Belgian match-fixing trial begins after 10-year wait, 31 face charges
February 6 – Burkina Faso coach Paul Put is among 31 defendants in a Belgian match-fixing trial that started this week.
Europe
Cracovia Krakow swaps Nike for Italy’s Legea as new kit sponsor
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 5 – Cracovia Krakow has signed a new kit deal with Italian sportswear manufacturer Legea. The contract with Legea will come into force in July 2015, the Polish football club said. Legea will replace Nike which has been Cracovia’s kit supplier since 2012.
Bulgarian champions build for Europe with €10m revamp of Ludogorets Arena
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 6 – The state in Bulgaria has allocated 3 million leva (€1,5 million) for the reconstruction of the Ludogorets Arena Stadium in Razgrad. The project was approved by ministers yesterday, with the money being allocated from a fund for ‘Growth and sustainable development in the region’. The stadium is home of current league champions PFC Ludogorets.
Afghan football officials to visit Wembley
By David Owen
February 5 – A party from Afghanistan is to pay a knowledge-sharing visit to England, as part of a programme to foster the development of football in the war-torn country and aid the nation-building process that the west is keen to see take root.
Barca’s Faus calls for expanded CL and reduced home leagues
February 5 – Barcelona president Sandro Rosell may have departed but the club’s vice-president is continuing Rosell’s legacy of calling for changes to the structure of the game.
Yeung resigns from Birmingham City as money laundering trial continues
By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – The unpredictable and often precarious nature of foreign ownership in club football has been starkly illustrated by Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung resigning as a director of both the club and its parent company Birmingham International Holdings Ltd (BIHL) as he awaits the verdict of a money laundering trial.
Hertha welcomes new US investor and €61m of ‘long-term’ cash
By David Owen
February 5 – Yet more US investment is flowing into European football, with the announcement that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has forged a strategic partnership with Hertha BSC of the German Bundesliga.
Rummenigge insists FFP must be enforced and points finger at PSG
By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who heads the European Club Association representing the interests of more than 200 clubs across the Continent, has urged UEFA to crack down on any big spenders who breach financial fair play regulations.
Skrill drops Football Conference title sponsorship
February 4 – The Football Conference, which organises the fifth and sixth tiers of English football across three divisions, is looking for a title sponsor following the decision by current sponsor Skrill, to finish its relationship with the league at the end of the year.
Less is more as CFR Cluj owner offers stake in Romanian club
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 3 – Arpad Paszkany (pictured), owner of CFR Cluj, has confirmed plans to find a new investor for the Romanian club which currently plays in Liga 1, the top tier of the country’s professional football league.
Philipp Lahm: Is Bayern’s maturing wunderkind Germany’s lethal weapon?
By Paul Nicholson
February 3 – Pep Guardiola’s biographer Daniel Martinez reckons that the Bayern coach sees Philipp Lahm as his most important player. And if Bayern retain the Champions League and Germany win the World Cup then the aging defender turned midfield general would be nailed-on for the next FIFA player of the year.
Germans gone soft? Beckenbauer questions current ‘will to win’
By Andrew Warshaw
February 3 – Mental strength has long been regarded as one of German football’s greatest qualities but Franz Beckenbauer, the country’s most revered footballing icon, believes it may have been lost.
French sex trial clears Ribery and Benzema of all charges
February 3 – French football stars Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema have been cleared on all charges in their underage sex trial in Paris. The prosecution had been tasked with proving they had illegally slept with a teenage prostitute – a crime which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Football mourns the loss of Spanish history maker, Luis Aragones
February 3 – Tributes have poured in from around the world for Luis Aragones, the man who ended Spain’s 44-year wait for a major international trophy by winning Euro 2008.
Leeds turmoil as in-coming Cellino fires manager before deal completes
By Andrew Warshaw
February 3 – First he was the manager, then he wasn’t, then he was again: all within 24 hours. The mayhem surrounding the prospective Italian takeover of iconic English club Leeds United took several farcical twists over the weekend when Brian McDermott was re-instated by the club’s directors after seemingly being sacked.