By David Owen
September 28 – FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee has approved the renewal of the Club Protection Programme (CPP) – the scheme designed to remove a longstanding bone of contention by compensating clubs when players they employ are injured on international duty – for a further four years.
I have to admit I wouldn’t normally dwell on an announcement by FIFA President Sepp Blatter that the FIFA Executive Committee had decided that the football association of a rocky 2.3 square mile enclave at the tip of the Iberian peninsula cannot be accepted as a member of FIFA.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 26 – The hotly debated report into possible corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process will not be made public by FIFA president Sepp Blatter or his executive committee.
September 26 – Leading Russian club Torpedo Moscow have been ordered to close a section of their stadium for one match following racist abuse aimed at rival Dynamo Moscow’s English defender Christopher Samba.
By David Owen
September 26 – Buoyant footwear sales, including football boots, helped Nike to a highly satisfactory 23% advance in net income for the three-month period including the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 26 – Cypriot football has taken another symbolic step towards re-unification after a Greek-Cypriot player signed for a club in the Turkish-controlled north of the divided island.
By Mark Baber
September 26 – At a meeting at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Chinese Football Association Vice Chairman and Secretary-General Zhang Jian (pictured) and FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke have signed a technical cooperation agreement aimed at improving the technical level of Chinese football coaches, referees, and managers, improving the national team at all levels of achievement, and promoting the development of youth and women’s soccer.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 26 – Four of Europe’s major clubs – Liverpool, Monaco, Inter Milan and Roma – are among a fresh list issued by UEFA as being under investigation for possible breaches of financial fair play.
September 26 – Frequently denounced by FIFA and UEFA but still dangerously prevalant, match-fixing has struck at the heart of top-ranked Spanish football with the state prosecutor to question players over allegations of possible rigging in a 2011 league game between Levante and Real Zaragoza.
September 26 – Thirteen Estonia-based players and two from Slovakia, already suspended by their own respective federations for match-manipulation, have had their bans extended worldwide by FIFA.
By Alexander Krassimirov
September 26 – The construction of the Hristo Botev stadium in Plovdiv has restarted with the backing of the local city government. In July, construction work at the stadium was frozen after club owner Tsvetan Vasilev’s Corporate Commercial Bank was closed.
September 26 – Manchester City has announced a new partnership with Malaysia’s leading male grooming brand, Dashing. The deal makes Dashing Manchester City’s Official Personal Male Care Partner in Malaysia for the next two years.
Ma Yun and his company Alibaba, have arrived on the world stage. The company’s blockbuster IPO in New York on September 19 turned the company the second biggest internet company in the world. The evaluation of the company surpassed $220 billion after the first day on the market, for the following several days, even though there was a reasonable fall in its price, it still worth more than $210 billion.
The other day, a reporter proclaimed how “sources close to Garcia” stated that Qatar won’t be sanctioned. She then proceeded to criticise the fact that FIFA’s Task Force, which deals with the international calendar – and as such also with the mayhem Qatar 22 may or may not cause – was discussing possible dates for the Qatar World Cup “as if nothing had happened”. Drip, drip sarcasm. So, here we go then:
By Andrew Warshaw
Spetember 25 – Just as FIFA president Sepp Blatter is due to inform his executive committee that he wants to stay in charge of the organisation for another four years, his only current challenger for the presidency says he has no intention withdrawing his candidacy and insists he is in it for the long haul.