Nigerian ‘goal-fest’ teams suspended indefinitely by FA
By Andrew Warshaw
July 10 – Nigerian football authorities have suspended four teams involved in “mind-boggling” playoff results, describing the 79-0 and 67-0 scorelines as “scandalous”.
AFF to bring in Australia, and announces Super League criteria
By Mark Baber
July 10 – ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) secretary-general Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad has welcomed Australia’s upcoming accession to full membership whilst firming up the details of the planned ASEAN Super League.
Italian FA hands out two more match-fixing sanctions as focus on cheats intensifies
July 10 – Two Serie A players have been banned for three months and 10 days and fined €10,000 each in the latest development in Italian football’s long-running match-fixing scandal.
Blatter calls for task force to tackle Israeli travel restrictions on Palestinians
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
July 10 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter aims to set up a special task force to try and break the increasingly bitter deadlock between Israel and Palestine over restrictions placed on Palestinian footballers in the occupied territories.
David Owen: Why Turkish Airlines boss finds delight in Dortmund
A summer Thursday on the shores of Lake Geneva. I am in a salon in Lausanne’s plush Palace hotel talking to Temel Kotil, President and chief executive of Turkish Airlines.
We are just days away from the curtain being drawn on the airline’s sponsorship of Manchester United, arguably the world’s favourite football club (Aeroflot have become the club’s sponsor). Yet I don’t think I have ever met a business leader so bursting with enthusiasm about the effect sporting partnerships can have on multinational companies.
Mihir Bose: Why English football cannot follow the Murray example
Andy Murray’s success has led to much talk of how British sport is finally getting rid of the sporting monkeys that have so long perched on its back. This is an understandable reaction.
When you win a coveted sporting crown after 77 years you are entitled to celebrate. And the triumphant feeling is all the more understandable given that it has crowned two years of success which has done much to make the British feel that the nation is no longer a sporting pariah.
Electronic tickets key to ending corruption in Tanzanian football
By Mark Baber
July 9 – Pressure is being exerted by media and politicians in Tanzania to expedite the long delayed launch of electronic ticketing in stadia to counter corruption and increase revenues.
Manchester’s National Football Museum attracts 458,000 visitors in first year
By Mark Baber
July 9 – In its first year of operation after being switched from Preston to Manchester, England’s National Football Museum has welcomed 458,000 visitors, smashing the 350,000 target and fully justifying Manchester City Council’s investment in the project.
Cameroon to appeal to CAS over FIFA suspension
By Andrew Warshaw
July 9 – Cameroon officials have hit back at being suspended by Fifa and have pledged to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Stoichkov quits CSKA citing “endless lies” as takeover looms
By Andrew Warshaw
July 9 – Bulgarian icon Hristo Stoichkov has quit as coach of CSKA Sofia a week after 15 fans were detained following an attack on the headquarters of the Bulgarian FA in protest at the debt-ridden club facing the prospect of being plunged into obscurity.
United Flying High with Aeroflot as Russian influence grows
By Andrew Warshaw
July 9 – Russia’s growing commercial influence in European sport, and football in particular, has been underlined with the announcement that Manchester United have made state-controlled Aeroflot their airline partner.The five-year deal runs until 2018 when Russia stages the World Cup and marks the latest in a string of Russian ownership and sponsorship agreements.
Buenos Aires to host 2018 Youth Olympics – with a little help from Messi
By David Owen
July 9 – Buenos Aires has won the right to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games beating Medellín and Glasgow, in a vote held in the Swiss city of Lausanne.
New page turns as CONCACAF starts its Gold Cup party
By Paul Nicholson in Los Angeles
July 7 – It could become a football quiz question. Which is the only confederation in world football where every country has a beach? The answer is CONCACAF, the confederation that covers north and central America and the Caribbean.
Nigerian football’s finances to be strictly scrutinised
By Mark Baber
Nigerian football, never far from controversy, faces increased scrutiny after the country’s House of Representatives Committee on Sports called for a total review of the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) agreements with sponsors and the Sports Minister set up a panel to investigate the recent bonus row.
North Korean women given go ahead to compete in South as tensions relax
By Mark Baber
July 8 – In a decision hailed as a sign of decreased tensions, South Korea’s Unification Ministry has given the go-ahead for the North Korean women’s national team to participate in the Women’s East Asian Cup which kicks off on July 20.