Police officer charged with murder of troubled Villa and Man City star Atkinson
November 8 – A police constable has been charged with murdering Dalian Atkinson who died following a taser incident.
Law
Premier League wins jail sentence for Singaporean seller of pirate TV boxes
November 1 – The fight against illegal streaming of English Premier League games has achieved a significant victory after a Singapore-based firm and its director were convicted of infringing copyright by providing pirated content via Android TV boxes
Bility pays CAS costs for CAF and FIFA to force hearing on legality of African takeover
By Osasu Obayiuwana
October 26 – Musa Hassan Bility, the former Liberia FA boss, who has taken FIFA and CAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), has been compelled to pay CHF 42,000 in additional arbitral costs, to ensure his case is heard.
beoutQ box seller convicted of fraud in London but is it too little too late for sports rights?
By Paul Nicholson
October 7 – The growth of the beoutQ broadcast piracy operation that has seen the emergence of beoutQ-enabled set-top boxes being retailed in countries around the world suffered a derailment in a London court on Friday with the conviction of a shop owner on two charges of copyright theft and two charges of fraud.
Cardiff to go to CAS over €6m award to Nantes for Sala transfer
October 3 – Cardiff City have decided to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against FIFA’s ruling that they must pay the first instalment of €6 million to Nantes for €17 million striker Emiliano Sala who died in January when the light aircraft carrying him to Cardiff two days after he signed crashed into the sea before he could play a single game.
Former Valencia president Soler jailed for plot to kidnap and rob his former VP
October 2 – The former president of Valencia Juan Soler (pictured) has been jailed for two years for conspiring to kidnap his one-time vice-president and break into his home.
FIFA’s transfer reforms are a cover for ‘organised crime’, says Swiss parliamentary motion
By Paul Nicholson
September 27 – FIFA’s move to reform the player transfer market are unlikely to go far enough to appease critics who say that in reality all the measures will do is keep the current system in place and postpone the issues indefinitely.
Lauber survives as Swiss AG despite undocumented Infantino meetings
September 26 – The Swiss parliament has narrowly voted to extend the mandate of the country’s attorney general Michael Lauber despite a series of undocumented private meetings he held with FIFA president Gianni Infantino during his office’s handling of numerous cases of alleged FIFA-related corruption since 2015.
Two jailed for hacking CCTV of Sala post-mortem
September 24 – Two people who illegally accessed CCTV footage of Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala’s post-mortem examination and who were “driven by morbid curiosity” have been jailed.
Portuguese charge whisteblower Pinto with more than 100 offences
September 20 – Days after the lawyer representing Rui Pinto, whose string of incriminating leaks shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, denounced the Portuguese authorities for holding his client without charge, over 100 charges have been brought against the hacker-cum-whistleblower.
Former Anderlecht boss Van Holsbeeck charged with financial corruption over transfers
By Samindra Kunti
September 20 – Former Anderlecht general manager Herman Van Holsbeeck has been charged with money laundering, forgery and criminal conspiracy for his alleged role in transfer fraud.
Rex Sport and CEU IAM open applications for Master in Sports Law programme
September 20 – Sports law association Rex Sport has opened its Master in International Sports Law programme for applications for the 2020 academic year. The one-year course is run in conjunction with the CEU IAM Business School in Spain.
Hero or hacker? Portuguese have held whistleblower Pinto for 6 months without charge
By Andrew Warshaw
September 19 – The lawyer representing Rui Pinto, whose string of incriminating leaks shook the footballing world before he was controversially extradited from Hungary to his native Portugal, has denounced the Portuguese authorities for holding his client without charge and claims he would never have been jailed in other leading western democracies based on the accusations against him.
Italian police arrest violent Juve fan gang members for criminal ticketing scam
September 17 – Police in Italy have arrested 12 Juventus ‘ultra’ fans over allegations of blackmail and extortion including threatening to chant racist slogans if they weren’t provided with tickets to games.
Relevent Sports accuse USSF and FIFA of conspiring to prevent LaLiga play in US
September 12 – Relevent Sports, the promoter of the International Champions Cup which is building a business on taking international clubs to play in the US, has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation (USSF).