Ronaldo finalises €19m Spanish tax deal clearing way for Juve move
July 27 – Spanish tax authorities have struck a deal with Cristiano Ronaldo whereby he will plead guilty to tax fraud and pay a fine of close to €19 million.
Integrity
Grindel regrets Ozil mis-management but rejects racist accusations
July 27 – German Football Association (DFB) chief Reinhard Grindel has broken his silence over the Mezut Ozil affair by admitting he should have taken a stronger stance in support of the midfielder who last weekend announced his retirement from international football on racism grounds.
Fewer than one in 200 football samples produced adverse doping finding in 2017
By David Owen
July 25 – Over 37,000 anti-doping samples from footballers were analysed by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratories in 2017, more than for any other sport on the Summer Olympic programme.
Turkey’s Erdogan backs Germany’s Ozil saying Islamophobic behaviour is unacceptable
By Andrew Warshaw
July 25 – Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has waded into the row over Mesut Ozil’s shock retirement from international football on racism grounds by saying the treatment towards the Arsenal midfielder was unacceptable.
UN’s Møller calls for more ‘trust’ and higher integrity in advance of SIGA Forum in Geneva
July 24 – United Nations Geneva director-general Michael Møller has emphaasised the importance of the role sport has to play in breaking down boundaries between nations and cultures. He also talked of the importance of integrity in enabling sport to achieve it potential in this regard.
DFB rejects Ozil’s racist claims as German media bangs the drum for ‘being German’
By Andrew Warshaw
July 24 – The German Football Association (DFB) has hit back strongly over Mesut Ozil’s claims over racism and disrespect but conceded they could have done more to protect him.
‘German when we win, immigrant when we lose’ – Ozil quits over DFB’s racist attitude
By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – In a remarkable move that has spilled over into the political arena, Arsenal’s German international midfielder Mesut Ozil has quit international football at the age of just 29 claiming he can no longer take the “racism and disrespect” he says he has faced over his Turkish roots.
Napoli owner de Laurentiis tells Chelsea and Sarri to back-off stealing his team
July 23 – New Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has been accused of trying to “dismantle” former club Napoli by the Italian club’s president Aurelio de Laurentiis.
Premier League granted further blocking order in battle against live match piracy
Sobaclieu.com
July 23 – With broadcast piracy issues increasingly concerning sports rights owners anxious to maintain their TV deals and value in an increasingly disrupted marketplace, the Premier League has won a further blocking order in the UK High Court forcing pirate streams to shut down.
FIFA issues fines to non-paying clubs failing to follow the rules, and rulings
July 20 – Clubs from Russia and Qatar, World Cup hosts past and future, are among six fined by FIFA and warned they risk one-year transfer bans for failing to settle debts to players.
Israeli siding with Saudi? Politico jumps on wearied anti-Qatar bandwagon
July 20 – An Israeli lawmaker close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has sent an open letter to FIFA urging it to strip Qatar of 2022 World Cup hosting rights because of its alleged support for Hezbollah and Hamas, regarded by Israel and others as terrorist organisations.
French World Cup win sparks ugly series of racist innuendos
July 19 – France’s victory in the World Cup may have “given the country optimism”, according to President Emmanuel Macron, but elsewhere it has sparked an unsavoury and unnecessary atmosphere of racism.
SIGA readies for Sport Integrity Forum at United Nations in Geneva, July 26
July 18 – The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) has announced His Excellency the Director General, Michael Møller will open its fourth edition of the Sport Integrity Forum next Thursday, July 26, at the United Nations, in Geneva.
MediaPro affiliate in US DoJ corruption case handed $24m fine. Investigations ‘ongoing’
July 11 – As the World Cup reaches its climax in Russia, the FifaGate scandal has reared its head again with The Imagina Group, parent of Spanish broadcaster MediaPro, agreeing to pay $24 million after its US-based affiliate US Imagina pleaded guilty to charges of corruption.
When is a transfer embargo not an embargo? Birmingham City sow confusion in England
July 11 – The transfer window is open, but not for everyone, at least theoretically. Birmingham City, who have reportedly been placed under a transfer embargo by the English Football league, have nevertheless continued to pursue players currently under contract at other clubs.