By David Gold
April 13 – FIFPro, the worldwide footballers’ union, has said that footballers in Eastern Europe need to be better protected from the risks of violence, racism and match fixing.
By David Gold
April 13 – The Never Again Association, in cooperation with Football Against Prejudices, has released a report documenting the scale of racist and discriminatory behavior in Poland and Ukraine, the host countries for the 2012 European Championships, in the last 18 months.
By David Owen
April 12 – Spain’s La Liga is more popular in the fast-developing Middle East and North African sports region than the English Premier League, new research suggests.
By David Gold
April 11 – Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medalists Cameroon will not be competing at London 2012 after crashing out of the African Confederation’s first round of preliminary qualifiers.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 12 – FIFA has appointed a temporary independent committee to try and solve the Presidential impasse faced by Bosnia-Herzogovina, suspended from the international arena since early April.
By David Gold
April 12 – Grzegorz Lato (pictured), President of the Polish Football Association, is to set to earn a bonus of €1 million (£891,000/$1.4 million) if he is still in his post after the 2012 European Championships.
The link might not be immediately apparent.
But this week’s move by US businessman Stan Kroenke to take his stake in Arsenal, the underachieving English Premier League football club, to 63 percent while agreeing a mandatory offer for the rest of the shares could turn out to be good news for Russia’s underachieving Olympic athletes.
Why? Because Arsenal minority shareholder Alisher Usmanov may sooner or later be in line to receive a very large cheque.
By David Gold
April 12 – The influential Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) has issued a statement insisting that it wants to remain a part of the club’s ownership structure and will not be selling shares acquired through the Arsenal fanshare scheme to American Stan Kroenke, who mounted a takeover of the club this week.
By David Gold
April 12 – The Indonesian Premier League (IPL), which is in conflict with the country’s Football Association (PSSI), is set for a merger with the country’s Super League, but has won Government and FIFA support to continue until the end of the season.
By David Gold
April 12 – The new semi-professional eight team English FA Women’s Super League will get underway tomorrow night live on ESPN as Arsenal take on Chelsea.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – Rio de Janeiro will definitely stage the qualifying draw for the 2014 World Cup on July 30, FIFA announced today, ending speculation that Sao Paolo or Brasilia may get the nod.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – Arsenal, one of the great institutions of English football, are poised to become the latest Premier League club to fall into foreign hands after American businessman Stan Kroenke took a controlling stake in the North London club.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – The race for the FIFA Presidency has taken a significant early step with the revelation that the all-important CONCACAF confederation will vote as a block on June 1.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – Jack Warner, FIFA’s longest serving vice-president, was embroiled in yet more corruption allegations today when it was claimed he asked officials of England’s World Cup 2018 bid team to consider funding an education centre in his native Trinidad and Tobago.
By Duncan Mackay
April 10 – Welsh stars Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey (pictured) will not be banned from international football if they play for Britain at London 2012, they have been assured, as the Home Nations begin to soften their stance on letting their players take part in the Olympic football tournament.