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Mihir Bose: Concentrate not on what players say but what they do

On the face of there is nothing in common with sagas of Papiss Cisse and Gareth Bale. The Newcastle player did not want to wear a shirt carrying the logo of Wonga claiming that this was against his Islamic faith which prohibits profiting from money lending. Gareth Bale, by all accounts, merely wants to exercise his right to play for another club. And who can deny this right given how ideal this move must seem to a player at the top of his game?

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David Owen: Why Sky versus BT may turn into a long-running Premier League fixture

The season has yet to kick off, but this is a big week for the Barclays Premier League.

On August 1, the seed sown in spectacular fashion just over a year ago by BT, a traditional telephone company, is scheduled to bear its first fruit with the launch of its BT Sport channels.

Two days later, BT Sport will begin its live football coverage with Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard’s testimonial match against Olympiacos of Greece.

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: Intrigue in South Africa

When Lord Palmerston, the 19th century British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, made the oft-quoted comment that there are no “permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests”, in the cold-blooded pursuit of agendas, he certainly wasn’t thinking about the South African Football Association (SAFA).

But he jolly well could have been.

With barely eight weeks to the election of SAFA’s president and executive committee on September 28, the impending polls have reawakened old enmities,

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: When small clubs ruled Europe

Who’s going to win the Champions League this year?

Bayern? Barca? One of the newly rich clubs – a PSG or Manchester City?

Maybe an EPL club – Chelsea? Manchester United?

Or what about one of the teams who came through the second round this week.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: Football must watch out for the dangers of technology, just look at cricket

Have we got technology wrong? I speak as one who has always believed that sport should use technology. Yet the events in the first Ashes Test between England and Australia have made me think that technology may be becoming a sporting monster. I am well aware that the use of technology in football bears no relation to cricket, given how different the two games are. But the question is how far do you allow technology to decide events on the field of play.

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Inside Insight: Qatar’s heat most felt in England?

Not an easy thing to figure all of this out, admittedly. When Qatar won the hosting rights over several rival bidders who were pretty sure that they would have beaten the peninsular state in the middle of the Middle East, there was plenty of crying about alleged foul play.

Several investigations later, be they internal, overt or covert, executed by ‘official investigators’ (such as chief FIFA investigator Garcia, who, one hears, is about to throw in the towel in favour of kitchen utensils,

Jean Francois Tanda

Jean Francois Tanda: European court decision is for the Good of the Game

Football belongs to everyone. That’s basically the outcome of the recent decision by the European Court of Justice that ruled against the two football governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA. Formalistically, the case was about Belgium and the UK. Both countries had decided to declare football World Cups and European championships as ‘events of major importance’ and as such have to be broadcast on free TV channels. FIFA and UEFA both tried to avoid this decision,

John Yan

John Yan: 不能容忍的灰色地带 A Tacit-Understanding Match

不能容忍的灰色地带

经过伪职业足球在中国二十年的教育，我逐渐学会了辨析”假球”和”默契球”这些专有名词之间的细微差别，甫一听到都感觉不可思议且义愤填膺，对于那些骗子掮客，绳之以法是刻不容缓的。然而这样的场景一再重现——十多年前，”渝沈之战，绝对假球！”这样的标题，让我无比震撼，可是震撼完了之后，哪怕我们都没忘记这样比赛的存在，我们也只能在无可奈何中继续承受着。

所以社会公认：球迷是中国最苦逼的群落。现实的不堪与肮脏，或许你还能找到一些办法排遣和缓释，可足球本来是给大家一个闲暇时聚众的机会、让社会群落在聚众的环境下找回部分心理平衡，然而中国足球显然只有让你心理更严重失衡的作用。

如此的弄虚作假，光天化日之下进行，手段拙劣嚣张，所以有人说天津辽宁这样的”默契球”，”比’假球’技术含量低多了”。在严格的职业足球环境里，这样的职业比赛，呈现给观众的就是一种具备观赏价值和地域归属感的产品，从而换取观众支付的门票现金、通过电视观看的收视率，并且将这些关注度在第二级市场上形成转化，得到广告赞助收入。社会契约关系，是职业体育商品化的属性组成。天津辽宁的比赛，倘若被认定是”默契球”，那么就是对所有观看这场比赛的现场观众、电视观众以及中超乃至足球所有观众的一次欺骗。这样的欺骗，本质上和售贩假冒伪劣产品，有何差别？

Osasu Obayiuwana

Osasu Obayiuwana: What do footballers owe themselves?

Louis Paul Mfede, the influential, classy midfielder in the Cameroonian side that reached the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup, died last month, at the relatively young age of 52.

But as sad – and shocking – as his demise was, the cause of his passing is far more surprising. Mfede died of a lung infection, which he was unable to treat at a Yaoundé hospital, because he could no longer pay for his hospital treatment.

Andrew Warshaw: Qatar 2022 – Winter Rules apply

So now we finally know where we stand on the 2022 World Cup. More importantly, so does Qatar.

Six months ago, I wrote that every time FIFA was asked whether it would sanction a winter tournament, it gave the same answer: only if Qatar, as host nation, officially requested it. I also wrote that every time you posed the same question to the Qataris, you also got the same answer: only if they were formally asked to switch by FIFA.

Lee Wellings

Lee Wellings: It’s Women’s Euros…Not a debate on the Euro

Are you watching the women’s European football championships?

If you have access to it why not? It’s a question that interests me but, more importantly, it will tax those who have been trying to increase interest in Europe and beyond.

In revisiting this subject, first let me give you the good news. The quality of the football has been pleasing. Not life changing, not Brazil 82, not Barcelona or Bayern no,

Jean Francois Tanda

Jean Francois Tanda: “The world has gone mad, football is even crazier”

In European football, off-season is high season for football agents trying to sell their players to clubs for loads of money. So far, this year’s high season has been a successful one. Falcao left Atlético Madrid for €60 million to join new French First League Club Monaco. Neymar left his home country Brazil to continue his career with Barcelona. The Catalans paid €57 million. In the last few days, Paris St-Germain confirmed the transfer of Uruguay’s international player Edinson Cavani from Naples.

Mihir Bose

Mihir Bose: English football – where the American Dream is alive and kicking

A foreign owner jetting in to buy a club always produces the same response. The fans hope he will be another Roman Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour. Then reality sets in and the fans, who so enthusiastically welcomed the new owner, act like jilted lovers and cannot contain their anger. So how should the Fulham fans treat Florida-based Shahid Khan’s purchase of Fulham?

The first thing to be said is the sale was no surprise.

Andrew Warshaw: Fulham, the latest club to fall into American hands

What do Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Fulham have in common? Okay, they are all members of English Premier League but that’s not the answer I’m looking for.

The answer I’m looking for is they are also now controlled by American owners or majority shareholders, Fulham being the latest to join that particular ‘club’ for a reported £200m.

Not so long ago, the notion that almost a third of top-flight English clubs would be in American hands 13 years into the new millennium would have been dismissed as fanciful given the fact that professional football,

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Inside Insight: That NSA Thing

The world has gone totally mad, hasn’t it? Ever since the “US citizen-without-a-passport”, Edward Snowden, went public and gradually released his material about global spying, institutionalized by US and UK spooks at the NSA and GCHQ, a storm of aggression has hit him and the US alike.

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe (and somewhat ridiculous to compare with issues of real concern), a handful of people continue digging and investigating for a very handsome fee –