By Alexander Krassimirov
August 8 – Bulgaria’s top league clubs have joined together to protest to the government about a sponsorship agreement about to be signed between rival club Levski Sofia and Russian energy giant Gazprom. It is a remarkable move by the clubs who all sell their own sponsorships, but who feel that they have been excluded from sponsorship money they should be sharing.
By Richard van Poortvliet
August 7 – The Anzhi project, to transform a side with little prior success from one of Russia’s poorest regions, into a European powerhouse happened almost overnight. However, this dream looks as though it could be unravelling just as quickly as it was formed with owner Suleiman Kerimov (pictured) taking an axe to the club’s budgets.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – UEFA’s crackdown on match-fixing could seriously affect this season’s Champions League after Europe’s governing body opened urgent disciplinary proceedings against Metalist Kharkiv.
August 7 – Gareth Bale may be the subject of a world record transfer bid from Real Madrid but the Tottenham Hotspur star has failed to make a significant enough impression to place him in the running for UEFA’s Best Player in Europe award.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – At a time when FIFA is promoting greater representation among women on its executive committee, Isha Johansen has become only the second active female leader of a national governing body after being appointed as president of the Sierra Leone Football Association.
By Mark Baber
August 7 – Football Federation Australia (FFA) has appointed World Sport Group (WSG) to represent the worldwide (excluding Australia and Oceania) broadcast rights for the Australian senior men’s national team matches and the Hyundai A-League, for a further four years, until the end of the 2016/2017 season.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – A Jamaican international and one of his country’s team officials have been suspended for 30 days by FIFA after they failed drugs tests following a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Honduras on June 11.
The anniversary of Hiroshima fell this week, as it usually does, in the middle of football’s silly season.
Millions for a few weeks consecrate every spare minute to fretting over what coloured shirt a dozen or so millionaires will be wearing next month; or to reading significance into meaningless matches.
Yet 68 years ago this happened.
It’s progress, I suppose.
By Richard van Poortvliet
August 7 – The future of the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, which will host the 2018 World Cup final, has become a lot clearer, after it was announced that FIFA will allow the arena to have a capacity of 81,000 spectators for the showpiece event.
By Mark Baber
August 6 – More details were published of a suppressed report into the history of doping in West Germany, which includes evidence that three of West Germany’s 1966 World Cup stars may have been involved.
By Mark Baber
August 6 – With the All India Football Federation (AIFF) progressing its plans to set up the India Premier League (IPL)-style football league, the project has received a shot in the arm with Bollywood mega-star Shahrukh Khan (pictured) saying he has put off plans to buy an I-League club in favour of waiting to buy one of the new franchises.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
August 6 – Stripping Qatar of hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup just because of the heat issue and the fuss generated over a possible switch to winter is not an option, according to the FIFA-appointed expert who first cautioned about the dangers of taking the tournament to the Gulf state in the first place.
August 6 – Hard on the heels of the qualifying rounds of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Women’s Under 20 qualifiers, the CFU Women’s Under 17 tournament qualifiers kick off tomorrow in Puerto Rico.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 6 – Fallen Scottish giants Rangers are once again embroiled in turmoil after chairman Walter Smith quit less than a week before the start of the new league season describing the boardroom as “highly dysfunctional” and lacking integrity.
August 6 – FIFA have been quick to allay fears of a drugs problem in Turkish football following the announcement by the Turkish Athletics Association that 31 athletes have been banned for two years for doping violations.