By Paul Nicholson
October 2 – Speculation that Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa could become a candidate in the race for FIFA’s presidency has been met with a statement from his office saying that his priority is to represent the AFC, and his “obligations are primarily to Asia”.
By Paul Nicholson
October 2 – Manchester United stormed past Chelsea this week to take second spot behind Arsenal in the table of overall Twitter followers. The Red Devils put on a massive 48,707 followers compared to the Gunners’ 26,259 and Chelsea’s meagre, in comparison, 17,769.
By Samindra Kunti
October 2 – Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht is planning to finally deliver the Arena Corinthians on October 16, but the stadium will not be complete. With a number of sectors and areas around the stadium unfinished, Corinthians have expressed concern, but have said they do not intend to open legal proceedings against the builders.
By Paul Nicholson
October 2 – The latest report from Benchmark Sports, the data division of consultants KPMG Sports, compares the popularity of Europe’s biggest football clubs with global fashion brands and finds that while the clubs may be the most popular, the fashion brands have the most money.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
October 2 – As a result of increased interest in the home matches played by Estonia’s national team, the country’s government is planning to spend about €5 million with the aim of increasing the capacity of A. Le Coq Arena in Tallinn to about 15,000 seats.
By Mark Baber
October 2 – Under pressure from FIFA to end government interference in appointment of its officials, the Singapore FA (FAS) has delayed the appointment of new council members, promising to put a new election process in place by March 2016.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 2 – South Korea’s heavyweight candidate Chung Mong-joon faces the prospect of being forced to drop out of next February’s FIFA presidential election.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 2 – While the English FA are standing by their man for the time being, the Germans are not so sure whether Michel Platini is still the right man for the job of taking over from Sepp Blatter.
The football world is agog over a SFr2 million payment made by governing body FIFA to Michel Platini, the man who aspires to be its next President, in 2011 – for work completed in 2002.
By Jamie Styles
October 2 – In what is believed be football’s first social media sacking of a top division manager, Bosnian side Drina Zvornik have fired their manager Vladica Petrovic over Facebook. If that wasn’t bizarre enough, Petrovic was apparently among the first to ‘like’ the post.
By Paul Nicholson
October 2 – Amsterdam ArenA, the home of Dutch giants Ajax and which will host four matches at the 2020 European Championships, has unveiled a major €50 million renovation project that will radically alter the look of the stadium and upgrade spectator facilities.
By Mark Baber
October 2 – Comparatively poor results by English clubs in the Champions League last season and a disappointing opening to the Champions League groups stage have led to a spate of suggestions England may lose their fourth Champions League place to Italy. However analysis suggests this is unlikely and English club performances in European club football over the past five seasons have been second only to the Spanish.
By Paul Nicholson
October 1 – Premier League attendances for Round 7 topped last week’s figures with the 10 home matches averaging 96.5% stadium capacity, the second highest since the opening day of the season. Stoke City had just one seat unfilled at the Britannia Stadium.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 1 – Michel Platini may have his mind very much on the FIFA presidential election and whether he will actually still eligible as a result of the already notorious and still not fully explained SFr2 million payment he received whilst working for Sepp Blatter several years ago.
By Ben Nicholson
October 1 – The NWSL has extended its partnership with Nike through 2019, thus meaning that Nike will remain as the league’s official club kit, apparel and equipment, supplier of the league balls, and provider for all NWSL teams present and future.