Inside World Football - Page 1761 of 2228 - For the Business of Football

Mihir Bose: Qatar 2022 and an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy

That the FIFA decision to award the World Cup to Qatar in 2022 is once again in the spotlight is no surprise but the manner in which it hogged the headlines last week has raised intriguing questions. These are how did the story emerge and is this an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy?

This is not to in any way suggest that the Daily Telegraph did not have a good story about the financial dealings between Jack Warner and Mohammed Bin Hammam just days after both,

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Cellino’s bid for Leeds ‘disqualified’ by Football League

Leeds United

March 24 – The future of Leeds United, once the envy of English football but who have hit hard times in recent years, has been plunged into uncertainty after authorities disqualified Italian businessman Massimo Cellino from buying a majority stake in the iconic club.

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FIFA banks a record year with more to come in 2014

FIFA House

March 24 – FIFA’s 2013 annual financial report has been released showing the governing body managed a surplus of $72 million on revenue of $1.386 million. 2013 was a record year for FIFA with income of $1.386 billion in the third year of a four-year commercial cycle linked to the 2014 World Cup.

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Salman backtracks on proposal to link AFC presidency to permanent exco seat

Shaikh Salman

By Andrew Warshaw
March 24 – The head of Asian football has been rebuffed in his attempts within FIFA to gain additional powers of office against the wishes of his members.

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Mutko pushes for inclusion of Crimean clubs into Russian leagues

Vitaly Mutko

By Andrew Warshaw
March 24 – Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko is reportedly planning for Crimea’s two top-flight clubs to quit the Ukrainian league and switch to Russia as the crisis in the region impacts on football.

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FIFA seek to extend women’s terms at its ExCo top table

FIFA signage

By Andrew Warshaw
March 24 – The two women co-opted on to the FIFA executive committee last year seem certain to stay on for another year – but what happens after that remains open to question.

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Politics and football mix as Fenerbahce fans march in protest to Ataturk’s tomb

fenrbahche fans twitter

By Alexander Krassimirov
March 24 – Supporters and officials of Turkey’s Fenerbahce yesterday marched to Anitkabir – the tomb of the Turkish Republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – in another “justice rally”.

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Ukrainian Premier League clubs in crisis as oligarchs face uncertain futures

Ukraine premier league

By Mark Baber
March 24 – Ukrainian football is a fair reflection of wider Ukrainian society – in deep crisis, dominated by oligarchs, plagued by neo-nazis, being drained of foreign talent, with significant elements seeing their future in Russia and others facing imminent bankruptcy.

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FIFA’s ExCo holds firm on Qatar 2022 as Garcia investigates and workers rights issues top agenda

FIFA House

By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter today sidestepped repeated attempts to force him to take a stand over whether Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup was in jeopardy following the publication of fresh corruption allegations.

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No hiding places as Champions League draw pits Europe’s giant elite head-to-head

UEFA Champions League

March 21- Defending champions Bayern Munich were handed the perfect opportunity today to avenge their heartbreaking 1999 Champions League final defeat by Manchester United when the two were paired together in the quarterfinals in of this season’s competition.

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Webb calls for ‘deep change’ in anti-discrimination statement

JeffreyWebb-010914-Feature-769x385

March 21 – Jeffrey Webb, the chairman of the FIFA Anti-Racism and Discrimination Task Force, has sent a strongly worded message on the importance of embracing diversity and fighting discrimination. He also said that the Brazil 2014 World Cup is the perfect platform to make a powerful anti-discrimination statement and that the quarter finals will be dedicated to the fight against discrimination.

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Zenit fans say flag burning was the ‘logical end’ while club defends the majority

Zenit fans burn Dortmund flag

By Richard van Poortvliet
March 21 – The infamous Zenit St Petersburg fan group, Landscrona have made an official statement, saying the flag that was burnt during Zenit’s Champions League clash at Borussia Dortmund, was not the German national flag, but a banner from one of Borussia’s supporters groups.

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David Owen: From Spain to Asia in a well timed move

You know for sure that the people’s game has become gentrified when luxury Swiss watch brands start sponsoring football clubs.

Now, five and a half years after Hublot set the ball rolling by sponsoring Manchester United, another landmark deal has been unveiled.

Maurice Lacroix has announced a three-year agreement with Barcelona that will see it become the Catalán club’s Official Watch Partner in a deal said to be worth somewhere in the seven figures of euros (ie upwards of €1 million).

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Appetites lost for fixing the fixing issues?

When a World Cup host is found to have been involved in match-fixing, not just once (as if that’s not bad enough) but several times, any right-thinking person, concerned about the integrity of the game, would assume that confronting this heinous crime against our sport would be a priority matter.

As Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary-general, repeatedly puts it “match-manipulation is the biggest threat to the game today.”

Unfortunately, the investigation into South African football –

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Muamba still motoring, but on a different life route

Fabrice Muamba

By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – Two years after defying the odds by surviving despite his heart stopping for 78 minutes during a match, Fabrice Muamba, whose miraculous case made worldwide headlines, has revealed that he has since had a couple more murmurs though on a far more minor scale.