By Alexander Krassimirov
July 28 – Bulgarian Lev Ins AD Insurance Company is the new lead sponsor of top tier club Levski Sofia. The contract between the two parties was signed on Friday, but the curious thing is that it is for just six months – until the end of the calendar year.
July 27 – FIFA have fined the Argentine Football Association SFr30,000 ($33,000) for displaying a banner that was deemed to qualify as “political action” and “team misconduct”.
With the start of a new Premier League season less than three weeks away, I have repeated last year’s exercise drawing on data from the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance to compile 26 top-three ‘mini-tables’. These rank the 20 English top-tier clubs in the 2012-13 season according to different financial parameters.
July 25 – UEFA has asked the Russian Football Union to provide documents on the licensing procedure of Russian Premier League FC Rostov. The club has qualified for this season’s Europa League.
By Mark Baber
July 25 – The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) president, Aminu Maigari (pictured) has been sacked following allegations of “financial misappropriation, misapplication and maladministration” by the NFF Executive Committee.
July 25 – A newly published survey of UK, US and Brazilian consumers finds that Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Visa and Adidas were the most recognised sponsors of the World Cup in Brazil, achieving recognition among 50%, 39%, 41% and 36% respectively, amongst UK, US and Brazilian consumers.
July 25 – In a big turnaround, the South African Football Association (SAFA) has announced it is confident that when auditors complete their work, the 2013-14 account figures will show a profit.
July 25 – An agreement to build the first Cruyff Court, a small football pitch with artificial turf, in Leoni-Via dei Mille has been signed in Como. Called ‘Cruyff Court Stefano Borgonovo’, it is planned to showcase the goals and objectives of the two foundations: the Johan Cruyff Foundation and the Stefano Borgonovo Foundation.
July 25 – The row over the alleged racist incident that caused Patrick Viera to withdraw his Manchester City under-21 side during a match against HNK Rijeka has now prompted the Croatian Football Federation to start an investigation.
July 25 – Jamaica has stepped up to host the CONCACAF U20 championship next January. Before that the Caribbean island is hosting the finals of the CFU Men’s Caribbean Cup this November 9-18.
July 24 – Having just wrapped one World Cup, FIFA’s top brass are already back on the road with FIFA president Sepp Blatter and general secretary Jerome Valcke in Qatar last night meeting His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani.
By Ben Nicholson
July 24 – NBC Sports, who own the Barclays Premier League broadcasting rights in the US, have teamed up with Fathom Events, a renowned alternative entertainment industry company that offers “one-of-a-kind entertainment events in movie theatres”, to bring the Barclays Premier League to 33 movie theatres across the USA. The pair has struck a deal to show the games on the big screen starting on the opening day of the season,
By Andrew Warshaw
July 24 – Dutch football authorities (KNVB) say it is far too early to discuss whether the country will take part in the 2018 World Cup in the wake of the Malaysian Airlines flight that was almost certainly shot down by Russian separatists over eastern Ukraine, killing everyone on board including 193 Dutch nationals.
July 24 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has agreed to open the latest Soccerex football business conference in Manchester in September, an appearance that is bound to generate significant interest in the wake of English FA chairman Greg Dyke’s anti-Blatter comments earlier this week.
July 24 – Croatian club HNK Rijeka have hit back strongly at Manchester City’s decision to take their players off the field because of alleged racism in an under-21 fixture in Novigrad on Tuesday.