By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – Steps by Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers to put in place improved conditions for migrant workers have been welcomed by FIFA but criticised by trade union officials despite being drawn up in conjunction with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
February 12 – Manchester City’s chief executive has pledged the big-spending club will break even this season and has rejected the suggestion that they will breach UEFA’s financial fair play rules.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 12 – The European Club Association, comprising more than 200 clubs across the Continent, will hold its annual general assembly next month without any replacement for former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, one of the organisation’s most influential figures.
By Paul Nicholson
February 12 – UEFA closed its most successful Futsal EUROs to date on Sunday night with Italy beating Russia in the final in front of a near-capacity 12,000 spectators in Antwerp’s Sportpaleis. The match ended Spain’s recent dominance of the Championship that has now been held nine times and move on to Serbia in 2016. Football’s small sided game is finding its place on a bigger stage.
“Riches, one may say, are like sea-water; the more you drink, the thirstier you become.” Arthur Schopenhauer, Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit
It was in 1851 that the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote his Wisdom of Life. At the time European empires bestrode the globe and an upper class of landowners and industrialists dominated the social landscape within nations. A militaristic thirst for still more riches brought about the conflict of the Great War,
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 11 – CSKA Sofia’s former lawyer Radostin Vasilev (pictured), has criticised the club management and ownership saying it is almost certain that the Bulgarian club will not get a license for next football season.
February 11 – Police in Kenya are hunting a murder suspect after a Liverpool supporter was stabbed to death by a rival Arsenal fan following last weekend’s 5-1 Premier League win by the Merseyside club.
February 11 – Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has condemned the latest violent protests against hikes in public transport fares as a news cameraman injured whilst covering last weekend’s demonstrations was declared brain dead after falling into a coma.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 11 – English Premier League club West Ham United, who are moving to the main Olympic stadium used for the 2012 London Games, have agreed to sell their east London ground to local property developers .
February 11 – Casey Stoney, the England women’s captain, says FIFA should not have awarded the men’s World Cups to Russia and Qatar because of their anti-gay legislation.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
February 11 – Twenty-four hours before a FIFA-imposed deadline to explain what steps are being taken for improving human rights, Qatar’s World Cup authorities have issued detailed and unprecedented guidelines which they hope will answer international condemnation of their treatment of migrant workers.
By Paul Nicholson
February 11 – Details of the proposed new TV rights distribution law that will govern Spain’s top 20 clubs in La Liga are emerging. The legislation, designed to reduce the big gaps in broadcast revenue between the top two clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, and the rest will mean that the top earning club will not be able to receive more than four times as much broadcast income as the bottom earning club.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 10 – CSKA Sofia president Alexander Tomov has announced the club will launch the sale of 3 million shares in the Bulgarian club. He is targeting both fans and institutional investors with the share offering, though has not revealed a price as yet. He has said that some of the club’s former playing veterans and legends will be gifted shares.
February 10 – Budweiser is dropping its £9 million-a-year sponsorship of England’s FA Cup, the oldest Cup competition in the world. The FA has said it is now looking for a new sponsor partner starting with the 2014-15 season.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 10 – Werder Bremen has extended its sponsorship deal with German poultry processor Wiesenhof until the end of June 2016, the football club said in a statement. The two-season extension builds on the first deal signed in 2012.