By Andrew Warshaw
February 25 – Michel d’Hooghe, FIFA’s longest-standing executive committee member, has been cleared of any misconduct in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, bringing an end to what he described a few weeks ago as the hardest period of his life.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over: FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee is not expected to rubber stamp its task force’s recommendation until next month and the big European clubs employ so many of the world’s top players these days that their bargaining power should not be underestimated.
February 25 – You will often hear English football fans say “you are born with your club”. Your club can often be the only thing you have left in your old age. West Ham has recognised this and is the first Premier League club to open its doors as part of a new community initiative.
February 25 – Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur will become the first club to produce and broadcast on their own platforms their own Cup Final show this Sunday. The matchday show will be streamed by Spurs TV on Facebook and tottenhamshotspur.com before the kick-off of the League Cup Final against Chelsea.
February 24 – Russian stadium and infrastructure build for the 2018 World Cup reported good news with information that the preparation work required for the Yekaterinburg stadium was proceeding ahead of schedule.
By Mark Baber
February 24 – The latest statistical analysis by the Swiss based CIES Football Observatory looks at which clubs have trained the most footballers currently playing in 31 European top leagues, with Ajax, which has long enjoyed a reputation as a training orientated club, topping the list.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 24 – Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia today opened the sale of shares in the club to fans. All those who buy shares will receive them from those held by majority owner Todor Batkov. All money received will go into the running of the club and not to Batkov.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 24 – The first ever winter World Cup became a virtual certainty today with a recommendation to stage the 2022 Qatar tournament in November and December, ending decades of tradition.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 23 – Polish city Katowice is preparing to dip into public funds to build a new stadium for its struggling football club GKS Katowice and support its bid to return to the top division of the Polish league. The investment is estimated to be worth about PLN 100 million (€24 million).
February 24 – Yet another case of alleged racist chanting by English fans is being investigated by the authorities. Following the high-profile incident involving Chelsea fans on the Paris Metro, video footage has emerged of a group of men, thought to be West Ham followers, chanting anti-Semitic abuse on a train in London.
February 24 – Footballers in Cyprus have a 34% chance of being asked by a stranger to fix matches and a 23% chance of being approached by an official from their own club, according to a damning survey commissioned by the Cyprus Footballers’ Association.
Ennio Flaiano, uno dei più famosi sceneggiatori del cinema italiano (basti pensare la collaborazione al capolavoro di Federico Fellini, “La dolce vita”), parlando dell’Italia amava recitare questa battuta: “La situazione è grave, ma non seria”. Ecco, la si potrebbe riproporre senza problemi nel descrivere il momento del calcio italiano, che sta attraversando una nuova crisi istituzionale.
By Mark Baber
February 23 – Egypt has this morning officially abandoned its bid to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in favour of Algeria, whilst the government has confirmed the Egyptian Premier League will not be cancelled for this season, although no fans will be allowed into stadiums and President El-Sisi promised in a speech on Sunday that any official found culpable in the deaths of at least 20 Zamalek fans earlier this month would face punishment from the courts.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 23 – Twenty-four hours before what is likely to be a formal recommendation to play the 2022 Qatar World Cup in November-December, representatives of Europe’s major leagues have urged supporters of the first ever winter tournament to think again.
Before anybody starts throwing stones, let me clarify: there is no racism in English football only. But there is racism in England as a whole.