By Andrew Warshaw
December 9 – A one-time English Premier League footballer and Nigerian international has admitted being involved in spot-fixing in a second damaging newspaper sting that has led to six people being detained and has once again seriously undermined the reputation and credibility of English football.
Tradition versus success; it is a trade-off at the heart of some of sport’s most agonising dilemmas, and it has been spotlighted again by the shenanigans at Premier League new boys Hull City.
As a Bristol City fan of some decades’ standing, I have a certain amount of sympathy with members of the City Till We Die campaign group who oppose owner Assem Allam’s idea to rebrand the club Hull Tigers.
Then again,
Nelson Mandela may not have been a professional sportsman but his understanding of sport surpassed that of most high profile sporting stars. Mandela knew how sport could be used for wider political and social purposes. In his long years in prison, as he closely studied his white oppressors, particularly the Afrikaners, he began to appreciate that sport in general and rugby, in particular, had an extraordinary hold on the white nation.
He also realised that since the rise of international sport in the 19th century white South Africa had used sport to drive forward its hideous racial agenda.
By Paul Nicholson
December 6 – “There is a bit of mystery about pot X,” said FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke at the 2014 World Cup draw in Costa do Sauipe in Brazil. There was no mystery once the draw was made and the teams were allocated – the World Cup is without doubt underway.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – It’s being described as the European ‘floater; and it could have major ramifications at today’s eagerly awaited World Cup draw in Brazil. Under a new formula designed to ensure an even geographical spread, before the main draw even takes place one of the nine unseeded European teams from Pot Four will be drawn at random by organisers and switched to Pot Two alongside Ecuador, Chile and the five African contenders,
December 6 – As the world’s leaders unanimously paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, who died yesterday, aged 95, so the leaders of world football have added their personal tributes to a man who changed the world and whose inspiration is a driving force behind a determination to change football culture and attitudes.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – In a landmark vote that has already caused huge jubilation across the country, India will stage its first major FIFA tournament after being handed the 2017 under-17 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has appealed to Qatar’s critics to “calm down” over questioning its suitability to stage the 2022 World Cup but insists his organisation will not shirk from its responsibilities to monitor the issue of workers’ rights in the Gulf state which has caused such widespread alarm.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – Ricardo Teixeira, the disgraced former head of Brazilian football and not so long ago one of the most powerful men in world football, has apparently been forced to abandon plans to seek refuge in the tiny tax haven of Andorra.
By David Owen
December 6 – Qatar has extended its imprint into one of the backwaters of world football, with the announcement that Ooredoo, the renamed Qatar Telecom, is becoming the official partner of the Myanmar Football Federation (MFF).
By David Owen
December 6 – Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium – which was a venue for the London 2012 Olympic football tournament and may play a part in UEFA’s innovative, multi-country Euro 2020 competition – generates more than £130 million a year for the Welsh economy and sustains more than 2,500 permanent jobs, a new report has revealed.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – The stadium hosting the opening match of next year’s World Cup will not be ready until a mere eight weeks before the start of the tournament. Twenty-four hours after the Brazilian government promised that the Sao Paolo venue damaged when two crane workers died in a recent accident would be finished by February, FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed that it would in fact not be completed until “April 14th or 15th”.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – In arguably his most radical idea since becoming UEFA president, Michel Platini is calling for yellow cards to be scrapped, with players instead being sent to a rugby-style sin bin.
December 4 – With Christmas fast approaching, sponsors are looking to activate their partnerships for the buying season. Rotary and EA Sports have both come out with new promotions, while footwear manufacturer Puma has launched a limited edition boot with BMW.
