By Alexander Krassimirov
March 12 – Botev Plovdiv owner Tsvetan Vassilev (pictured) has said he wants to buy the land on which the club’s Hristo Botev Stadium stands, according to the mayor of Plovdiv Ivan Totev. If the deal goes through, Botev will become the first Bulgarian club to own its stadium.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 12 – In a break from tradition, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has reportedly decided to refrain from making a formal speech at the World Cup’s opening ceremony for fears of jeering by protesting fans.
By Paul Nicholson
March 12 – Nigeria’s seemingly endless struggle and debate over how much and when to pay win bonuses to its national team players and officials has begun for the World Cup already. But while there is a will to pay, there may not be a way with the current budget for the 2014 tournament to be granted by the government expected to come in at only half the requested amount by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
‘Tourist shot dead on golf course’. ‘Stadia will never be finished on time’. ‘Political mayhem leading up to World Cup’. ‘World Cup will be a failure, local population protests’. ‘Street violence and lacking infrastructure’.
No.
These are not headlines pre-Brazil.
These, and worse, were the headlines prior to the first ever World Cup in an African country, in South Africa, four years ago.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – What was expected to be a celebratory landmark occasion in terms of stadium readiness for the World Cup didn’t go completely to plan as another 2014 venue held its first test event.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 11 – The conflict between the management of Zawisza Bydgoszcz and the club’s Ultras has escalated into cyberwarfare.
By Paul Nicholson
March 11 – The UEFA Professional Football Strategy Council (PFSC), meeting at UEFA HQ in Nyon yesterday, have slammed the percentage of agent commissions being paid and demanded regulation in the agency marketplace. The PFSC also threatened that if FIFA does not ban third party ownership of players then UEFA will take matters into its own hands.
By Richard van Poortvliet
March 11 – In what is now becoming a football version of an old-style East-West Cold War, deputies from the Russian State Duma, from the United Russia and Fair Russia parties, have asked for FIFA to revoke the membership of the USA.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 11 – As if Brazil’s World Cup organisers didn’t have enough problems on their plate delivering the infrastructure in time for the June kick-off, the country’s president Dilma Rousseff has now come out and expressed her concern about racism in football after a spate of incidents involving players and officials. In comments posted on Twitter, Rousseff lent her support to former Brazil international midfielder Marcos Arouca da Silva, who was subject to monkey chants while playing for Santos against Mogi Mirim last week.
March 11 – Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness said he “deeply regretted” his conduct on the opening day of his high-profile trial for tax evasion.
March 11 – English football authorities are considering a blanket ban for all players and officials – including club, league and federation officials in the football business – on betting on matches after yet another Premier League player admitted breaking current rules.
“Friendship is constant in all other things Save in the office and affairs of love… Let every eye negotiate for itself And trust no agent,” Claudio, Act II, Scene 1, Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare seldom got much wrong about life and how we live it. His comedies, his tragedies and his histories contained some fairly implausible scenarios and embellishments at times but the enduring value of his work lies in his ability to skewer all facets of the human character.
March 11 – As the quarter finals of the CONCACAF Champions League started last night with Costa Rica’s Alajuelense drawing 0-0 with Arabe Unido in the first leg of their tie, the confederation also announced MoneyGram as a new commercial partner.
March 10 – FIFA has called for expressions of interest in hosting eights of its competitions including the Women’s World Club and four editions of the FIFA Club World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 10 – The head of the Asian Football Confederation says western criticism of Qatar as World Cup hosts is being overplayed and, in some cases, has “crossed the line.”