By Mark Baber
May 27 – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (pictured) has announced the broadcasting of live betting odds will be banned from sports coverage, with gambling advertising relegated to designated commercial breaks during quarter and half-times.
By Mark Baber
May 27 – The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) has moved this year’s edition of the biannual SAFF Championship, to be held in Kathmandu, forward by two weeks.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Mauritius
May 27 – It’s not every day that Mauritius, renowned as one of the world’s most exclusive tourist destinations, becomes the centre of attention for footballing reasons.
I have been delving further into the detail of FIFA’s new Club Protection Programme (CPP), the scheme designed to remove a longstanding bone of contention by compensating clubs when players they employ are injured on international duty.
I was concerned lest an unforeseen spate of injuries sent costs soaring to the point where they absorbed most or all of FIFA’s positive annual result. This stood at $89 million in 2012.
The world football governing body has now told me that they have moved to protect themselves against unexpectedly high costs.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 24 – Playing politics in immaculate style, UEFA president Michel Platini gave a veiled hint for the first time today that his 53 members may not support FIFA’s reform process for cleaning up the game, due to reach its climax in Mauritius next week after two years of rhetoric and table thumping.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 24 – Gibraltar officially became the 54th member of UEFA today when delegates voted at their annual congress to give the tiny British colony full membership – with the Euro 2016 qualifying competition expected to be its first major tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 24 – UEFA president Michel Platini today stepped up his campaign to counter match-fixing by calling once again on governments and politicians to help tackle what he believes is the biggest crisis facing football.
May 24 – Borussia Dortmund has signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Lebara Mobile, a leading provider of mobile phone service to destinations outside Germany, in a deal put together by marketing agency Sportfive.
By Mark Baber
May 24 – The 2015 Champions League Final will be held in Berlin’s Olympiastadion, the UEFA Executive Committee decided on Thursday at its meeting in London. Warsaw’s National Stadium won the honour of hosting the Europa League Final 2015.
May 24 – Mauritius, host to next week’s gathering of the world’s football federations for the 63rd FIFA Congress, will kick proceedings off with the opening of a new facility and the renaming of an older one.
By Paul Nicholson
May 24 – Manchester United will cut their interest payments by £10 million a year under a new loan secured with the Bank of America at lower interest rates.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 24 – Dan Tan, the elusive and notorious Singaporean who is on almost every list of wanted match-fixers, has been charged over an international conspiracy stretching back four years, along with 44 Hungarians.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 23 – David Gill, who recently stepped down as Manchester United’s chief executive, looks certain to become English football’s most influential voice in Europe when he is elected to the executive committee of UEFA on Friday.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
May 23 – UEFA’s unprecedented crackdown on racism – involving 10-match bans and stadium closures – will kick in on June 1, while blood tests are to be routinely conducted across all UEFA competitions from next season.
By Mark Baber
May 23 – The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has this morning decided to postpone its 7th VFF Congress scheduled for June 5, with a new date to be set at a meeting of the Executive Board on June 11.