Inside World Football - Page 1786 of 2159 - For the Business of Football

FIFA lifts international ban as Cameroon acts to ‘normalise’

Fecafoot HQ

By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – FIFA has lifted Cameroon’s suspension from world football, allowing the Indomitable Lions to play a key World Cup qualifier against Libya. FIFA imposed the ban on July 4, preventing Cameroon from taking part in all football activity after ruling that the government had interfered in the Cameroon Football Federation’s (Fecafoot) elections in June, breaching FIFA rules obliging member associations to manage their affairs independently.

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Portuguese cash crisis forces unpaid players to ask union for money

Joaquim Evangelista

By Gareth Messenger
July 23 – Delays in wage payments by cash-strapped football clubs in Portugal have forced dozens of players to ask their union for money, according to the head of the country’s players’ association.

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Germany may bid for Euro 2024 if they are cut out of 2020

Wolfgang Niersbach

By Mark Baber
July 22 – German Football Federation (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach says Germany are considering a bid to host the European Championships in 2024 and doesn’t rule out a personal bid for the UEFA presidency if it becomes vacant.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Football must watch out for the dangers of technology, just look at cricket

Have we got technology wrong? I speak as one who has always believed that sport should use technology. Yet the events in the first Ashes Test between England and Australia have made me think that technology may be becoming a sporting monster. I am well aware that the use of technology in football bears no relation to cricket, given how different the two games are. But the question is how far do you allow technology to decide events on the field of play.

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Exclusive: Boyce backs Blatter’s call for Winter 2022

Jim Boyce

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
July 22 – Britain’s FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce (pictured) says he will support moving the 2022 Qatar World Cup to winter because it makes “common sense” for everyone involved, not least the players. Boyce is anxious to avoid getting into an argument with the English Premier League – which steadfastly opposes a winter tournament – but is backing FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s call for a switch.

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Libyans ban Women’s team from playing at Berlin tournament

Libyan muslim cleric

By Mark Baber
July 22 – The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has stopped its Women’s Team from participating in a tournament in Berlin, Germany, the organisers discovered as the team was due to fly in. The federation claims the reason behind the ban is to do with Ramadan, but the ban has been linked to threats and opposition to women’s football from Islamic extremists.

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Madrid court forces Spanish federation to return training pitches

Ciudad del Futbol

By Gareth Messenger
July 22 – Madrid’s High Court of Justice (TSJM) has confirmed the 2007 decision over the leasing of 120,000 sq m of land in 1998 by Las Rozas Town Hall to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), enforcing the return of the land to the local authority.

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Fan bans relaxed as Maracana bows to supporter pressure

Brazilian fans

By Andrew Warshaw
July 22 – Brazilian authorities have backed down from a threat to ban shirtless and standing fans at the revamped Maracana stadium after the latest public outcry.

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Brazil-only ticket discounts make World Cup matches ‘accessible’ for locals

world cup tickets

By Andrew Warshaw
July 22 – Ticket prices for next year’s World Cup in Brazil have been kept as low as possible, say FIFA, in a move the authorities hope will appease local Brazilian fans angered about the costs of staging the event. Of the three million tickets on sale, 400,000 will be available at a discount to Brazilians, with the cheapest costing around $30.

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Inside Insight: Qatar’s heat most felt in England?

Not an easy thing to figure all of this out, admittedly. When Qatar won the hosting rights over several rival bidders who were pretty sure that they would have beaten the peninsular state in the middle of the Middle East, there was plenty of crying about alleged foul play.

Several investigations later, be they internal, overt or covert, executed by ‘official investigators’ (such as chief FIFA investigator Garcia, who, one hears, is about to throw in the towel in favour of kitchen utensils,

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Costa Rica coach fined for insulting remarks

Jorge Luis Pinto

July 22 – Costa Rica head coach Jorge Luis Pinto (pictured) has been fined $5,000 by CONCACAF and warned about his future conduct following remarks he made during the Gold Cup.

Rolf Willi

Hot Spot Qatar

iwf qatar

Jean Francois Tanda

Jean Francois Tanda: European court decision is for the Good of the Game

Football belongs to everyone. That’s basically the outcome of the recent decision by the European Court of Justice that ruled against the two football governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA. Formalistically, the case was about Belgium and the UK. Both countries had decided to declare football World Cups and European championships as ‘events of major importance’ and as such have to be broadcast on free TV channels. FIFA and UEFA both tried to avoid this decision,

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Standard Chartered extend £20m shirt sponsorship with Liverpool

Liverpool and Standard Chartered

By Mark Baber
July 19 – Liverpool FC and Standard Chartered Bank today announced a two year extension to their main sponsor agreement, understood to be worth £20 million a year, to take it up to the end of the 2015/16 season.

John Yan

John Yan: 不能容忍的灰色地带 A Tacit-Understanding Match

不能容忍的灰色地带

经过伪职业足球在中国二十年的教育，我逐渐学会了辨析”假球”和”默契球”这些专有名词之间的细微差别，甫一听到都感觉不可思议且义愤填膺，对于那些骗子掮客，绳之以法是刻不容缓的。然而这样的场景一再重现——十多年前，”渝沈之战，绝对假球！”这样的标题，让我无比震撼，可是震撼完了之后，哪怕我们都没忘记这样比赛的存在，我们也只能在无可奈何中继续承受着。

所以社会公认：球迷是中国最苦逼的群落。现实的不堪与肮脏，或许你还能找到一些办法排遣和缓释，可足球本来是给大家一个闲暇时聚众的机会、让社会群落在聚众的环境下找回部分心理平衡，然而中国足球显然只有让你心理更严重失衡的作用。

如此的弄虚作假，光天化日之下进行，手段拙劣嚣张，所以有人说天津辽宁这样的”默契球”，”比’假球’技术含量低多了”。在严格的职业足球环境里，这样的职业比赛，呈现给观众的就是一种具备观赏价值和地域归属感的产品，从而换取观众支付的门票现金、通过电视观看的收视率，并且将这些关注度在第二级市场上形成转化，得到广告赞助收入。社会契约关系，是职业体育商品化的属性组成。天津辽宁的比赛，倘若被认定是”默契球”，那么就是对所有观看这场比赛的现场观众、电视观众以及中超乃至足球所有观众的一次欺骗。这样的欺骗，本质上和售贩假冒伪劣产品，有何差别？