Inside World Football - Page 1666 of 2231 - For the Business of Football

Matt Scott: FBI probe suggests FIFA is set for its ‘Salt Lake City moment – but not how you might expect

They say a week is a long time in football and the pace of change at FIFA has indeed been remarkable in the four years since the decision to award Russia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights.

Since 2010, 12 of the 24 people who voted on the destinations of those World Cups are no longer involved in the FIFA ex-co. Some, such as Ricardo Teixeira, were proved to have been guilty of taking irregular payments at one time or another.

Archive

AC Milan expand into Japan with Lawson sponsorship

AC Milan

November 12 – AC Milan have built on their popularity in Japan signing a sponsorhsip with leading retail store chain Lawson. The deal was announced at a Sponsor Day at the club by CEO and VP Barbara Berlusconi.

Archive

Heat raised as Gulf Cup teams gather for regional bragging rights

Gulf Cup

November 12 – The Gulf Cup, West Asia’s biennial eight-nation tournament, kicks off Thursday with the usual mixture of excitement and controversy and many seeing it very much as a dress rehearsal for the Asian Cup in January.

Archive

Movistar dials-up another two years of Spain national team sponsorship

Movistar

By Mark Baber
November 12 – Movistar, which has been the main sponsor of the Spanish national team since the Euro 2012 championship in Poland and Ukraine, has extended its sponsorship to cover the period up to and including the Euro 2016 Championship in France.

Archive

AFC player of the year nominees reflect balance of playing power in Asia

Aya Miyama MVP

November 12 – The Asian Football Confederations (AFC) has announced its nominees for the 2014 AFC Player of the Year. The AFC Annual Awards will be held in Manila, Philippines, on November 30 in conjunction with the AFC’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

Archive

Russian Premier League signs ICSS for security help

November 12 – Amid persistent crowd disturbances and allegations of corruption that do little to enhance the country’s staging of the 2018 World Cup, the Russian Football Premier League is the latest partner to be signed up by the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) to protect the country’s top division from emerging threats to safety, security and integrity.

Archive

Garcia report summary expected, English could face a lesson in fair play

fifa3

By Andrew Warshaw
November 12 – As FIFA prepares to reveal partial conclusions of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid investigation, a Spanish newspaper claims Qatar will not be unduly compromised and that the finger is more likely to be pointed in the direction of Russia and England.

Archive

Russia steps up emergency planning with beefed up task forces

Russia 2018 logo1

By Pail Nicholson
November 12 – As part of its 2018 World Cup planning the Russian emergencies ministry is setting up special task groups in FIFA World Cup host cities.

Africa

Morocco is latest Ebola casualty as CAF expels them from AFCON 2015

Issa Hayatou7

By Andrew Warshaw
November 11 – As widely anticipated, Morocco has been expelled from the forthcoming African Cup of Nations after refusing to host the competition on schedule due to fears over the spread of Ebola. Morocco had repeatedly asked the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to delay or postpone the three-week competition that is due to kick off in January fearing that fans and players might spread the virus even though the three west African nations devastated by Ebola are unlikely to qualify.

Archive

FIFA pours cold water on Norwegian FA ‘dinner’ talk

Sepp Blatter 12

November 11 – FIFA have moved quickly to dispel a report that claimed Sepp Blatter believes Qatar will be stripped of hosting the 2022 World Cup.

Archive

Ajax Amsterdam seals €8 million sponsorship deal with Ziggo

Ajax and Ziggo

By Jaroslaw Adamowski
November 11 – Ajax Amsterdam has inked a sponsorship deal with local cable and media firm Ziggo. Starting in January 2015, Ziggo will replace insurance and pension firm Aegon as the club’s main sponsor under a deal worth at least €8 million per year, the side said in a statement.

Africa

Appeals Committee holds future of Nigerian football in its hands

nigerian football

By Mark Baber
November 11 – The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) Appeals Committee meeting being held today and tomorrow (Tuesday and Wednesday) marks a new crossroads in the power struggle at the summit of Nigerian football. The faction currently exercising executive power will be looking to see the disputed September 30 elections, which brought them to power, given a clean bill of health, whilst the Chris Giwa faction (who did not participate in the elections) and the losing candidates will be hoping the committee shows independence from the current leadership and orders a rerun of the elections on neutral territory.

Archive

FIFA bans Oceania’s Bowen for breaking integrity rules

9817b92a-be66-4efb-b9d8-3b8015176e30 16x9 600x338

By Andrew Warshaw
Nov 11 – Oceania has been hit with a new footballing scandal after Fifa banned the former head the New Caledonia football federation Edmond Bowen for three years for dishonesty when filling out an integrity questionnaire.

Bowen has been barred because “did not fill out the mandatory declaration of integrity truthfully” when bidding to become a member of Fifa’s disciplinary committee and had therefore breached “general rules of conduct”.

Archive

Chilean FA calls for maximum penalty for O’Higgins racism

OHiggins

November 11 – O’Higgins, who won Chile’s Apertura league championship last year, face sanctions after fans made racist chants and gestures during a first division match.

Africa

CAF in last minute talks to save 2015 Africa Cup of Nations

By Andrew Warshaw
November 11 – As the Confederation of African Football (CAF) holds last-ditch talks today aimed at resolving the African Cup of Nations hosting crisis, Ghana is the latest country to say it won’t step in to replace Morocco.