Inside World Football - Page 1826 of 2159 - For the Business of Football

David Owen: Will Club Protection Programme hand wealthy a bigger slice of the cake?

It was on 23 June 1998 – Sepp Blatter’s 15th day as FIFA President – that it started to dawn on me that the governing body was probably going to have to do something about compensating clubs for players injured on international duty.

In just the fourth minute of what turned out to be a drab group match between Italy and Austria in the Stade de France, Alessandro Nesta, the elegant Lazio and Azzurri central defender,

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Malaga clears its debt but its CL fairy tale ends as a horror story

manuel pelligrini

By Chloé A. Añón Pasleau
April 15 – “It was always difficult to imagine that UEFA would allow a team that they have punished to reach the final,” said Málaga’s manager Manuel Pellegrini in his post-match press conference after Málaga´s controversial 3-2 Champions League quarter-final defeat to Borussia Dortmund.

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FIFA investigator Garcia blacklisted by Russian government

michael garcia

By Paul Nicholson
April 14 – FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia has been declared persona non grata and put on a ‘black list’ by the Russian government. He is one of 18 US citizens on the list who will be denied any entry to Russia.Garcia, who is central to the FIFA investigations into allegations of corruption, has yet to report any findings but is known to be looking into the ISL case and the 2022 Qatar World Cup award.

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La Liga pushes towards centralisation of TV rights sales

francisco roca2

By Gareth Messenger
April 12 – The chief executive of La Liga, Francisco Roca, believes clubs in Spain will agree to sell their television rights colectively within the next three years as they look to slim down the gap in commercial sales revenues between their clubs, and also in comparison with international competition like the Premier League and the sales-revamped Bundesliga.

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EBU deal is first fruit of UEFA’s centralised national team rights sales

By Paul Nicholson
April 12 – The first TV deal by CAA Eleven, the newly formed rights company representing UEFA’s national federations for their World Cup and European Championship qualifiers has been announced with the European Broadcast Union (EBU).

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GLT decision applauded, Spanish will follow and hint at offside technology next

offside flag

By Andrew Warshaw
April 12 – The English Premier League’s decision to introduce goalline technology in time for next season has been lauded by most of football’s participants, not least the fans.

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Football kicks in over £400m of value to Manchester, every year, finds report

manchester

By Mark Baber
April 12 – Football contributed a massive £330 million in gross value added (GVA) to Greater Manchester’s economy in 2010-11, with the global profile that Manchester receives from football worth an additional £100m a year on an advertising-equivalency basis, according to a new report just published.

Africa

Nigerian cash crisis forces withdrawal African Nations Championship qualifiers

nigerian football

By Mark Baber
April 12 – Current Africa Cup of Nations champions Nigeria have announced they are to withdraw their national team from the 2014 African Nations Championship qualifiers due to the poor state of its finances.

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Infantino says UEFA is not the block slowing FIFA’s reform process

Gianni Infantino 2

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 12 – Claims that UEFA are deliberately stalling FIFA’s reform process, designed to make football’s corridors of power more transparent and accountable, have been dismissed by UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino. FIFA advisors have laid the blame for many of the original reform proposals being blocked squarely at the feet of UEFA, not least integrity checks for senior officials.

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Maracana set for Ronaldo vs Bebeto opener, behind closed doors

marcana2

By Andrew Warshaw
April 12 – Brazil’s iconic Maracana stadium, plagued by setbacks since the start of reconstruction work, will stage its first test game on April 27 between teams representing two of Brazil’s greatest players – Ronaldo and Bebeto – and featuring some of the workers who helped rebuild the famous venue.

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Exclusive: First 20 clubs get FIFA injured player payments

fifa3

By David Owen
April 12 – FIFA’s player insurance scheme has cranked into action, with payments totalling $18.4 million made to around 20 clubs in the latter part of 2012. The Club Protection Programme (CPP) is designed to compensate clubs when their players are injured on international duty.

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Hawk-Eye wins Premier League goal-line technology contract

goal line technology

By Tom Parsons
April 11 – In a first for any football league globally, the English Premier League has voted to bring in goal line technology from next season, choosing British-based firm Hawk-Eye to provide the science. Hawk-Eye beat three other potential suitors, including German firm GoalControl, to the contract, announced by the Premier League this afternoon.

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Football’s first social media pen opens at Wembley for FA Cup semis

budweiser

By Tom Parsons
April 11- Wembley plays host to this weekend’s FA Cup semi-finals with football’s first social media pen opening at the historic venue at the same time.

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Russian parliament passes anti-hooliganism bill

russian football fans

By Mark Baber and Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – The Russian Duma has passed a new bill banning violent and abusive fans from stadiums with 226 votes for and just one abstention. The bill will now go to the Federation Council, before being signed off by President Vladimir Putin.

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Russian revolution promises new, safe, stadia and no visas for 2018 World Cup

russia 2018

By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Manchester
April 11 – Russian football may have been blighted by hooliganism, racism and other misdemeanours on and off the field, but the whole image of the country will have changed by the time the World Cup takes place, said Alexander Djordjadze, deputy CEO of Russia’s World Cup organising committee, speaking at the Soccerex conference in Manchester today.