Inside World Football - Page 1617 of 2201 - For the Business of Football

Lee Wellings: Is American soccer really moving forward?

There was a time, when Beckham’s Miami project was first gathering pace and New York and Manchester City first joined forces, that I suggested in this column a crucial period for club football was emerging in the States. Or more accurately franchise football.

But three thirtysomethings from over the Atlantic indicate things haven’t actually changed that much from the 70s. The idea back then was to hire legends like Pele, Beckenbauer and Moore to sprinkle their stardust over the league.

Archive

Evans debate rages over his attempts to return to football after release from jail

Ched Evans

January 5 – An English lower-league club is under pressure not to offer a convicted rapist a contract as debate over whether he should be given a chance to resume his footballing career after serving a jail sentence intensifies.

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Gerrard winds down Liverpool career as he lines-up US move

Steven Gerrard

January 5 – Former England captain Steven Gerrard says his decision to leave Liverpool and become the latest footballing icon to further his career in the United States was the toughest decision of his life.

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UAE and Kuwait Asian Cup warm-up turns ‘un’friendly as game scrapped in the tunnel

By Andrew Warshaw
January 5 – Preparations for this week’s Asian Cup in Australia, the continent’s flagship competition, have been plunged into controversy after a warm-up game between two of the finalists was called off just moments before kickoff.

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Britain releases Government files relating to 80s fight against football hooliganism

Heysel disaster

By David Owen
January 4 – Hundreds of pages of documents relating to the British Government’s handling of the football hooliganism problem before and after the Heysel Stadium disaster in Brussels in May 1985 have been released by the National Archives.

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Sheikh Ahmed backs Qatar, criticises racist media and supports Blatter for re-election

Sheikh Ahmed

By Paul Nicholson
January 5 – President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, has repeated his assertion that Qatar’s 2022 World Cup has been the subject of a “racist campaign”. He also questioned the independence of an American investigator to lead the FIFA ethics investigation into the world cup bidding.

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Sales tax levy set to hike Ligue 1 ticket prices

By Samindra Kunti
January 5 – French football fans will have to fork out more money in 2015 if they want to watch Ligue 1 action following an injunction by the European Commission, asking for the nationwide implementation of VAT for sports tickets.

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David Owen: Steven Gerrard – Liverpool’s stupendous throwback

Remember the stock line about England World Cup winner Martin Peters? He was, they said, “ahead of his time”. This for the way he would ghost into the opposition penalty area unremarked.

Steven Gerrard always struck me as the opposite: a player “behind his time”; a throwback.

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Hammers nail down profit as move to Olympic stadium approaches

Olympic stadium

By David Owen
January 4 – West Ham United, the east London club gearing up to move to the Olympic stadium in 2016, has become the latest Premier League outfit to report substantially improved financial results on the back of increased broadcasting revenue.

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New York fury as Lampard misses MLS season start to stay in Manchester

Frank Lampard

By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – The increasing practise of experienced European, especially Premier League, stars moving across the pond to Major League Soccer for a final career hurrah has come under fresh scrutiny as a result of Frank Lampard’s controversial decision to temporarily snub New York City.

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FIFA15 tops UK 2015 video games chart with 2.6m+ sales

FIFA15

By Mark Baber
January 2 – Electronic Art’s FIFA15 has been unveiled by The Entertainment Retailer’s Association as the UK’s biggest video game of 2014 after selling 2,663,296 copies, ahead of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and only coming second in the chart of the 20 best-selling video games, movies and albums of 2014 to Disney’s movie Frozen.

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Rangers powerplay sees shareholder backlash against Ashley influence

Rangers

January 2 – The powerplay turmoil in the Rangers boardroom battle continued over New Year as the largest shareholder Laxey Partners sold their 16.32% stake to consortium of wealthy fans for £2.6 million.

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Barca bitter as transfer ban appeal fails and integrity of La Masia ‘questioned’

Josep Maria Bartomeu

By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – Stung at having its FIFA-imposed transfer ban upheld by the highest judiciary body in sport, Barcelona have struck back by denouncing the verdict and refusing to accept what it has described as a “disproportionate” and “excessive” ruling.

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Hero Motocorp gear up for major Indian sponsorship of Federation Cup and ISL

Hero sponsorship

By Mark Baber
January 2 – Hero MotoCorp Ltd, the world’s biggest bicycle and motorbike manufacturer, is in still in negotiation over the terms of a three-year deal to be the title sponsors for the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Federation Cup and the I-League – although the deal was announced last week.

Africa

Ghana ready to settle $3m World Cup loan cash

Ghana fans

By Paul Nicholson
January 2 – The Ghana FA (GFA) has repeated that it will be able to pay the $3.1 million money borrowed from the government once an official request for the funds is made.