By Mark Baber
June 23 – Macau police claim to have smashed two illegal gambling rings, arresting 26 people in separate hotel raids and seizing cash and other evidence. The raids uncovered evidence of HK$5 billion in illegal bets on World Cup football matches in a week – including a single HK$40 million (£3 million) bet on one World Cup match.
By Paul Nicholson
June 23 – Human rights group Nonviolence International has released the full report written in conjunction with the Palestinian FA into the abuses and disruption by Israeli authorities of footballers and football in the Palestinian occupied territories.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 23 – Eintracht Frankfurt is eyeing an expanded sponsorship deal with German airline Lufthansa. The deal could generate revenues of about €5 million for the football club over the next five years.
By David Owen
June 23 – South American teams have excelled in the second round of World Cup group matches, taking over from CONCACAF as the competition’s most successful region. While this could be interpreted as an example of making home advantage count, host-nation Brazil, held to a goalless draw by Mexico, were ironically the only South American side not to win their second match at the tournament.
June 23 – Cost control of World Cup stadium build and accusations of corruption is not an issue confined to Brazil. Russia’s state Audit Chamber has found that the design work for its 2018 stadia has been over-priced by as much as 3 billion rubles ($88 million).
By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 22 – Costa Rica’s football federation has sent a letter to FIFA demanding an explanation for why so many of its players were required to take dope tests following their stunning victory over Italy that qualified them for the last 16 of the World Cup for only the second time in their history.
By David Owen
June 21 – FIFA has set out detailed arrangements for payment of the $750,000 bonus promised earlier this month by its President Joseph Blatter to all 209 member associations.
June 22 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers have unveiled the name and design for another of its proposed World Cup stadia – a 60,000-capacity venue in Al Khor which is scheduled to stage a semi-final and is due to be completed in 2018.
June 22 – Closing second round matches have all sides needing a win for qualification security. The final round of group games starts Monday with each group’s matches kicking off at the same time.
By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 21 – FIFA’s monitoring of World Cup warm-up matches revealed no apparent instances of match-fixing according to head of security Ralf Mutschke (pictured). Several friendlies before the 2010 World Cup were later found to have been rigged leading FIFA to take a close look at dozens of similar games in the build-up to Brazil.
June 21 – Africans play for survival and continental pride while the battle of the Boatengs sets up a family feud. Meanwhile, expect Messi to march on in Belo
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
June 21 – The Lodz Municipal authorities have awarded the contract to build a new stadium for Widzew Lodz to Polish construction company PRM Mosty Lodz. The project is worth PLN 120 million (€29 million) and is scheduled to be completed within 28 months.
With the World Cup in Brazil being the first in which Goal Line Technology (GLT) is used, to ascertain whether a ball has crossed the line, its effectiveness – and using similar aids, to reduce other refereeing errors – will certainly be a regular talking point.
And not just amongst fans, as the animated conversation between Didier Deschamps and Luis Suarez, the managers of France and Honduras, over Les Bleus’ second goal, in their 3-0 win in Group E,
By Mark Baber
June 20- Media stories about employees taking time off work because of the World Cup, which began with stories in the Chinese media of fake sick notes being sold to Chinese fans, were eagerly picked up by Western media for their interest value have now returned home with evidence the UK economy will be taking a hit from yesterday’s England-Uruguay game.
By Mark Baber
June 20- Despite there being no immediate claim of responsibility, Boko Haram militants are almost certainly behind Wednesday’s bombing in northern Nigeria which targeted football fans watching Brazil playing Mexico, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens including men, women and children.