By Paul Nicholson
July 31 – Fabio Capello committed his future to the Russian team through to the 2018 World Cup yesterday. There had been criticism internally of Russia’s failure to make it through the group stages of the Brazil World Cup, as well as of Capello’s reported $12 million salary.
July 31 – New York City FC has announced that Hays, a British company providing recruitment and human resources services, will be its official recruitment partner for at least the next three years. According to NYC FC, Hays will help “recruit the off-pitch talent [NYC FC] need”.
July 31 – Vanishing spray, introduced by FIFA for the World Cup in Brazil to mark out the defensive wall at freekicks just outside the penalty area, is to be used in the English Premier League this coming season.
July 31 – Julio Grondona, FIFA’s senior vice-president and arguably the second most powerful man in world football, has died aged 82 after running Argentine football for the past 35 years.
By Mark Baber
July 30 – The Disciplinary Committee of the French Professional League (LFP) last Thursday imposed sanctions on some of the 87 first and second division players who were caught out after the files of the LFP were compared to lists of those betting on league games. The low-key announcement saw the toughest penalties imposed being three match suspended suspensions and fines of €1,500.
July 30 – Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz have turned to crowdfunding to make up the shortfall in their budget as they prepare for the 8-team 2014 CFU Women’s Caribbean Cup finals in Trinidad and Tobago, August 17-27.
July 30 – CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb, who leads FIFA’s anti-discrimination body, has issued a further hard-hitting rebuke in response to comments made by Italian Football Federation (FIGC) vice-President Carlo Tavecchio who described African players as “banana-eaters”.
July 30 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has re-iterated that any expansion of the World Cup finals beyond the current 32 teams would be impractical and may reduce quality of play.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 30 – With the European pre-season spending spree in full swing despite the apparent advent of financial fair play, the president of La Liga in Spain has made it clear his country is prepared to out-muscle the Premier League when it comes to financial clout.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 30 – Asian football is stepping up its collective effort to tackle match-fixing by distributing a detailed booklet to member federations throughout the Continent highlighting the dangers of being drawn into manipulation.
July 30 – Kevin Sammut, one of the most influential players in Malta’s fledglng footballing history, has had his 10-year ban for match-fixing extended globally by FIFA.
By Ben Nicholson
July 30 – ESPN’s pundit Alexi Lalas, ex-US national team player, spilled MLS commissioner Dan Garber’s beans over Miami Beckham United. Lalas shared a conversation he had with Garber, in which Garber said, “MLS will not expand to Miami unless we have a downtown site for the stadium.”
July 29 – Manchester City Women’s Football Club (MCWFC) have partnered with Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) to launch a scheme aimed at getting more women and girls involved in sport.
By Mark Baber
July 29 – Borussia Dortmund (BVB), main challengers to Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga, are looking to take on another two major investors as strategic partners to sharpen their challenge to the Bavarian dominance.
By Paul Nicholson
July 29 – With Russia and its 2018 World Cup hosting having become a focus of political comment in the West, in the East the Russians have remained focused on their task of delivering 2018. In recent days new stadia have been started and the debate over whether the number of host cities has intensified with sports minister Vitaly Mutko (pictured) currently on the road visiting the cities under threat.