By Paul Nicholson
May 21- Bloomberg have released their ‘BSports Power 50’ ranking of the top European footballers over the 2013/14 season. Liverpool’s Luis Suarez tops the ranking while, not surprisingly, Spain’s Atlético de Madrid were the top represented club with eight players in the top 50.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 21 – Brazilian legend Pele says the delays that have plagued the World Cup in his country have been “a disgrace” as FIFA called for a further test event at the stadium that is hosting the opening game. Sao Paulo’s Itaquerao, Cuiaba’s Arena Pantanal and Curitiba’s Arena da Baixada are all unfinished despite the tournament starting in less than a month, and Pele is dismayed.
May 21 – With good fan support upstart minnows can occasionally knock out the bigger and bullying football fish. INSIDEworldfootball has been nominated for a Readers’ Choice award in two categories in the 2013/14 World Soccer Talk Awards. Nominations are for Best Online Coverage for insideworldfootball.com, while Matt Scott has been nominated in the Best Writer category for his columns on the site.
May 21 – The US has rapidly become the country of choice for Central and South American championships. Earlier this month CONCACAF announced it would be hosting the Copa America Centenario in the US in 2016. Now the Central American Football Union (UNCAF) have confirmed they will play their 25th anniversary Central American Cup in the US.
May 20 – The Premier League has given its chief executive Richard Scudamore a vote of confidence following his now infamous emailed sexism comments that were published in an English Sunday newspaper. But the adverse reaction to his comments has kicked up a storm that shows no sign of abating.
By Mark Baber
May 20 – Monday’s kick-off of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup final is being hailed as a remarkable achievement for the Maldives (total population 340,000) which has managed to refurbish two stadiums to bring them up to AFC standards.
May 20 – The announcement of Louis van Gaal as Manchester United manager – football’s most open secret – has been widely hailed as the best possible appointment to restore the club to its former glories at home and in Europe after the one-season disaster under the luckless David Moyes.
By Tom Parsons
May 20 – Football clubs and media have increasingly turned to Twitter as their platform of choice for getting their audiences to vote for events and individuals as the end of term football awards season gets into full swing.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 20 – Gornik Zabrze has signed a two-year sponsorship deal with betting operator Totolotek who will become the Polish club’s new main sponsor.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has arrived in Brazil for the final time to oversee the run-up to the start of the World Cup, saying he expects “busy days ahead” to make sure everything is ready on time. Valcke arrived 24 hours after Brazil held the last two test events at its delayed stadiums, notably at the Sao Paulo venue that will host the opening game, and will visit all 12 host cities one last time “to see that the finishing touches”
May 20 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers have announced the second phase of construction at Al Wakrah, the first of the proposed venues to stage the finals. Last week the Qataris announced sweeping changes to their own labour laws though there was still criticism from pressure groups that they hadn’t gone far enough.
By Alexander Krassimirov
May 20 – Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia has failed in its bid to become a public company listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. The failed IPO sold only 360,000 shares – the minimum requirement for the club to become publicly traded was 1.4 million. 3 million shares had been released for sale at the nominal price of BGN 3 (€1,5).
By Andrew Warshaw
May 20 – Two months after its top clubs voted against goalline technology, the subject has moved back into the spotlight in Germany following a controversial decision in last weekend’s domestic cup final between rivals Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
May 20 – In what is surely one of football’s most bizarre transfers, a first division Bolivian professional side has signed up the country’s 54-year-old president Evo Morales (pictured) to play in midfield at a reported token salary of $213 per month.
May 19- Highlighting football’s perceived ability to provide a marketing push to a vast array of brands in different fields, Barcelona has unveiled a partnership with the power tools group, Stanley Black & Decker.