Inside World Football - Page 1767 of 2159 - For the Business of Football

[b]Exclusive with Sepp Blatter:[/b] Everyone complains about winter 2022, but what about discrimination

JSB interviewed

September 9 – The recent heated debate about potentially playing the FIFA World Cup 2022 in what would be the European winter (note European) has generated some agreement and considerable dissent among football pundits, administrators and politicians alike. Insideworldfootball’s Paul Nicholson spoke exclusively to FIFA’s President, Joseph S. Blatter, and asked him what repercussions he is expecting – if any – to his proposal to shift dates.

Africa

Last minute sponsors step up for African World Cup qualifiers

Kenyan fan

By Mark Baber
September 6 – Hours ahead of crucial World Cup qualifiers in Africa, a sponsorship deal has been signed between Crown Beverages and the Kenya national team, whilst Meanwood Properties and Zambeef Plc have come in to help pay for TV rights for today’s game between Ghana and Zambia.

Archive

Exclusive: Rajoub pours scorn on Israel’s commitment despite FIFA talks

Jibril Rajoub

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
September 6 – Palestine football’s leading figurehead has poured scorn on Israel’s commitment to easing the plight of his country’s players and officials – and says the FIFA initiative to resolve the deep divisions between the two Middle East neighbours will never work unless Israel stops its “bullying” tactics. Earlier this week, FIFA president Sepp Blatter hailed initial talks aimed at easing travel restrictions for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza as “historic”

Archive

Farnborough cleared to play, but without Messi, Beckenbauer and Maradona

Farnborough and Paddy Pwer

By Mark Baber
September 6 – English Football Conference South club Farnborough FC, who recently emerged from administration with support from bookmaker Paddy Power, have been given permission by the Football Conference Board to compete in the Conference from tomorrow, albeit the players will have to compete under their real names.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: The Real Illusion – where DO they get the money?

How do Real Madrid do it?

No it’s not a rhetorical question, really how do they do it?

For over 100 days the question was when will Gareth Bale join them in a world record deal from Tottenham.

With the deal finally, mercifully done, we now need to ask a more interesting question. How did they do it? I can’t be the only one to believe that world record transfers should be more plausibly made by clubs with oil money behind them.

Archive

Top coaches back a shorter transfer window to end Summer madness

AVB

By Andrew Warshaw
September 6 – Coaches of many of Europe’s leading clubs have backed UEFA President Michel Platini’s suggestion to shorten the summer transfer window in order to allow for greater stability and planning.

Archive

Valcke reassures that World Cup 2014 prep is on-track

Jerome valcke2

By Andrew Warshaw
September 6 – As the World Cup qualification process moves towards its conclusion, Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke insists organisers are “heading in the right directions” despite various ongoing issues inside Brazil, including cost and infastructure.

Archive

Messi stumps up €5m to escape posting bail in tax fraud case

Lionel Messi 2

By Mark Baber
September 5 – Lionel Messi and his father Jorge have paid €5 million (£4.2 million) over to the Spanish tax authorities, leading a Catalan court to deny a request from the State Agency for Tax Administration to set bail for the accused pair in the legal process of their pending tax fraud trial.

Archive

Spain and Germany lead coaching league, English playing long game of catch-up

coaching

By Andrew Warshaw
September 5 – Whilst the speech of new FA chairman Greg Dyke highlighted the dearth of English players in the Premier league eligible for the national team, buried in the text was evidence of a lack of highly skilled English coaches.

Archive

Romario and Maradona unite ‘to take fight to CONMEBOL’

Romario and Maradona

By Andrew Warshaw
September 5 – Two of South America’s biggest footballing icons, Diego Maradona and Romario, have joined forces to denounce the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) for not doing enough to distribute its funds.

Archive

Rooney’s paid-for Nike tweet clears ad regs as being obviously a promo

Wayne Rooney tweet

By Mark Baber
September 5 – Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of breaking advertising rules banning subliminal promotional messages and no further action will be taken after it was decided a tweet he had posted plugging Nike was “obviously identifiable as a marketing communication.”

Archive

Dyke calls for change saying it’s time for England to turn the ‘tanker’

Greg Dyke2

By Andrew Warshaw
September 5 – The new head of English football has targeted winning the 2022 World Cup as a genuine goal but has painted a bleak picture of the current state of the national team which is still without a major trophy for almost half a century.

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Blowing the whistle on CAF 2014 qualification

That the 10 teams for the final knockout round, of the African qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup finals, will be known by the end of the first week in September, following the conclusion of the group stages, is no breaking news.

But the CAF-inspired decision not to allow the continent’s final five World Cup qualifiers emerge, directly, from the league format, as was the case for the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cups,

Archive

Rio doping lab ‘failed blind test’

Doping control

By David Owen
September 4 – The Rio de Janeiro doping control laboratory whose accreditation was revoked last month by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a hugely embarrassing blow for Brazilian authorities, failed a “blind” quality assessment test, Insideworldfootball understands.

Archive

Football centre-stage in 2020 Olympics race

Olympic vote

By David Owen in Buenos Aires
September 5 – The power of football is much in evidence as the high-stakes battle for the 2020 Olympics enters its eleventh hour in this elegant South American city beside the river Plate. In recent days, a string of leading football figures have played walk-on parts as the contest builds to its dramatic denouement on September 7, when 100 or so International Olympic Committee (IOC) members will choose between Istanbul,