Inside World Football - Page 2035 of 2166 - For the Business of Football

David Owen: Blatter win would give him the perfect opportunity to reform FIFA

Former Football Association chairman Lord Triesman’s allegations last week to a UK Parliamentary Committee concerning four FIFA Executive Committee members certainly caught the eye of the media.

And they have already resulted in one of the four – Worawi Makudi of Thailand – claiming he is planning to sue the former UK Foreign Office minister, who also headed England’s unsuccessful bid for the 2018 World Cup until forced to resign a year ago.

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Blatter and Platini open Serbian “House of Football”

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By David Gold

May 15 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Michel Platini have opened a “House of Football” in Serbia, consisting of six fields, a hotel, several gyms and training grounds.

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Hearts sign sponsorship deal with wonga.com

Hearts

By David Gold

May 15 – Scottish Premier League outfit Heart of Midlothian has agreed a shirt sponsorship deal with Wonga.com, the online short term loans company, replacing Ukio Bankas from the start of next season.

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Exclusive: Collins urges World Cup 2022 re-vote if Qatar allegations are proven

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By Andrew Warshaw

May 15 – One of the British MPs who exposed football’s latest corruption scandal has urged FIFA to stage a re-vote if it is proved that 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar bribed two senior officials.

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“I will sue Triesman” over bribe allegations claims FIFA Executive Committee member

Worawi Makudi at desk

By Duncan Mackay

May 14 – Worawi Makudi, one of the FIFA Executive Committee members who allegedly asked for favours to vote for England to host the World Cup in 2018, claimed today he is planning to sue Lord Triesman, the former leader of the bid.

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David Owen: Why we should reluctantly applaud the success of Mark van Bommel

“Congrats to Mark van Bommel for being first player to win league titles in four different countries (PSV, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AC Milan).”

When I read this on Twitter on Sunday morning, I nearly went straight back to bed.

If there is a player who epitomises the way the Dutch national team has been transformed over the past decade from Europe’s foremost footballing artists to a group of efficient, but soulless functionaries,

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FIFA will “disappear into a black hole” if rival wins warns Blatter

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By Andrew Warshaw

May 14 – Sepp Blatter has launched his most passionate defence yet of why he should retain the FIFA Presidency by declaring the organisation’s very survival is at stake and risks “disappearing into a black hole”.

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Russian Premier League Executive Director confirmed as speaker for Inside World Football Moscow Forum

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By David Gold

May 14 – Sergei Cheban, the executive director of the Russian Premier League, has been confirmed as a speaker for the Inside World Football Moscow Forum.

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Bin Hammam admits alleged Qatar fixer is a “close friend”

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By Andrew Warshaw

May 13 – FIFA have admitted that the go-between accused of brokering bribes on behalf of Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid worked for the organisation and was responsible to Mohamed Bin Hammam, Sepp Blatter’s challenger for the Presidency.

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Blatter predicting victory in FIFA election by two-thirds majority

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By Andrew Warshaw

May 13 – Sepp Blatter says he has got the Presidential election in the bag by a landslide despite the serious corruption allegations that have rocked FIFA once again.

Columnists

David Gold: French quota row stems from a loss of national identity

DavidGold

Laurent Blanc may have escaped censure from the French Government and the French Football Federation this week, but French football’s reputation is still hanging by a thread following the row which has erupted following revelations by Mediapart that senior football officials in the country wanted to limit the number of African and north African players in their academies.

The French Football Federation report into the revelations cleared Blanc and the organisation reaffirmed their faith in their national team coach,

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FIFA need to reform because mud sticks, warns John Coates

John_Coates

By Duncan Mackay

May 13 – John Coates (pictured), the President of the Australian Olympic Committee, has today joined calls for FIFA to reform in the wake of latest damaging allegations made about the selection of the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

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Parliamentary Committee apologise to Mike Lee after Qatar grilling

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By Tom Degun

May 12 – Mike Lee, the former communications director of London 2012, has received an official apology from the Culture, Media and Sport’s Select Committee after he was forced to answer a series of non-stop questions on The Sunday Times allegations that the Qatar 2022 bid team paid for votes.

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Blanc cleared by French Football Federation investigation

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By David Gold

May 13 – The French Football Federation (FFF) has cleared Laurent Blanc after releasing its findings from the investigation it conducted into plans to implement quotas limiting the number of dual-nationality players in the country’s academies.

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PFPO nears 80 per cent Champions League prediction success

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By David Gold

May 13 – Following Barcelona and Manchester United’s progression into the European Champions League final earlier this month, the Professional Football Players Observatory (PFPO) has successfully predicted almost 80 per cent of the knockout games during this season’s competition.