January 26 – An Egyptian court has sentenced to death 21 people found guilty of involvement in the Port Said soccer stadium disaster in which 74 people died last year. All those sentenced to death are supporters of the Al Masry club.
By Mark Baber
January 25 – UEFA is likely to declare cities bidding to host matches in the pan-European Euro 2020 must be served by two airports to prevent travel problems.
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent, with extra reporting by Mark Baber
January 25 – European football’s 53-nation membership have responded to FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s proposals for cleaning up the game and have come up with a series of counter suggestions in a declaration following their meetings in Nyon.
By Mark Baber
January 25 – BSkyB has renewed its UK Long-Form Linear broadcast rights for all Barclays Premier League matches not broadcast live (226 per season) for seasons 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015/16.
By Mark Baber
January 25 – News International has taken a big and deeper step into multi-media content with the acquisition of Near-Live clip rights for all 380 Barclays Premier League matches a season for seasons 2013-14, 2014-2015 and 2015-16.
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
January 25 – After years of doubt and suspicion, FIFA’s top corruption buster, ethics committee prosecutor and joint chairman Michael Garcia, is set to submit his eagerly awaited report into the infamous ISL scandal in March.
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
January 25 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has reiterated his stance that racist abuse should be punished by points deductions – and even relegation.
The recently released edition of the Deloitte Football Money League raises a few points that are worth taking a harder look at.
The first is about the slipperiness of statistics.
While in euro terms, year-on-year revenue growth among Europe’s 20 highest-earning football clubs is an impressive 10%, a very different picture – of stagnation, basically – emerges if the reference currency is sterling.
By Mark Baker
January 24 – La Liga club Valencia CF has lurched into deeper and more dangerous financial waters as control of the club has passed over to the local city government following failure to repay a loan and further failed negotiations on the interest payments required to extend the loan.
By Mark Baber
January 24 – The Lebanese Football Federation is to enter the bidding for the 2019 Asian Cup.
By David Owen
January 24 – Real Madrid has achieved a new landmark by becoming the first club in any sport to generate more than €500 million of revenue in a single year, according to the latest edition of the Football Money League compiled by Deloitte, the business advisory firm.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – As the 500-day countdown approaches for the 2014 World Cup, Brazilian sports minister Aldo Rebelo (pictured) has promised the country will deliver a tournament to be proud of despite persistent concerns over security, travel and infrastucture.
By Andrew Warshaw, Chief Correspondent
January 24 – The English Premier League may boast of attracting more fans worldwide than any of its rivals and having the fattest television deals but German officials are flagging up the fact that the Bundesliga still attracts the highest average attendance of any domestic league in terms of supporters through the turnstiles.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – The Gold Cup, Concacaf’s most prestigious national team tournament, has embarked on a major expansion programme with 13 venues selected – eight of them new – for this year’s event which will take place from July 7-28.
One important reason why football of all ball games is the most popular game in the world is because it is simple. Its rules are easy to understand and have none of the complexity that, for example, rugby has. Football’s celebrated off side rule may be a diverting after dinner conversation with which to bait those who do not care about the game but it is nowhere near as mind blowing as trying to work out why a penalty is given in rugby.