June 11 – Russia’s preparations for the 2018 World Cup have taken another step forward after President Vladimir Putin signed off on the so-called ‘World Cup Law’ that has caused so much debate.
By Mark Baber
June 11 – SAP, the leading business software provider, has extended its long-standing partnership with TSG Hoffenheim, becoming the new main and kit sponsor, in an initial three year deal.
Michael Emenalo is, without question, one of European football’s interesting oddities.
As the technical director of English Premiership side Chelsea, where he undoubtedly has the listening ear of billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, the Nigerian belongs to the exclusive club of Africans who’ve transcended their club careers into positions of power in the game’s corridors.
Pape Diouf, the Senegalese who started out as a journalist and player’s agent in France, eventually becoming the president of French club Olympique Marseille and Finidi George,
By Andrew Warshaw
June 11 – The match-fixing scandal that rocked Turkish football two seasons ago has been rekindled after UEFA announced it was investigating the activities of Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe, two of the country’s biggest clubs.
By Mark Baber
June 9 – Senegalese striker Papiss Cisse’s representatives have informed Newcastle officials that his religious beliefs forbid him from representing or advertising a loans company, posing a dilemma for the club which has accepted sponsorship from pay-day loans company Wonga.
So, FIFA have had their congress which by some – mainly FIFA – was called “historic”, and by others a “whitewash”, “irrelevant” or worse.
Under the rainy skies of the African island nation of Mauritius, 209 FIFA Members met and the individual delegates cast their electronic vote. Actually, they also cast their more traditional manual vote in a secret ballot that determined which one of three women candidates would be FIFA’s first elected Executive Committee (Board) member.
June 9 – The English Football League has voted to restrict the number of overseas loans that can be used after Championship club Watford exploited the system – and came within one match of gaining promotion to the lucrative Premier League.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 9 – The Australian government has apologised to Jordan for its Iraqi national team coach, Adnan Hamad, being detained for more than four hours when the squad flew into Melbourne last week ahead of tomorrow’s (Tuesday) crunch World Cup qualifier.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 9 – UEFA have stepped in to help the Football Association of Ireland meet its debt repayments for the Aviva stadium in Dublin.
June 9 – UEFA have been left embarrassed after a local DJ played a song ahead of last weekend’s European under-21 fixture between England and Norway that contained racially offensive lyrics – just as an anti-racism appeal was made.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 9 – The UEFA hierarchy has once again caused a potential stir with Europe’s major leagues by endorsing the idea of winter World Cups – and not just in Qatar.
By David Owen
June 9 – The frontrunner in the race for the most powerful post in world sport has backed FIFA’s reform process, saying world football’s governing body is “on the right track”. Thomas Bach, a German ex-fencer and Olympic gold medallist, is one of six candidates vying to succeed Jacques Rogge, as President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the organisation behind the Olympic Games.
By David Owen
June 8 – An in-depth study of injuries across all sports at the London 2012 Olympics has found that women footballers faced a substantially greater risk of getting hurt than their male counterparts. The International Olympic Committee study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, recorded 99 injuries among the 220 women who participated – a rate of 45%.
By Mark Baber
June 7 – Ahead of the kick off of the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup on June 21, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) has agreed sponsorship deals with Aksa Jenerator to provide energy and with Hyundai to provide 112 official cars.
