup organisers have been quick to re-assure an anxious public that the shocking scenes of violence at a Brazilian championship game at the weekend, screened across the world, were far removed from what can be expected next summer.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – The spot-fixing scandal that has rocked English football has moved up a gear with the relevation that five of the six men arrested are past or present players, the most high profile being DJ Campbell, a striker with Blackburn Rovers in the second tier of the domestic game who previously played in the Premier League with three different clubs.
By Alexander Krassimirov
December 10 – CSKA Sofia CEO Alexander Todorov (pictured) said that the new management of the club has reduced the salaries of the players about 35% compared to those who have paid the previous owners of Titan AS.
December 9 – The next round of 2014 World Cup match ticket sales opened yesterday on the FIFA online ticketing site. This round of sales will be open until 30 January 2014 and applications can be made for 62 of the 64 matches (the opening game in Sao Paulo and final in Rio are excluded).
December 9 – As World Cup organisers prepare for a rush of bookings following last week’s draw, with fans working out exactly how much they can afford and how to get the best deals, FIFA have amended kickoff times of seven matches for the purposes of television coverage.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – With the glitz and glamour of the World Cup draw still fresh in the mind, Brazilian organisers have suffered a massive public relations blow after television pictures of scores of fans fighting running battles in a domestic championship match were flashed around the world.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – A German second division club has terminated its advertising contract with Saudi Arabia’s state-owned airline following reports that it refuses to fly Israeli citizens.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 9 – Following a series of defeats which pushed the football club towards the relegation zone of Poland’s Esktraklasa, the Ultras of Zaglebie Lubin assaulted one of the club’s players, damaged another one’s car with bricks and threatened to assault a third player.
December 9 – Sports ministers from across the world were convening in Qatar today to explore the idea of creating a G20 sports grouping to mirror the economic equivalent. Sports officials from a raft of nations including South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Italy were taking part in the summit as part of the three-day Doha Goals conference.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – A one-time English Premier League footballer and Nigerian international has admitted being involved in spot-fixing in a second damaging newspaper sting that has led to six people being detained and has once again seriously undermined the reputation and credibility of English football.
Tradition versus success; it is a trade-off at the heart of some of sport’s most agonising dilemmas, and it has been spotlighted again by the shenanigans at Premier League new boys Hull City.
As a Bristol City fan of some decades’ standing, I have a certain amount of sympathy with members of the City Till We Die campaign group who oppose owner Assem Allam’s idea to rebrand the club Hull Tigers.
Then again,
By Paul Nicholson
December 6 – “There is a bit of mystery about pot X,” said FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke at the 2014 World Cup draw in Costa do Sauipe in Brazil. There was no mystery once the draw was made and the teams were allocated – the World Cup is without doubt underway.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – It’s being described as the European ‘floater; and it could have major ramifications at today’s eagerly awaited World Cup draw in Brazil. Under a new formula designed to ensure an even geographical spread, before the main draw even takes place one of the nine unseeded European teams from Pot Four will be drawn at random by organisers and switched to Pot Two alongside Ecuador, Chile and the five African contenders,
December 6 – As the world’s leaders unanimously paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, who died yesterday, aged 95, so the leaders of world football have added their personal tributes to a man who changed the world and whose inspiration is a driving force behind a determination to change football culture and attitudes.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – In a landmark vote that has already caused huge jubilation across the country, India will stage its first major FIFA tournament after being handed the 2017 under-17 World Cup.