By Andrew Warshaw
August 6 – The Europa League may be the poorer sister of the Champions League but before it is has even got into its stride this season, UEFA’s number two club competition is splitting opinion about whether it worth prioritising – and not just among fans.
By Paul Nicholson
August 6 – Barcelona published their 2014/15 financial statement showing revenue of €608 million, the largest ever by any sporting club. But this is peanuts as by 2021 the club says it will grow revenue to more than €1 billion annually. Football Benchmark, the data and analysis arm of KPMG’s sports practice, says this isn’t just idle talk.
August 5 – UEFA have awarded Legia Warsaw a 3-0 victory in their Europa League match away to FK Kukesi that was abandoned after one of their players was hit by a stone thrown from the crowd.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 5 – Asian investors’ increasing involvement in snapping up Europe’s most glamorous clubs has taken another significant leap after AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi agreed to sell a 48% stake to Thai property tycoon Bee Taechaubol (pictured).
August 4 – The Greek economy may be in turmoil but the country remains a popular holiday destination, so much so that Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has just bought up a complete island for agent Jorge Mendes as a wedding present.
August 4 – Eight months after a match-fixing scandal in Indonesian domestic football featuring PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang, PSS players have spoken out about what happened.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
August 4 – In a bid to introduce more transparency into the country’s football league, the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) has decided to limit the number of clubs where officials can work to two per season.
By Samindra Kunti
August 4 – The KNVB, the Dutch FA, is implementing a structural reform of its domestic club football. From the 2016/17 season onwards professional and amateur football in the Netherlands will be integrated through a mandatory system of promotion and relegation.
By Mark Baber
August 3 – The victory of Paris St Germain in the Trophee des Champions has been greeted by predictable headlines regarding the club’s dominance of French soccer, but statistical analysis shows that behind Arsenal’s victory over Chelsea on Sunday lies an historically significant stranglehold on the Community Shield by a small group of England’s top clubs.
Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur will meet in the first semi-finals of the Audi Cup in the Allianz Arena tomorrow, with a place in the final of the competition on Wednesday up for grabs. They will be followed by Bayern Munich vs AC Milan. Both matches can be viewed free on Insideworldfootball – note some countries are geo-restricted so check your local broadcast schedules. The link to the Real vs Spurs match is http://bit.ly/1KLQoQ2,
By Alexander Krassimirov
August 3 – There were more scenes of players being attacked by fans in Bulgaria at the weekend at a pre-season friendly between CSKA Sofia and Ironi Ashdod FC from Israel. Enraged CSKA Sofia Ultras stormed on to the pitch in Sofia on Sunday evening and charged at the Israeli players. The fans were angered by a series of hard fouls against CSKA players.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 3 – Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, chairman of the 2018 World Cup Organising Committee and a FIFA executive committee member, looks set to cement his power base even further by becoming head of his country’s football federation after his only rival for the position, Igor Lebedev, withdrew from next month’s election.
July 31 – A Europa league qualifier between FK Kukesi of Albania and Legia Warsaw was abandoned Thursday when a Legia player was struck by a stone thrown from the crowd.
By Mark Baber
July 31 – A Council of Appeals ruled Thursday that 85 out of a possible 158 original defendants should go on trial for a variety of offences related to the match-fixing scandal of 2010-11, including membership of a criminal organisation, bribery, manipulation of results and illegal betting.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 31 – Russian champion Zenit St. Petersburg has recorded colossal losses for the season ending 2014 according to the annual report of SPARK – Interfax. Despite winning the title in Russia, Zenit’s loss amounted to 5.2 billion rubles ($86 million). In 2013 Zenit’s losses were only 320 million rubles ($5.3 million).