October 3 – In September 2013 the 38-year-old former Dutch international Fernando Ricksen was diagnosed with the terminal nerve disease ALS. A year later, the former football Wildman with a best-selling autobiography under his belt, has become the face of the fight against the killer disease. Interview extracted from FIFA Weekly
October 3 – UEFA have announced FDJ (Française des Jeux), a lottery with 33,000 points of sale in 12,000 towns and villages in France, as their first main national sponsor for the expanded Euro 2016 finals.
October 3 – UEFA have opened disciplinary proceedings against a number of Champions League clubs following crowd disturbances during this week’s series of matches. The games at Arsenal, Basle and Anderlecht are all being probed with sanctions to be announced on October16.
October 2 – The 188th Cryuff Court will open next week in Terrassa, Spain, the result of donations from the UEFA Charity Award, Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernández, and local partner CaixaBank.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 2 – Brazilian World Cup star Hulk has given more details of the racist taunts he suffered last weekend when playing for Zenit St. Petersburg against Spartak Moscow.
October 1 – Russian football showcased another weekend of crowd trouble after reports that Brazilian star Hulk was subjected to monkey chants in a Russian Premier League game, and fans at Rubin Kazan’s new stadium set fire to part of the stadium after a makeshift firework display.
October 1 – Greek football, beset by financial troubles and hooliganism, has suffered another setback after this coming weekend’s entire programme was suspended by the government, along with all other team sports, as a mark of respect following the death of a fan at a third division game.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
October 1 – Zvezdan Terzic (pictured), the general secretary of Red Star Belgrade, has called for an amendment to the country’s sports bill that would facilitate the potential privatisation of Serbian football clubs.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 1 – UEFA have been quick to respond to reports in Germany warning against the use of vanishing spray by saying it will continue to use the recent innovation to mark out defensive walls in its competitions.
By Alexander Krassimirov
September 30 – Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia can expect another serious sanction after further crowd disturbances by their supporters. The Ultras of the Bulgarian club again unveiled pro-racism banners during their derby against the champion Ludogorets at Georgi Asparuhov stadium last weekend.
September 30 – FIFA has agreed to a reduction in capacity for two of the stadiums scheduled to host the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 30 – Spare a thought for Shakhtar Donetsk who play their first ‘home’ Champions League game of the season tonight – 600 miles away.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 30 – Russian football authorities, still getting to grips with how to deal with racism, have taken the extraordinary step of banning Dynamo Moscow defender Christopher Samba for the way he retaliated to being verbally abused in a recent top-flight league game.
September 30 – Italy’s Serie A has reacted to prevent recurrence of the match-fixing the league has experienced with the launch of an educational programme that will roll out to all 20 top tier clubs and cover 1,400 players.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 29 – Despite being introduced at the World Cup to mark out freekicks and subsequently employed by UEFA, vanishing spray, considered one of the game’s most successful innovations, is facing its first major crisis after being deemed illegal under European law.