By Mark Baber
May 2 – Whilst UK bookmaker Ladbrokes have been laying the foundations for the World Cup the company says that despite a 34% year-on-year increase in football staking, their first quarter profits have been hit by a winning streak by favorites in football matches, leading to big pay outs on accumulator bets.
May 2 – In one of the most severe punishments ever handed out to backup coaching staff in top-flight English football, Rui Faria, assistant to Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, has been has been slapped with a six-match stadium ban for an altercation with officials during a recent Premier League game with Sunderland.
May 2 – In a blow to the development of Asian football, the launch of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) Super League could be delayed until 2016 because of administrative issues.
By Paul Nicholson in Miami
May 2 – The invitation promised history and the event delivered it. North American and Caribbean confederation CONCACAF and South American confederation CONMEBOL announced that the centennial edition of the world’s oldest international football tournament, the Copa America, will be played in the US in 2016.
May 1 – Traffic has renewed its CONCACAF representation deal through to 2021, acquiring sponsorship rights to all the confederation’s properties.
By Mark Baber
May 1 – King Abdullah Football Stadium, the new national stadium of Saudi Arabia which will be home to Jeddah’s two Premier League clubs, Al-Ittihad FC and Al-Ahli SC officially opens today with an inauguration ceremony and the hosting of the final of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup.
By Tom Parsons
May 1 – Football statistics website whoscored.com has signed an exclusive deal with SkySports to share their unique ‘player characteristics’ on the SkySports website.
May 1 – The Champions League Final in Lisbon later this month will be the first featuring two clubs from the same city after Atletico Madrid joined Real Madrid in the showpiece climax to the European club season.
By Richard van Poortvliet
May 1 – Russia’s Minister for Sport, Vitaly Mutko, in his promotion of the bid for hosting Euro 2020 matches, said that “EURO 2020 will be a continuation of the 2018 World Cup.”
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 30 – With several foreign-based investors reportedly eyeing acquisitions of a number of Polish football clubs, a new story has broken on the planned take over of Flota Swinoujscie by a Portuguese investment group.
By Richard van Poortvliet
April 30 – The Russian Football Union has moved Russia’s friendly match against Slovakia in May from Kazan to St. Petersburg, due to the poor state of the pitch in the capital of Tatarstan.
April 30 – Horrific pictures of a Polish fan emerging unhurt after being doused in flames has been picked on up social media around the world and has heaped more concern on a country that has struggled to eradicate spectator violence.
April 30 – The Stade de France in Paris will host both the opening game and the final of Euro 2016 after UEFA confirmed the match schedule. Host nation France will get the competition under way on June 10, with the climax to the tournament – the first Euros to comprise 24 instead of 16 teams – a month later.
April 29- The Caribbean is one seriously beautiful region in this world.Plush rain forests, beautiful beaches, sunshine all year round – and dirty little tax secrets amid the pebbled and/or sandy beaches.Much of the Caribbean was her Majesty’s property for hundreds of years.
April 29- Welsh officials believe their bid to stage group matches at Euro 2020 could be given preference over some of their main rivals.