By Mark Baber
February 2 – Across most of Europe today is transfer deadline day with the window shutting at 17:00 GMT in Germany, 22:00 GMT in Italy, Greece, 23:00 GMT in England, France, Austria, the Netherlands and 00:00 GMT in Scotland. Below is a summary of activity and targets for English Premier League clubs.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 2 – Bjorn Vassallo, the chief executive of the Malta Football Association (MFA), has called on the country’s authorities to update the laws that deal with sports corruption following its decision earlier this year to set up an experts’ task force to coordinate against match-fixing and organised crime in Maltese football.
By Paul Nicholson
February 2 – The Old Firm matches returned to Scotland for the first time in three years this weekend with Celtic hosting Rangers at Hampden Park in front of a packed house 50,000 crowd in the Scottish League Cup semi-final. But for the majority of Rangers’ shareholders and fans the most important battle currently is not against bitter cross-town rivals Celtic, but against investor Mike Ashley and his financial incursion from the South.
By Samindra Kunti
February 2 – Corinthians have closed the financial year 2014 with a €29.8 million deficit. The losses could impact on the club’s presidential elections on February 7.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 30 – Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, regarded by many as the most credible rival to Sepp Blatter for the presidency of FIFA, today unveiled his vision for the future of football’s world governing body – but declined to name the five federations who have officially endorsed his candidacy.
January 31 – The shadow of Jack Warner and his dealings as president of CONCACAF has made a reappearance in Trinidad where a tribunal has been appointed to investigate his assets and registered interests as part of the integrity checks on the island for public officials.
By Mark Baber
January 30 – Relations between the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Spanish Government Sports Council (CSD) and their respective leaders have taken an dramatic turn for the worse as the Federation requested the head of the CSD be removed from all positions in football and on Thursday warned it was prepared to halt football in the country over “government interference”.
January 30 – African football chiefs admit that the system of drawing lots in their major competition must be revised after Mali’s quarterfinal dream in the Africa Cup of Nations was unfairly dashed.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 30 – Australia’s euphoria at reaching the Asian Cup final on home soil is being partly overshadowed by an apparent move by Gulf nations to have them thrown out of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and sent back to Oceania.
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 30 – The chief executive officer of Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia, Alexander Todorov (pictured), has revealed that the costs of running the club in 2014 year were almost BGN 15 million (€7.5 million), a high amount by Bulgarian standards.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 30 – The Greek Super League hardened its position on clubs in financial difficulty, dropping Niki Volou from the country’s top league. Rival side OFI Crete has been deducted four matches, and had its upcoming match against Athromitos FC later this week postponed until the club pays off debts owed to two of its former players.
January 29 – The Russian Football Union’s (RFU) cash crisis continues with news that Moscow travel agency Akademservice has filed a lawsuit demanding compensation of 23 million rubles ($339,000). The RFU is already struggling to cope with the wage bill of its national team coach Fabio Capello and general manager Oreste Cinquini, who have been unpaid for more than 7 months, and are owed $9.2 million.
January 29 – The respective coaches of Mali and Guinea have criticised the drawing of lots to decide which of them progresses in the Africa Cup of Nations.
January 29 – The Sierra Leone government is backing the country’s present football regime against the threat of a takeover by a rebel group pushing for change.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 29 – FIFA presidential candidate Michael van Praag has spelled out precisely why he is challenging Sepp Blatter and has named the federations who are backing his nomination.