By Paul Nicholson
January 21 – The percentage of club-trained players making it into first team squads in Europe has hit an all-time low, according to data from the CIES Football Observatory’s sixth annual Demographic Study.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – Some might call it sour grapes, others that it is a totally justified argument. But Franck Ribery’s angry reaction at being overlooked at last week’s Ballon d’Or award has certainly stirred up debate.
By Paul Nicholson
January 21 – Barcelona have scrapped plans of a move to a new-build stadium at Avenida Diagonal in favour of a €600 million redevelopment of their iconic Nou Camp stadium. The new plan will now be put by the club’s directors to the vote of Barca’s 160,000 members in April.
January 20 – Moses Swaibu has become the third English Conference player to be charged with conspiracy to defraud. He, along with former teammates Michael Boateng and Hakeem Adelakun, played for Whitehawk FC, a Conference South team based in Brighton.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 20 – Another Polish top tier club has had a change of ownership. Poland’s city of Wroclaw has sold a majority stake in troubled football club Slask Wroclaw to local companies Hasco-Lek, Supra Invest and Inter-System.
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 17 – 583 football clubs will be entitled to vote in the upcoming Congress of Bulgarian Football Union on 14 February, when the elections for a new president of the federation will take place. That was announced after a meeting of the Executive Committee – 137 clubs were excluded because they are not currently engaged in any activity.
January 17 – A new Spanish football anti-corruption unit has been set up to try to combat the scourge of match-fixing and illegal betting. Manuel Quintanar (pictured), director general of the so-called integrity department at the Spanish league, says those found guilty should be given far stronger sentences.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 17 – Scottish football has become caught up in a new betting scandal after Michael Moffat (pictured), a striker with League One club Ayr United, was banned for six games for breaking the rules.
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 16 – German company IFS has reached an agreement with the Bulgarian Football Union to build a new modern stadium in Sofia. The facility will be built on the site of Slavia stadium and will be the national stadium for home games as well as being used by Slavia FC.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 16 – In what might be perceived, somewhat controversially, as a sign that Lionel Messi is losing his lustre, millions of fans have bizarrely left the Barcelona and Argentine superstar out of UEFA’s team of the year.
January 16 – Leeds United, one of the biggest names in English football but struggling to rekindle past glories, have moved a step closer being taken over after Bahrain-based investment company Gulf Finance House (GFH) agreed to sell part of its stake in the iconic club.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 15 – Spartak Nalchik has decided to pull out of the Russian National Football League, the second tier of Russia’s professional football league, due to the club’s ongoing financial woes.
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 15 – The fan clubs of Levski Sofia have told Bulgarian authorities that they will not participate in anti-government protests in the capital. For nearly a year, Sofia the city has been disrupted by protests against the government of the country.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 14 – Kosovan football authorities are celebrating a major breakthrough after FIFA finally cleared the national team and clubs to play friendly matches after a long-running dispute that was in danger of derailing any meaningful progress.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 13 – Poland’s ITI Group has sold Legia Warsaw to Boguslaw Lesnodorski, the club’s chief executive, and his business partner Dariusz Mioduski.