By Mark Baber
September 20 – Venky’s London Ltd (VLL), parent company of English Championship side Blackburn Rovers, and owned by the Indian family has recorded losses of over £27 million in the past financial year.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 20 – The revolutionary multi-venue European Championship finals in 2020 have attracted no fewer than 32 applicants from across the Continent, well over half of the entire UEFA membership, it was announced today. Thirteen cities will be chosen in September next year to stage the one-off pan-European finals which UEFA President Michel Platini hopes will reduce construction costs and travel.
By Mark Baber
September 20 – Japan’s J-League will be returning a two-stage season in 2015, according to an official statement, in a bid to increase interest from fans and sponsors which has been in decline since 2008. The move has met opposition from core supporters who have demonstrated outside the Japan Football Association’s Headquarters as well as at recent games.
By Alexander Krassimirov
September 20 – Bulgaria’s Sofia stadium debate has taken another twist with president and owner of Slavia Sofia Ventsislav Stefanov (pictured left) announcing that he is in negotiation with the owner of PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, Kiril Domuschiev (pictured right), to build a new joint stadium in Sofia. PFC Ludogorets have won the Bulgarian champions for the past two years but play home games at Razgrad – a small town in north-east of Bulgaria.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 19 – Manchester United have made inroads into the Gulf market by announcing two regional deals, one with Commercial Bank of Qatar and the other with Emirates NBD Bank.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 19 – Dan Tan, the elusive and notorious match-fixer who is on almost every football crime-busting wanted list, is understood to be among at least 12 people arrested following a breakthrough operation by Singapore authorities.
By Mark Baber
September 19 – The threat of closure on safety grounds again looms for the Maracanã Stadium, scheduled to host next year’s World Cup final, as the 4th District Attorney’s Office requests a new engineering report.
By Mark Baber
September 19 – Manchester United Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2013 Earnings Conference Call reinforces the club’s impressive growth figures, whilst demonstrating the club sees the USA as a land of opportunity.
It’s time to look for solutions to the potential mess that threatens to engulf European football in the season 2022/23.
FIFA and representatives of continents, nations, clubs and players are about to try and harmonise the calendar.
In the spirit of ‘ideas for solutions being more welcome than more problems’ here’s my humble offering to try and ease the disruption and logjam of fixtures.
First let’s remind ourselves of the landscape.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
September 19 – UEFA’s 54 member nations are backing Michel Platini’s campaign for the 2022 Qatar World Cup to be switched from summer – but an exact alternative date remains undecided. The UEFA boss wants the tournament to be moved to January as distinct from November and December which is believed to be the favoured option of FIFA.
September 19 – The Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 will be staged in what could be the hottest weather for the event in 120 years, with temperatures reaching 38°C and with Tokyo’s humidity at 71% the temperature would actually feel like 62°C, according to the U.S. National Weather Service’s Heat Index calculator.
The battle to move the 2022 Qatar World Cup is developing into quite a classic. However, like many such football debates, it is being conducted on false premises.
The argument being presented is that it cannot be moved to winter because it would mean the original terms under which the bidding took place were wrong. It is assumed that when Qatar won the bid back in 2010 they and their rivals competed in a competition where they signed a document saying the tournament would be held in the summer.
September 18 – CONCACAF completed the third of its D-License coaching course at the weekend in Aruba, part of a programme of development throughout the confederation to raise the future standards of play and provide a base qualification and path for coaches to follow.
Sometimes in football, as in other walks of life, a debate splits public opinion so far down the middle that it seems impossible to reconcile the two sides of the argument.
For once I am not talking about the Qatar 2022 World Cup but a highly complex domestic issue in England that is generating emotion-packed comment and opinion.
Anyone who has suffered from anti-semitism knows how vile, pernicious and hurtful the insults and alienation can be.
By Mark Baber
September 18 – Current UAE Champions, Al Ain Football Club has unveiled Abu Dhabi Airports as a premium partner of the club. The three-year agreement, which is reported to be the first major foray into sponsorship by the club, will see the logo of the Abu Dhabi Airports on the back of player jerseys, including star players Asamoah Gyan and Omar Abdul Rahman.