Lee Wellings: ‘Fair share’ in La Liga at last
“You are only as strong as your weakest link.” It’s been difficult to apply this to La Liga where two clubs have been so financially dominant.
STATS swoops to add Prozone to its growing global power play
By Paul Nicholson
May 6 – US sports data specialists STATS LLC has continued on the acquisition trail with the addition of UK-based Prozone, specialists in game and player performance tracking. Last September STATS acquired Bloomberg Sports. The enhanced capabilities of the group will lead to new product, and potentially real time stats for football clubs, ‘moneyball’ style.
AFC signs ICSS to boost security expertise within region
May 5 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) have signed a partnership agreement to strengthen safety and security in Asian football.
Cash-strapped and relegated Widzew Lodz put club badge up for sale
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 5 – Widzew Lodz, former Polish champions who were relegated to the country’s second-tier following the 2013/2014 season and are now struggling to stay in that division, have put the club badge up for a sale in desperate bid to raise cash.
Man Utd hunt new followers as they relentlessly close Twitter gap
By Paul Nicholson
May 5 – Manchester United have continued to chase down the Twitter lead that London giants Arsenal and Chelsea have over them in terms of numbers of followers. Over the past four weeks Man Utd have averaged 15-20,000 new followers per week, more than Arsenal and Chelsea.
Diplomacy draws a blank as vote on Israel makes it to FIFA Congress agenda
By Andrew Warshaw
May 5 – Palestine’s proposal to suspend Israel from world football has been confirmed by FIFA as being on the agenda of its Congress in Zurich on May 29 despite the efforts of Sepp Blatter to find a solution.
Barca and Real praised as new Spanish TV deal will even out club cash
By Andrew Warshaw at the Dead Sea in Jordan
May 5 – The new centralised collective tv deal entering Spanish football in 2016 will ease the financial burden on smaller clubs and make Real Madrid and Barcelona work harder to maintain their dominance, according to the Spanish League’s marketing expert.
SPL champions Celtic launch first New Balance kit for 2015-16
May 5 – New Balance are wasting no time getting their new club sponsorships to work. At the end of last week the appareil brand unveiled the new kit design for English Premier League club Stoke City. Yesterday it was the turn of Scottish Premier League champions Celtic.
Gang of three will discuss pull outs in bid to beat Blatter, says Prince Ali
By Andrew Warshaw at the Dead Sea, Jordan
May 4 – FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein has been quick to distance himself from a BBC report that he would personally consider sacrificing himself in order to strategically back one of the other contenders to take on Sepp Blatter.
Soosay denies allegations but looks to united future and extra World Cup places
By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – The high-ranking Asian official at the centre of the latest cover-up allegations to rock the region has not only re-iterated that he is innocent of any wrongdoing but that the dark days of his organisation’s corruption-tainted past are over.
Massimo Cecchini: Italian football violence, ping pong responsibilities
We confess to feeling a bit embarrassed talking about violence in Italian football. Even though the circumstances are always different, they are all reprehensible, and trigger debates that are very similar and, for this reason, very embarrassing.
Russia 2018 – Uralmash nears completion, Shumbrat in Saransk
May 4 – The Uralmash stadium in Yekaterinberg, scheduled to be a training base for the 2018 World Cup is, according to local reports, 80% complete and once landscaping is complete will open this summer.
Prince Ali opens fire on Shaikh Salman and AFC’s lack of respect
By Andrew Warshaw at the Dead Sea, Jordan
May 4 – Back in his comfort zone after being made to feel more than a little marginalised by his own confederation which clearly views his bid for the FIFA presidency as a unwanted distraction, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein pulled no punches about the need for greater democracy among his colleagues when he opened the Soccerex Asian forum here today.
Matt Scott: Greek football’s tragedy is a lesson for us all
“Greek football is a labyrinth.” Petros Konstantineas MP, ex-FIFA referee
Fearsome though the bull-headed Minotaur was, at least Theseus knew what he was dealing with. And if things got too hairy he could always follow the thread of Ariadne’s wool he had laid down on his way into the labyrinth’s heart of darkness. For the modern-day Greek heroes like Petros Konstantineas, the referee who bravely sought to tackle the beast in whose clutches football in that country is held,
Aussie police open gateway to more match-fixing data with Sportradar hook-up
May 4 – The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Sportradar have the signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that is intended to beef up the co-operation and information sharing in the war on match-fixing.