By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – A new dawn has finally broken for Scottish football after the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League finally agreed to merge – but it took 16 hours of painstaking last-ditch talks bring about a deal.
By Paul Nicholson
June 28 – Stefano Borgonovo died yesterday in Florence, Italy, aged 49. Borgonovo had fought ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a rare disease which kills nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain in the latter years of his life. His life will be remembered for his humility and grace in his battle against ALS, as well as for his style and potency on the football pitch.
By Mark Baber
June 27 – English Football Conference side Macclesfield Town has withdrawn their pay-to-play offer to fans. The cash-strapped club had planned to allow a fan to make a 10-minute appearance in the league or cup in exchange for a £20,000 donation.
By Gareth Messenger
June 27 – Good news, bad news in Spain. During the launch of the club’s new season ticket drive this week, Spanish Primera club Granada announced that within the coming days they will be clearing all outstanding tax debt. At the same time Xerex, relegated from Segunda B, missed payments to the Spanish taxman and moved a step closer to bankruptcy.
June 27 – UEFA is convinced France will be ready to stage Euro 2016 even though a good deal of the necessary stadium construction has yet to get under way. At a news conference to unveil the 2016 tournament logo, both UEFA president Michel Platini and his number two Gianni Infantino shrugged off any doubts about the tournament stadia, the first tournament to comprise 24 teams, not being ready on time.
By Mark Baber
June 26 – After the Jerusalem District Court last week approved the transfer of Beitar Jerusalem to Eli Tabib from Arcadi Gaydamak, the take-over of the club now awaits a ruling from the Israeli Football Association (IFA) and its Budget Control Authority before being finalised.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
June 26 – UEFA has admitted for the first time that the Euro 2020 finals may not be the last to be taken to multiple venues because of the unpredictable economic climate and the massive spend involved – and says FIFA should also consider ditching single-nation tournaments.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 26 – Fenerbahce, one of European football’s most fanatically followed clubs, have been left reeling after being handed a two-year ban by UEFA which has delivered on its pledge to clamp down hard on match-fixing.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – Italian football, already marred by a damaging match-fixing scandal, has been plunged into even graver off-the-field crisis when police revealed that 18 of the 20 top-flight clubs had been raided as part of a tax and money laundering investigation over the buying and selling of players.
By Krzysztof Baranowski
June 25 – Polish telecommuncations company INEA have snapped up the naming rights to UEFA Euro 2012 stadium – Stadion Miejski in Poznan, Poland.
By Mark Baber
June 24 – Gus Poyet was sacked from his position as manager of Championship club Brighton and Hove Albion yesterday and, in a PR disaster for the club, apparently only heard of the sacking whilst in the BBC studios where he was acting as a pundit for the Confederations Cup coverage.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 24 – Former Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Gordon McKie is emerging as a possible saviour for Heart of Midlothian, the stricken Scottish Premier League club that has been plunged into administration with debts of £25m. McKie, who was involved in an unsuccessful attempt to take over Rangers last summer, has met with Hearts administrators with a view to a consortium of five or six investors buying the Edinburgh club.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 24 – Bulgaria’s most successful club, CSKA Sofia, has declared itself bankrupt and will try to merge with another club to carry on competing in a different guise next season – or end up in the amateur ranks. The 31-time national champions have been struggling financially in recent years, along with many Bulgarian clubs, and were barred from the Champions League in 2008-09 after failing to meet UEFA’s licensing criteria.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 20 – Lionel Messi, the world’s finest footballer and one of the richest and most iconic sportsmen on the planet, has been sensationally summoned to appear in court on September 17 over tax fraud allegations.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 20 – In the same month that Scottish football agreed on a ground-breaking strategy to preserve the future of lower-league clubs, one of its most iconic, Heart of Midlothian, has ironically been forced to go into administration and has been docked 15 points for the start of the season.