By Paul Nicholson
June 9 – The CIES Football Observatory has released its top 100 ranking of the highest transfer values for big-5 league footballers. Not surprisingly Lionel Messi heads the table with an estimated value of between €255 and €281 million – more than it would cost to buy half the teams in the English Premier League, Aston Villa is reckoned to be on sale for £100 million.
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 9 – Embattled Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia, which has so far been refused a license to play next season, was struck another blow when former player Youness Bengelloun was awarded €407,296 (BGN 803 000) in compensation for unpaid salary. The decision was taken by a FIFA tribunal with judges from England, Croatia, Argentina, South Africa and Brazil.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 8 – Termalica Bruk-Bet Nieciecza, one of the two promoted teams to Poland’s top tier Ekstraklasa for the 2015/16 season, has unveiled plans to double the capacity of its stadium from the current 2,262 to at least 4,500 seats.
By Matt Scott
June 8 – Insolvent Football League clubs will face an immediate 12-point deduction following new rules introduced at the competition’s annual summer conference in Portugal on Friday.
By David Owen
June 7 – Clubs in England’s second-tier Championship paid out more in wages than they generated in revenue for a second straight season in 2013-14, underlining the risks decision-makers are prepared to run to improve their chances of promotion to the promised land of the Premier League.
By Matt Scott
June 5 – English Football League clubs will today vote on a new insolvency policy that, if approved, will overhaul the way administrations are dealt with in the English lower leagues.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – No more World Cup boycott threats. No more breaking away from FIFA. Or so it seems. UEFA have cancelled a proposed emergency meeting of their top brass scheduled for Saturday in the wake of Sepp Blatter’s resignation.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 3 – A new competitor has reportedly entered the ongoing race to secure the broadcasting rights for Poland’s Ekstraklasa, with Polish direct-to-home platform nc+ and Eurosport competing against a new broadcaster, Eleven.
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 2 – Bulgarian CSKA Sofia and Lokomotiv Sofia finally lost their professional status after the Appeals Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union confirmed the decision of its Licensing committee to refuse playing licenses to both clubs.
By Mark Baber
June 1 – Just hours before the 2015 FA Cup Final was won by Emirates sponsored Arsenal, the FA announced the Dubai-based airline as the new sponsor of the FA Cup in a deal which will see the competition named ‘The Emirates FA Cup’ from next season up until 2018.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – Up to one third of Europe may have defied UEFA president Michel Platini’s request and voted for Sepp Blatter in last Friday’s FIFA presidential election.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 1 – Austria Wien has unveiled the design of its new stadium which is to be developed under a project worth €48 million. Under the plan, the Vienna-based side will launch the build in May 2016.
By Samindra Kunti
June 1 – FIFA executive committee member Michel D’Hooghe from Belgium has added his voice to continued European criticism of Sepp Blatter following his re-election last week. Speaking on Belgian television D’Hooghe said “it’s high time for change” in FIFA and questioned his own future within the organisation.
By Samindra Kunti and Paul Nicholson
May 29 – The 30th anniversary of the Heysel disaster was remembered at the FIFA Congress today in Zurich by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, sitting two places away from UEFA president Michel Platini, who scored the winning goal on the fateful night that saw 39 Italians killed on the terraces of the Heysel stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 28 – Poland’s copper and silver miner KGHM has sais it plans to put Zaglebie Lubin up for sale following the club’s promotion to the country’s top tier Ekstraklasa.