By David Owen
December 11 – Not that there is any connection, but Manchester United’s latest Premier League woes have coincided with the installation of new display boards – “the largest, brightest and clearest pitch-side electronic boards in football,” the club says – at its Old Trafford base.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – Scottish champions Celtic have taken what appear to be steps to disband their notorious Green Brigade fans group after a reported £10,000 worth of damage was caused to the away end of the ground at Motherwell’s stadium during last Friday’s league game between the clubs.
December 10 – Ministers of sport and representatives of sports bodies from over 20 countries have urged policy makers to change their outlook and give sport greater priority as a tool for change.
December 10 – The usual suspects have again lined up to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or award as the world’s best player – but there is no place in the final shortlist for the world’s most expensive player, Gareth Bale.
December 10 – Last weekend’s fan violence in Brazil, at the final round of the season’s Serie A fixtures, has not put off a scramble for World Cup match tickets, with 86% of requests for match tickets coming from Brazilian fans.
December 10 – A fanatical Kenyan Manchester United fan, seemingly unable to cope with the club’s recent defeat against Newcastle which put them 13 points adrift of leaders Arsenal in the Premier League table, tragically took his own life.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – FIFA and World Cup organisers have been quick to re-assure an anxious public that the shocking scenes of violence at a Brazilian championship game at the weekend, screened across the world, were far removed from what can be expected next summer.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – The spot-fixing scandal that has rocked English football has moved up a gear with the relevation that five of the six men arrested are past or present players, the most high profile being DJ Campbell, a striker with Blackburn Rovers in the second tier of the domestic game who previously played in the Premier League with three different clubs.
By Alexander Krassimirov
December 10 – CSKA Sofia CEO Alexander Todorov (pictured) said that the new management of the club has reduced the salaries of the players about 35% compared to those who have paid the previous owners of Titan AS.
Sembrava un’iniziativa astuta, ma tutto sommato assai bella. Peccato che – parlando di calcio italiano – sia finita nel modo consueto: tra le polemiche. Ci riferiamo al caso scoppiato dopo che la Juventus aveva aperto gratuitamente le proprie curve a circa 12.000 bambini in occasione del match casalingo contro l’Udinese giocato il primo dicembre.
Inutile dire che a svuotare due settori sempre pieni c’era voluto il giudice sportivo, visto che gli ultrà bianconeri (già recidivi) avevano pensato di continuare le loro squallide performance rivolgendo ai tifosi del Napoli insulti che avevano il sapore della <discriminazione territoriale>,
December 9 – The next round of 2014 World Cup match ticket sales opened yesterday on the FIFA online ticketing site. This round of sales will be open until 30 January 2014 and applications can be made for 62 of the 64 matches (the opening game in Sao Paulo and final in Rio are excluded).
December 9 – As World Cup organisers prepare for a rush of bookings following last week’s draw, with fans working out exactly how much they can afford and how to get the best deals, FIFA have amended kickoff times of seven matches for the purposes of television coverage.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – With the glitz and glamour of the World Cup draw still fresh in the mind, Brazilian organisers have suffered a massive public relations blow after television pictures of scores of fans fighting running battles in a domestic championship match were flashed around the world.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – A German second division club has terminated its advertising contract with Saudi Arabia’s state-owned airline following reports that it refuses to fly Israeli citizens.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 9 – Following a series of defeats which pushed the football club towards the relegation zone of Poland’s Esktraklasa, the Ultras of Zaglebie Lubin assaulted one of the club’s players, damaged another one’s car with bricks and threatened to assault a third player.