By Andrew Warshaw
August 23 – The world record fee for a footballer looks set to be smashed in the next few days when Tottenham Hotspur’s exciting Welshman Gareth Bale is finally sold to Real Madrid after a long-drawn-out transfer saga.
August 23 – The future of English football at under-21 level and below has been placed in the hands of Gareth Southgate who is heading back to the Football Association in succession to Stuart Pearce, who left in June after a disappointing group stage exit at the European under-21 finals in Israel.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 23 – In one of the most alarming match-fixing scandals of recent months, El Salvador has temporarily suspended 22 players, drawing an immediate response from its governing confederation, CONCACAF, which said it was “deeply saddened” by the allegations.
The best football managers in history are often celebrated for their personalities. Their charisma. Their humour. Their temper.
But ultimately a club stands or falls on its team sheet. The players that these managers have selected.
The thing about Ferguson or Zagallo, Shankly, Clough, even Michels is that they knew which players they needed and how to use them, it’s as simple as that. No one-liner, no piece of motivation, not even a footballing philosophy like ‘total football’
By Mark Baber
Merthyr Town, a non-league Welsh club that plays in the English Southern League, has sparked controversy by signing a naming rights deal with electronic cigarettes company Cigg-e for their stadium for the next three years.
By Mark Baber
The president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi, is in Nigeria for talks with Globacom whose sponsorship of the Ghana Premier League came to an end at the end of the 2012-13 season and who have outstanding debts of $2.2m.
By Andrew Warshaw in manchester
August 22 – An Indian tyre manufacturer has signed a three-year deal with Manchester United in what is believed one of the first football partnerships of its kind in a country far more synonymous with sports like cricket and field hockey.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 22 – English Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has again reiterated his preference for a winter World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Dyke, who succeeded David Bernstein earlier this summer, has already clashed with the Premier League which is leading the campaign to keep the tournament in June and July.
August 22 – An unusual case of discrimination has emerged in Belgium where a top-division player has demanded a public apology and damages following remarks from a television commentator.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 22 – With the transfer window slamming shut on September 2, the international players’ union FIFPro is urging its members to look elsewhere rather than sign for teams in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus because of those countries’ poor record in honouring contracts.
By Mark Baber
August 21 – Nigeria’s League Management Company (LMC) has secured a $34 million television rights deal for the Nigeria Professional Football League from satellite broadcaster Supersport.
August 21 – Manchester City will boost their media content off-the-pitch with a deal with California-based camera manufacturer GoPro which will see cameras mounted on players and coaches.
By Mark Baber
August 21 – Beşiktaş has signed a $145 million deal with Vodafone, the club revealed in a statement on the Turkish Stock Exchange. The deal, including shirt sponsorship and sponsorship of the new Beşiktaş stadium which will be named the ‘Vodafone Arena’, is a timely one for the Istanbul club who have debt of about €100 million.
By Paul Nicholson
August 21 – FIFA put more than one million Brazil 2014 match tickets on internet sale at 7am Brasilia time yesterday, with the governing body saying that more than a million tickets had been requested by more than 163,000 applicants in the first seven hours.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 21 – In a deeply symbolic match, hailed by FIFA as a major sporting breakthrough, Afghanistan beat neighbours Pakistan 3-0 on Tuesday, the first international game played in Kabul in a decade and the first between the two countries in the Afghan capital for over 30 years.