By Andrew Warshaw
August 3 – Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, chairman of the 2018 World Cup Organising Committee and a FIFA executive committee member, looks set to cement his power base even further by becoming head of his country’s football federation after his only rival for the position, Igor Lebedev, withdrew from next month’s election.
August 3 – A domestic English spat that has gained widespread publicity continues to rumble on. Attempts to change the name of Hull City to Hull Tigers appeared to have been buried for good last month when the English Football Association’s council rejected the name change application for a second time.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 3 – Paraguay has offered to be one of the five official nominees for UEFA boss Michel Platini’s bid for the FIFA presidency, the country’s federation said in a letter sent to FIFA.
By David Owen in Kuala Lumpur
August 3 – Sepp Blatter, FIFA President at least for another six months, has ceased to be a member of world sport’s most powerful club.
By Paul Nicholson
August 1 – The name of Tokyo Sexwale is being whispered as a potential candidate for the FIFA presidency with business leaders and politicians apparently encouraging the South African businessman to consider running for football’s top job and bring about the global change the organisation needs.
July 31 – A Europa league qualifier between FK Kukesi of Albania and Legia Warsaw was abandoned Thursday when a Legia player was struck by a stone thrown from the crowd.
By Mark Baber
July 31 – A Council of Appeals ruled Thursday that 85 out of a possible 158 original defendants should go on trial for a variety of offences related to the match-fixing scandal of 2010-11, including membership of a criminal organisation, bribery, manipulation of results and illegal betting.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 31 – Russian champion Zenit St. Petersburg has recorded colossal losses for the season ending 2014 according to the annual report of SPARK – Interfax. Despite winning the title in Russia, Zenit’s loss amounted to 5.2 billion rubles ($86 million). In 2013 Zenit’s losses were only 320 million rubles ($5.3 million).
July 31 – An 18-year-old asylum seeker from Gambia is the talk of German football after scoring four times in his first match as a second-half substitute for Werder Bremen.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 31 – Claims that Michel Platini is already odds-on favourite to win the FIFA presidency on February 26 is being tested by some choice remarks from CONCACAF, purportedly one of four confederations behind him, and by Africa.
By Paul Nicholson
July 31 – CONCACAF has moved swiftly to set up a review of its refereeing department following the bitter and very public complaints of Panama and Costa Rica about the standard of officiating at the just completed Gold Cup.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 31 – They may have been dropped to the amateur leagues and non-professional status, but Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia is still pulling in commercial interest and has signed a contract with Italian sportswear company Lotto. The appareil brand will replace another Italian company, Legea.
By Ben Nicholson
July 31 – MLS Commissioner Don Garber took the opportunity at the recent MLS All-Star game to show that, on the league’s 20th anniversary season, the MLS is a forward thinking enterprise. His half time comments indicated the league is seeking to evolve with technological growth and its own popularity growth.
July 30 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur are to launch a club branded Fantasy Football game with fantasy sports platform developer Mondogoal for the start of the new season.
By Alexander Krassimirov
July 30 – Bulgarian champions Ludogorets are building for the future and have launched a new stage in the modernisation of their training facilities, just a few months after the club from Razgrad opened a new grandstand at its stadium.