August 13 – bwin.party has added another of Europe’s leading and iconic football clubs to its sponsorship roster, signing France’s Olympique de Marseille in a three-year sponsorship deal that will see the bwin brand become OM’s official online betting and gaming partner.
By Mark Baber
August 13 – Turkey’s giant mass housing administration known as TOKI has touted its sports investment programme, which includes the construction of 20 stadiums, as the most comprehensive investment in sports history.
By Matt Scott
August 13 – European clubs have warned FIFA not to push for a winter World Cup in 2022 without due process. Frédéric Thiriez (pictured), the president of the European Professional Football Leagues [EPFL] and president of France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), has written to FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter, urging “exhaustive analysis” and “general consultation” before moving to hold the tournament in the Qatari winter.
By Alexander Krassimirov
August 12 – Former Bulgarian under-21 international and Slavia Sofia midfielder Borislav Baldzhiyski has been charged with murder after a man was killed on Tuesday night in Sofia. Lawyer Peter Aleksov was beaten to death in front of a casino. Baldzhiyski could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – England’s two main football authorities are on a collision course over the 2022 Qatar World Cup after new Football Association chairman Greg Dyke (pictured) backed calls for the tournament to be switched to winter. In one of his first media briefings since taking up his role last month, Dyke said it would be “impossible” to stage the event at the traditional time because of the searing Gulf heat.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – Fenerbahce’s appeal against a two-year ban for match-fixing has thrown their Champions League playoff clash with Arsenal into confusion, with UEFA unwilling at this point to make a ruling on what has become a thorny issue for all parties.
By Mark Baber
August 9 – Adidas cut its sales forecast for 2013 saying it was expecting low mid-single percentage sales, down from the previous mid-single digit forecast. The downgrade was blamed on weak European trading and adverse currency movements, especially in Japan, masking the company’s high sales growth in Latin America and China and solid foundations being laid for the World Cup in 2014.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 9 – UEFA has suspended two Armenian officials who attempted to “manipulate the outcome” of a Europa League fixture last month.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 8 – Increasingly vigilant as a result of the notorious Kevin-Prince Boateng walkoff back in January, Italian football authorities have handed out a 10-match ban to a player from amateur club Matera for racially insulting an opponent.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 8 – Spanish Football League (SFL) president Javier Tebas has revealed that nine domestic games are currently being investigated on suspicion of possible match-fixing, including three in the top division.
By Alexander Krassimirov
August 8 – Bulgaria’s top league clubs have joined together to protest to the government about a sponsorship agreement about to be signed between rival club Levski Sofia and Russian energy giant Gazprom. It is a remarkable move by the clubs who all sell their own sponsorships, but who feel that they have been excluded from sponsorship money they should be sharing.
By Richard van Poortvliet
August 7 – The Anzhi project, to transform a side with little prior success from one of Russia’s poorest regions, into a European powerhouse happened almost overnight. However, this dream looks as though it could be unravelling just as quickly as it was formed with owner Suleiman Kerimov (pictured) taking an axe to the club’s budgets.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – UEFA’s crackdown on match-fixing could seriously affect this season’s Champions League after Europe’s governing body opened urgent disciplinary proceedings against Metalist Kharkiv.
August 7 – Gareth Bale may be the subject of a world record transfer bid from Real Madrid but the Tottenham Hotspur star has failed to make a significant enough impression to place him in the running for UEFA’s Best Player in Europe award.
By Mark Baber
August 6 – More details were published of a suppressed report into the history of doping in West Germany, which includes evidence that three of West Germany’s 1966 World Cup stars may have been involved.