By Alexander Krassimirov
February 18 – With one Bulgarian club owner facing a possible prison sentence for fraud, another, Levski Sofia Todor Batkov (pictured) has said he has had enough and has announced he is ready to sell his shares in the club.
February 18 – The parent company that owns second-tier English side Birmingham City has gone into voluntary receivership because of internal strife, another stark example of the struggles that can afflict clubs below the top flight.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 18 – Spanish football has been rocked by yet another case of match-fixing, this time involving a crucial relegation battle last season between Espanyol and Osasuna.
By Paul Nicholson
February 18 – Financial fair play, low interest rates and football’s ability to secure big money broadcast and sponsor contracts looks likely to attract debt investors back into the football business.
February 18 – Chelsea fans have brought shame on their high-flying English Premier League club after video footage appeared to show a group of them chanting racist slogans as they prevented a black man from boarding a train ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League fixture against Paris St Germain.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 17 – The Czech Football Association (FACR) has unveiled plans to implement a number of measures to enhance the legal protection of footballers whose clubs encounter financial difficulties and leave players unpaid but tied to their clubs.
February 17 – Barcelona, slapped with a transfer ban by FIFA for bringing in under-age players, appear to have found a way to get round the sanction by targeting players but not registering them before January 2016.
By Samindra Kunti
February 17 – Belgian second division club RAEC Mons has filed for bankruptcy at the local commercial court after prolonged financial difficulty.
February 17 – Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaliy Mutko has again been critical of the Russian Football Union (RFU) for its proposal of limiting foreign players in club squads to ’10+15′, saying “what kind of celebration will we have (at the World Cup in 2018) if our own team is completely useless”.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 17 – Alexander Tomov (pictured), the largest shareholder in Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia, one of the country’s top four clubs, faces 10 years in prison if convicted of fraud charges brought against him by Bulgarian prosecutors.
February 16 – Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has pointed the finger for alleged tax evasion over the 2013 signing of Brazilian forward Neymar at his predecessor Sandro Rosell.
February 16 – Paris St Germain striker and Swedish national team captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic took his charity support a step further with new tattoos displaying the names of 50 hungry people for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). He removed his shirt after scoring against Caen at the weekend to show the names and raise awareness for the campaign.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 13 – The UEFA Appeals Body has changed the punishment handed out to Bulgaria following the behaviour of fans during the European qualifier against Croatia in October 2014. Four blocks of the National Stadium Vasil Levski will now be closed for the country’s next home game against Italy on March 28.
By Mark Baber
February 12 – New Parma president Giampietro Manenti, chief executive of the Mapi Group which bought Parma for 1 Euro earlier this week, is confident the club can meet its obligations and pay off all its debts by the end of this month. Damiano Tommasi, president of the Italian footballer’s union the AIC, on the other hand, thinks it is unlikely the debt can be paid and is concerned for the welfare of the players.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 13 – Rangers goalkeeper Steve Simonsen has been banned for two games, with one of them suspended, after being found guilty of betting on no fewer than 55 matches. The suspension is the latest blow for the beleaguered Scottish giants.