Inside World Football - Page 1612 of 2179 - For the Business of Football

Matt Scott: FIFA corruption allegations will drive sponsors away, to UEFA?

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“The negative tenor of the public debate around FIFA at the moment is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its partners.” Adidas statement, June 2014

Adidas has claimed that football is “the DNA of our company”. So when FIFA’s longest-serving commercial partner remarked publicly about the threat to football’s image presented by the many corruption allegations swirling around its governing body, Adidas revealed fears that its own reflection might become haggard.

Archive

Gulf Cup kicks off, Bahrain kicks coach Hamad out

Adnan Hamad

November 18 – Countries don’t normally sack coaches in the middle of competitions but such is the element of pride in Asia that Bahrain are looking for a new coach for the second time in just over four months after Iraqi Adnan Hamad (pictured) was dismissed in the wake of the country’s poor start to the Gulf Cup.

Archive

Croatian FA appeals for national help to clamp down on rioting fans

italy vs Croatia riots

November 18 – Croatian football authorities, seemingly at the end of their patience over the hooligan reputation of their fans, have called on the country’s entire society to help eradicate the problem following last weekend’s flare-throwing incident that caused a Euro 2016 qualifier in Italy to be briefly suspended.

Archive

Noise reaches fever pitch as critics line-up to demand boycotts and more detail

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By Andrew Warshaw
November 17 – As the fallout from the much-criticised summary of Michael Garcia’s 2018 and 2022 World Cup investigation report shows no sign of abating, the president of the German Football League (DFL) has entered the debate by suggesting UEFA could leave FIFA unless Garcia’s entire file is published in full.

Africa

Somali teams put anarchy behind them and recruit foreign players for new season

Somali league

By Mark Baber
November 17 – A number of foreign footballers signing up to play for Somali sides before the start of the new championship which kicks off on December 19 is being hailed as a significant indicator of the game’s progress in the war-torn country.

Archive

Etihad add New York connection to City Football Group portfolio

NYCFC kit

November 17 – New MLS franchise New York City FC, which joins the league in 2015, has announced Etihad Airways as its shirt sponsor. The club has also announced a kit deal with Adidas and will play in the same light blue colour – with the same sponsor – as sister club Manchester City.

Africa

Hayatou promises two tournament ban for Morocco

Issa Hayatou7

By Andrew Warshaw
November 17 – Already thrown out of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations for refusing to host the event because of fears over the threat of the Ebola virus, Morocco face an even heavier punishment by being expelled from the subsequent tournament as well.

Archive

Stadium riot interrupts Italy vs Croatia Euro qualifier, Faroes upset Greeks

San Siro violence

November 17 – UEFA seem certain to take action after the latest incident of crowd trouble to mar a major game on the European stage. Riot police fought with fans at the high-profile Euro 2016 qualifier between Italy and Croatia that ended 1-1 as a flood of flares were hurled down the from stands, enveloping the pitch at the San Siro in thick smoke.

Archive

David Owen: Enough is enough: but can football leaders unearth a credible challenger

Enough, as disco queen and noted football authority Donna Summer observed sagely in the 1970s, is enough.

With the Garcia report fiasco now piled on top of the 2022 World Cup timing fiasco, right-thinking football leaders have a responsibility to come together and get behind a challenger strong enough to unseat long-term incumbent Joseph “Sepp” Blatter in next year’s FIFA Presidential election.

FIFA’s mono-dimensional World Cup-based economy has been going gangbusters enough in recent times for the seemingly endless stream of corruption allegations against football officials to be no more than a superficial irritant,

Archive

Anti-doping body gets much-needed budget increase

WADA

By David Owen
November 16 – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is to receive a much-needed 3% budget increase in 2015. The Montreal-based organisation, which is funded broadly 50% by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and 50% by Governments, has had to make do with little extra money in recent times while public authorities in much of the industrialised world have been struggling to cope with the consequences of high debt and sluggish economic growth.

Africa

Equatorial Guinea step up to save the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations

AFCON trophy

By Mark Baber
November 14 – Equatorial Guinea has stepped in to save the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, following a meeting between Issa Hayatou, President of the African Football Confederation (CAF) and Equatorial Guinea’s President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

John Yan

John Yan: Platini’s style breaks down the Chinese walls 普拉蒂尼：中国足球必须依靠政府

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On the eve of November 11, the so called ‘Singles Day’ in Chinese internet language, two tired French gentlemen, dragging their luggage, took the shuttle bus from terminal 2 to terminal 3 in Beijing International Airport. Some passengers recognised that one of them was Michel Platini, and were astonished, others retorted that “How could the President of UEFA be getting on a shuttle bus in Beijing?”

Archive

Eckert surprised by Garcia statement, as more detail of complaint awaited

Hans-Joachim Eckert

By Andrew Warshaw
November 14 – FIFA’s ethics judge Hans Joachim Eckert says he is “surprised” by public criticism from Michael Garcia’s over the way he summarised Garcia’s report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Africa

Nigeria: Appeals Committee winds up whilst Senate passes new bill

By Mark Baber
November 14 – There were major developments in the Nigerian football governance crisis on Thursday as the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Appeals Committee completed its hearings into the validity of the September 30 Executive Committee elections whilst the Nigerian government passed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Bill 2014 in an apparent attempt to bring sanity to football administration in the country.

Andrew Warshaw: When closure opens a new can of worms

It was supposed to be all about closure for FIFA. Done and dusted. No more subterfuge. No more finger pointing. Time to move on. After all, there’s a presidential election next year.