Tipico extends naming rights deal with Austrian Bundesliga
April 4 – The Austrian Bundesliga has announced and extension of their main sponsorship with sports betting company Tipico for at least two years from the summer of 2018.
UEFA warn Zenit after player misses doping test after Celtic clash
April 4 – Zenit St Petersburg have been cautioned by UEFA after one of their players failed to attend a routine doping test following Celtic’s 1-0 Europa League win over the Russian side in February.
Scottish FA secure future at Hampden Park with agreement to buy
April 4 – Scotland looks set to secure their future at Hampden Park after League One club Queen’s Park agreed in principle to sell the ground to the Scottish FA.
£58m profit for Spurs – and £6m for the highest-paid director
By David Owen
April 3 – Tottenham Hotspur, the north London club in the process of building a new stadium adjacent to their now-demolished traditional White Hart Lane ground, have revealed details of a strong year for profits – and an eye-popping one for directors’ remuneration.
Record week of attendances sees Crystal Palace top stadium capacity chart
April 4 – The return from the international break saw Premier League crowds match the ground capacity levels of the opening day of the season at 97.76% across the league, the joint second highest of the season.
China’s Wuhan adds LaLiga rights as its Nice Sports agency expands remit
April 4 – China’s Wuhan DDMC Culture Co has added a second Big 5 European league to its broadcast rights portfolio, acquiring Spain’s La Liga for the country.
Exclusive: Moroccan suspicion over FIFA’s last minute bid criteria manipulations
By Andrew Warshaw
March 30 – Gianni Infantino’s insistence that the voting process to choose the 2026 World Cup hosts will be scrupulously fair and clean has come under grave scrutiny amid suspicions of underhand tactics by FIFA over the scoring system being used to assess the two contenders.
UEFA slams Skenderbeu with 10-year European ban and €1m fine for matchfixing
By Paul Nicholson
April 2 – Albania’s leading club KF Skënderbeu has been issued with a 10-year ban from European competition by UEFA for matchfixing.
Platini talks of plots, clowns, worthless judges and the all-conquering power of TV
April 3 – Michel Platini, not so long ago one of the most powerful men in world football who had aspirations to take over from Sepp Blatter as FIFA president until both were banned for ethics violations, has branded those who threw him out as “clowns” and “worthless judges” and told a French magazine that he will eventually be cleared of any wrongdoing.
Russian rumours: UK and US are plotting to remove 2018 World Cup says spokeswoman
April 3 – Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused the UK and US of using the poisoning scandal to try and take the World Cup away from her country.
Samoura tops list of most powerful women in world sport
April 3 – FIFA’s first ever female general secretary Fatma Samoura takes top position in Forbes’ latest ranking of the most important women in sport.
CONCACAF splitting? St Lucia says it will back Morocco in 2026 vote
April 3 – The first signs that CONCACAF may not vote as a bloc in favour of the three-nation US-Canada-mexico 2026 World Cup bid have emerged after St Lucia became the first country in the region to announce publicly that it would be backing underdogs Morocco.
Marinakis loses patience and banishes players after draw leaves Olympiakos third
April 3- A group of Olympiakos players have been fined €400,000 and ordered to go on holiday for the rest of the season by club president Evangelos Marinakis following a string of poor results.
Premier League is the most uncompetitive national competition in Europe, finds report
April 2 – The big just keep on getting bigger, with the gap to the minnows ever increasing, is the obvious conclusion from research looking at the percentage of matches with a gap of three or more goals across 29 European competitions.
Burnley join Premier League profit rush with £27m haul
By David Owen
April 2 – Burnley, the Lancashire outfit whose incisive style, backed by a strong defence, looks like landing them a top-half finish in this season’s Premier League, have become the latest English side to unveil strong 2016-17 profits.