Vincent Tan builds club empire buying Belgium’s KV Kortrijk
By Samindra Kunti
May 13 – Malaysian billionaire businessman and Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has bought Belgian Pro League club KV Kortrijk for a reported €5 million.
Gerrard’s Anfield finale becomes hottest ticket of the weekend
May 13 – Tickets for Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard’s last ever home game for the club where he has spent 17 years are being exchanged for a staggering £1,300, such is the legendary status of the former England skipper.
Exclusive: D’Hooghe says more must be done to save player lives
By Andrew Warshaw
May 13 – FIFA’s medical chief has called on football leagues across the world to pay more attention to the dangers of sudden heart failure following the tragic deaths of two young Belgian players in the space of two weeks.
Sao Paulo miss player payments again after ‘surprise’ debt is settled
By Samindra Kunti
May 13 – For a second time this season São Paulo is in arrears paying its players. President Carlos Miguel Aidar has confirmed that the club owes its players two months of image rights payments.
Ashley sends ultimatum to Rangers board; pay up or push off
By Paul Nicholson
May 13 – Anyone who thought Mike Ashley was going to take losing grip of his control of Scottish giant Rangers lieing down was mistaken. Ashley now wants another extraordinary general meeting, his £5 million loan back, and a full explanation of why the company was de-listed from the stock exchange.
UEFA unveils ticket prices and packages for EURO 2016
May 13 – UEFA and the Local Organising Committee of EURO 2016 have announced ticket prices as cheap as €25 for next year’s tournament with the aim of making the matches accessible to all fans.
FIFA to send observers to World Cup qualifiers in war on racism
By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – World Cup qualifiers with a high risk of racist incidents are to be targeted by FIFA as it steps up the fight against discrimination. A new monitoring system of specialists will be put in place both during the 2018 qualifying competition, which covers some 900 games globally, and the finals themselves in Russia.
Is the world’s richest black person gunning for the Arsenal?
By Mark Baber
May 12 – Widely believed to be the world’s richest black person and the richest African, Aliko Dangote, has opened up media speculation by publicly expressing interest in purchasing Arsenal football club.
QPR’s relegation forces them into an even higher stakes FFP game
By Paul Nicholson
May 12 – QPR have reacted fast to potential Financial Fair Play penalties of as much as £58 million following their impending relegation from the Premier League to the Championship.
Litex Lovech owner Ganchev back in court over tax fraud and death threats
By Alexander Krassimirov
May 12 – The owner of Bulgaria’s Litex Lovech, Grisha Ganchev (pictured), is back in court charged with tax crimes alongside 10 others who together, says the public prosecutor, form part of a criminal organisation.
Belgian heartbreak over Mertens and Nicot deaths
May 12 – Belgian football is coming to terms with the tragic death of a second footballer as a result of a cardiac arrest. Two weeks after 24-year-old Lokeren central defender Gregory Mertens died in hospital after collapsing as he played in a reserve game, lower-league fullback Tim Nicot, 23, of fourth-tier Wilrijk-Beerschot, suffered a similar fate on Friday.
Gang of three meet secretly in Nyon to plot final assault on Zurich
By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – No public statement has so far been issued by any of the three candidates taking on Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency amid considerable intrigue as to what strategy agreement, if any, was reached between Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, Michael van Praag and Luis Figo at a private meeting they are believed to have held close to the headquarters of UEFA on Monday.
La Liga goes to court to outlaw players’ strike over TV cash
By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – The power struggle over who runs Spanish football is heading for the courtroom on Wednesday with an expected ruling over whether the proposed strike in protest at the new TV rights law is legal.
Bulgarian clubs missing out on the electronic media revolution
By Alexander Krassimirov
May 12 – Half of the clubs in the Bulgarian top professional division do not use social networks. The research, by Insideworldfootball.com, also found that two of the 12 teams in the league do not even have an official website.
Barca, Real Madrid and Man Utd show that investing in youth does pay
May 12 – The average age that young players are introduced into first team squads in Europe’s ‘Big 5’ leagues is lowest in France (23.66) but highest in Italy (25.5), according to latest research by the CIES Football Observatory.