By Andrew Warshaw at Westminster
April 26 – Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson waded into the Olympic football row today by warning that the women’s game would lose out most if there is no unified UK team.
By David Gold
April 26 – An escalating row between Lyon Mayor Gérard Collomb (pictured) and France’s Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno is threatening to derail plans for Olympique Lyonnais’ proposed new stadium, the Stade des Lumiéres, which is a probable venue for the 2016 European Championships.
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The race for the FIFA Presidency is turning out to be as dull as those for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were fascinating.
The incumbent, Joseph Blatter, is thus far adopting the wholly predictable strategy of emphasising the value of continuity in an unstable world while detailing the torrents of cash that have rained down on planet football over his 13-year tenure – and critically, he says, will continue to do so.
By David Gold
April 26 – Darron Gibson left Twitter just hours after setting up his account following a variety of abuse aimed in his direction, including some highly personal sectarian comments.
By Andrew Warhsaw
April 25 – Mohamed Bin Hammam, the challenger to Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency, has criticised Blatter’s election manifesto as the battle for the biggest job in world sport intensifies.
By David Gold
April 26 – Junji Ogura, President of the Japanese Football Association, is looking for FIFA assistance through the Goal Programme to help cover reconstruction of football facilities in the country after March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.
By David Gold
April 23 – Irish FA chief executive John Delaney has set his sights on bringing the European Super Cup to Dublin after next month’s Europa League final, being held at the city’s Aviva stadium on May 18.
By David Gold
April 23 – Manchester United are the world’s most valuable football club, according to Forbes’ latest magazine.
By David Gold
April 23 – Spanish commercial broadcaster Telecinco, owned by Italian media giant Mediaset, is primed to win broadcast rights for UEFA Euro 2012, being held in Ukraine and Poland, according to reports there.
By David Gold
April 22 – FIFA has ruled that Nurdin Halid, the current head of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), is ineligible for the Executive Committee elections next month.
By David Gold
April 22 – A Dubai based group has announced the purchase of La Liga outfit Getafe in a deal worth €90million (£79 million/$131 million) – and immediately set their sights on working out how to beat local rivals Real Madrid, one of the giants of the world game.
By David Gold
April 22 – Chelsea have appointed sports marketing agency SportFive to market 19 of its first team squad players, including John Terry and Didier Drogba.
By Tom Degun
April 22 – Mayor of London Boris Johnson has come under fire as it was today revealed that he spent just under £300,000 ($495,000) on England’s shambolic bid to host the FIFA 2018 World Cup, which equates to nearly £50,000 ($83,000) more than he pledged.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – The publicity machine ahead of the FIFA Presidency vote on June 1 swung back towards Mohamed Bin Hammam today when the challenger from Asia said he, too, would significantly increase funding to poorer nations if elected.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 22 – England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid has come under fresh scrutiny with the revelation that a company run by the son of one-time 2018 Board member Sir Dave Richards secured commercial deals to provide merchandise to promote the bid.