By Matt Scott
February 26 – Puma, Europe’s second-largest sportswear manufacturer, has suffered a damaging drop in sales amid what its chief executive, Björn Gulden, has described as “a challenging year”.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 25 – German company Aurubis (formerly Norddeutsche Affinerie AG) is poised to sign a co-operation agreement with Bulgarian champions of Ludogorets Razgrad to provide a boost to the club’s youth academy. In March the company will sponsor trials with those selected joining the club’s academy.
“I have hit rock bottom and I don’t see any way out of it,” Chelsea’s former European Cup Winners’ Cup winner, Alan Hudson
Alan Hudson is 62 years of age now but when he was the playmaker for a useful Chelsea team during the 1970s he was one of the Kings of the King’s Road. He was a household name, leading a lifestyle as flamboyant as the football he played over the 400-plus top-flight appearances he made as the creative force of clubs that consistently challenged for trophies.
February 25 – FIFA has extended the bans worldwide to one English and two Slovakian players following allegations of match-fixing. The sanctions are an enforcement of penalties that have already been issued by their national federations.
February 25 – Scottish giant Rangers have announced to the stock exchange £1.5 million loan from shareholders to provide short term working capital to the club. The club is listed on the London AIM market.
By Paul Nicholson
February 25 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has awarded Kenya the rights to host the 2018 African Nations Championship (Chan), Rwanda will host 2016. CAF has also outlined details of the Morocco 2015 Orange Cup of Nations (CAN).
In the sensible regions of planet football, a manager that does the tough work of qualifying a team for a World Cup finals has earned the right to manage the team at it.
But what is obviously the logical, common-sense thing, is certainly not the established rule in Nigerian football, where they operate from a different playbook.
Over the last 20 years, as well as in the four tournaments the Super Eagles have played in (1994,
February 25 – Barcelona have paid €13.5 million to the Spanish authorities after being charged with tax fraud over the much-publicised signing of Neymar which partly led to the resignation of former Barca president Sandro Rosell.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 25 – Bundesliga boss Christian Seifert has branded Michel Platini as “somewhat arrogant” after the UEFA president criticised Germany for objecting to the expansion of the European Championship finals.
February 25 – South Africa’s premier club knockout cup, The Nedbank Cup, has announced prize money of R7 million ($647,000) for the winner of this year’s competition, an increase of R1 million ($92,000) from last year. Total prize money for the competition is R20 million ($1.85 million).
February 25 – The CONCACAF grassroots programme continues to roll out across the Caribbean Islands. St.Vincent and the Grenadines were the latest to host the programme which concluded on Saturday at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 24 – STES, the marketing arm of the Czech football association FACR, has signed a new broadcasting rights deal for the country’s Gambrinus Liga with local company Pragosport. The Czech company acquired the broadcasting rights for the top tier of the Czech professional football league for the next four years. The contract will enter into force in the 2014/2015 season.
February 24 – BBC Alba in Scotland delayed its Saturday night broadcast of the Ross County vs St Mirren Scottish Premier League match because of the amount of swearing that could be heard on the broadcast by fans.
February 24 – Public demonstrations in Sao Paulo, Brazil, again turned violent this weekend with police moving in swiftly to disperse rioters. The protest started peacefully with about 1,000 people, but the police stepped in when protestors set barricades alight and started smashing shop windows.
February 24 – Barcelona’s new president Josep Bartomeu (pictured) insists the transfer of Neymar to the Catalan giants was “completely legal” and that the club is totally innocent of tax fraud.