By Monica Villar
April 22 – The first leg of the Champions League semi-finals take place this week with the giants of Germany facing the giants of Spain – Bayern vs Barça and Dortmund vs Real Madrid. Tickets are hard to get but if you are going to one of the German legs you will likely pay half the amount for a similar ticket in Spain.
April 22 – Brazil’s iconic Maracanã took a step closer to readiness this weekend with a sound and lighting test. The stadium is now 97% ready with just some seating to be installed.
By Paul Nicholson
April 21 – Uli Hoeness, Bayern Munich’s outspoken club president and supervisory board chairman, could face tax evasion charges in Germany after failing to declare a Swiss bank account. German public prosecutors are currently looking at his financial records to decide whether to proceed with a case against him.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 19 – Sunil Gulati, head of the United States Soccer Federation, was narrowly elected to FIFA’s executive committee by CONCACAF on Friday, defeating his only rival, Mexico’s Justino Compean, by a single vote.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 19 – Jack Warner (right) and Chuck Blazer (left), the one-time double act who fell out spectacularly and ended up as bitter foes, were denounced as “fraudulent in their management” of CONCACAF by an official report today.
The most recent spell of hooliganism in England (Millwall-Wigan and Newcastle-Sunderland matches) appears to have rung in a renewed era of primitive and vulgar fan behavior that had led to the ban of English clubs and the England team from international football in the 80s. Hooliganism defaced the English game throughout the 1970s and 1980s: in 1974, a Blackpool fan was stabbed to death at Blackpool’s home match with Bolton Wanderers. In 1985, after vile hooliganism of Liverpool fans led to the deaths of 39 Juventus supporters before the European Cup final at the Heysel Stadium,
April 19 – Bahrain Football Association President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has issued the following statement regarding an article published by Insideworldfootball April 16.
By Tom Parsons
April 19 – Local Welsh footballers and clubs are being warned that they could face disciplinary action if they send abusive messages through social media and websites to their opponents.
19 April – Security fears surrounding next year’s World Cup have increased after two fans were shot dead near one of the new stadia being used for the tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 19 – AEK Athens are set to be relegated from the top flight of Greek football for the first time in their 89-year history after a points deduction handed down for crowd violence left them stranded near the bottom with one match remaining.
April 19 – ‘Global Transfer Market 2012’ report from FIFA’s new transfer company, FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH, gives insight into global transfer trends across borders.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 19 – Three Lebanese officials who were suddenly pulled out of an Asian Football Confederation game in Singapore for alleged match-fixing will go on trial in June, it was reported today.
April 19 – Europe’s biggest insurer Allianz is reportedly in talks to buy the naming rights for a new stadium in Sao Paulo.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 19 – A year after the most blood-letting and bitter summit in its history, a detailed report into serious financial mismanagement within CONCACAF will be presented to members at their Congress in Panama today.
