By Mark Baber
July 23 – Premier League club Stoke City have signed a new two-year partnership with parcel delivery company DPD which includes sponsorship of the east stand at the Britannia Stadium which will now be known as the DPD Stand.
July 24 – Croatia have been let off the hook and avoided being thrown out of Euro 2016 qualifying for racial discrimination, much to the relief of the entire country after the prime minister personally pleaded with UEFA president Michel Platini to show leniency.
July 24 – Another of FIFA’s top World Cup sponsors has expressed its concern at the lack of progress in cleaning up the organisation and says the recently established Reform Task Force does not go nearly far enough.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 24 – As they prepare for their biggest day since being awarded the tournament, Russia’s 2018 World Cup organisers are being constantly reminded about the issue of racism that shows little sign of diminishing.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 24 – Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, who failed in an attempt to wrest the FIFA presidency away from Sepp Blatter in May, says the veteran Swiss should not be allowed to oversee the reform process at his corruption-plagued governing body and should leave it to his successor.
By David Owen
July 23 – A close ally of FIFA Executive Committee (ExCo) member Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has been made heir apparent of the International Swimming Federation (FINA).
As he prepares to show his face on FIFA duty for the first time outside Switzerland since the sky came crashing down on his scandal-tarnished organisation, Sepp Blatter could be forgiven for enjoying a wry smile on the flight to St Petersburg for the 2018 World Cup draw.
Zhang Xizhe has returned to Beijing Guoan Football Club the club that sold him to the Bundesliga club Wolfsburg 166 days ago. He didn’t play a minute for the hugely improved German club, under the price tag of €2 million. Dispritied and tired, he told me that he would never play abroad again.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 23 – Bulgaria’s Marek Dupnitsa have been fined BGN 210,000 (€105,000) by the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) disciplinary committee for match-fixing. The steep fine, in Bulgarian terms, is a hard hit for the club which was relegated from the top flight last season.
By Mark Baber
July 23 – The plan of French League (LFP) president Frederic Thiriez (pictured) to protect investors in Ligue 1 clubs by reducing the number of relegation and promotion places between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 to two up and two down hit a major obstacle today as the France Football Federation (FFF) annulled the move in its Executive Committee meeting.
July 23 – UEFA is celebrating a landmark court ruling which it says justifies its policy of financial fair play. The European Court of Justice has dismissed a legal challenge to the system following a Belgian court’s request for a preliminary judgment.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – Three months after being replaced on FIFA’s executive committee following an 18-year stint, Thai football boss Worawi Makudi has been found guilty of electoral fraud in his homeland and sentenced to a suspended jail term.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – The United Nations’ chief sports administrator admits Sepp Blatter has “made some very bad mistakes” during his 17-year tenure but does not believe the outgoing FIFA president is corrupt.
By Paul Nicholson
July 23 – Not even the FBI could prevent the Caribbean having their day in the Gold Cup sunshine in the US. A history making 2-1 semi-final victory over the US in Atlanta yesterday catapulted the Reggae Boyz from Jamaica into a final against Mexico in Philadelphia this Sunday.