“There can be only one,” Connor MacLeod, Highlander
Arsène Wenger might have you believe that competing in the Champions League matters; that an attractive style of play is important. But he is wrong. Football today is all about winning, and as a graduate in economics he should know that.
By Mark Baber
December 2 – The death of Deportivo de La Coruña fan Francisco José Romero Taboada before the match between and Atlético de Madrid on Sunday has dominated Spain’s news agenda, with the Spanish government saying the death marks a watershed and Ultra groups will be banned from stadiums.
By Mathias Frohnapfel
December 2 – In an interview with our associated company, SPORT1, Bayern Munich’s commercial chief and board member Andreas Jung spoke about shirt sales, the Dortmund rivalry, the rise of Leipzig and Uli Hoeness. Jung was speaking before the meeting of Bayern club members last week.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
December 2 – Michel d’Hooghe, one of FIFA’s longest-serving administrators who is being investigated as part of the World Cup anti-corruption probe, says he is suffering “the hardest period of my life” and being treated “like a murderer” even though he has done nothing wrong and has absolutely nothing to hide.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 2 – Slovakian top tier club has started demolishing work at its stadium to make space for a new ground. The total cost of the redevelopment is estimated to be about €6.3 million.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 2 – The turmoil that surrounds Leeds United, one of the most iconic clubs in English football, has deepened further after Italian entrepreneur Massimo Cellino was disqualified from owning the club – seven months after taking over.
By Paul Nicholson
December 2 – AC Milan have renewed their shirt sponsorship deal with Emirates airline in a five-year deal reported to be worth €85 million.
December 2 – UEFA President Michel Platini has vehemently denied a report that he was given a Picasso painting as an inducement to vote for Russia as 2018 World Cup hosts.
December 2 – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are, as expected, on the three-man shortlist again for this year’s Ballon d’Or prize as the world’s best player, but the nomination of German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is more of a surprise though fully deserved.
December 1 – Wolfgang Niersbach, the German FA president who is being touted as a future president of UEFA or FIFA, has called for a deadline to be placed on 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar to prove it is making progress with reforming its workers’ rights policy.
December 1 – Chelsea is reportedly “edging closer” to a deal with Turkish Airlines. According to unnamed sources the new Chelsea deal will be worth £25 million a year to the South London club, £7 million more than Samsung (whose contract expires at the end of the year) currently pay.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 1 – Asian football’s entire membership has been urged by their president to vote for Sepp Blatter at next year’s FIFA election despite the deepening crisis over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup anti- corruption probe.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 1 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter, has repeated there is no chance of moving the 2022 World Cup from Qatar amidst another swathe of allegations about alleged corruption over the bidding process for both 2022 and the 2018 tournament in Russia.
December 1 – Spanish football is reeling from the death of a Deportivo La Coruna fan after violent clashes ahead of the weekend visit to champions Atletico Madrid.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 1 – The head of Palestinian football has gone back on the offensive against Israel, calling on FIFA to issue sanctions following last week’s raid on the West Bank offices of the Palestinian federation.