May 12 – Belgian football is coming to terms with the tragic death of a second footballer as a result of a cardiac arrest. Two weeks after 24-year-old Lokeren central defender Gregory Mertens died in hospital after collapsing as he played in a reserve game, lower-league fullback Tim Nicot, 23, of fourth-tier Wilrijk-Beerschot, suffered a similar fate on Friday.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – No public statement has so far been issued by any of the three candidates taking on Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency amid considerable intrigue as to what strategy agreement, if any, was reached between Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, Michael van Praag and Luis Figo at a private meeting they are believed to have held close to the headquarters of UEFA on Monday.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – The power struggle over who runs Spanish football is heading for the courtroom on Wednesday with an expected ruling over whether the proposed strike in protest at the new TV rights law is legal.
By Alexander Krassimirov
May 12 – Half of the clubs in the Bulgarian top professional division do not use social networks. The research, by Insideworldfootball.com, also found that two of the 12 teams in the league do not even have an official website.
May 12 – The average age that young players are introduced into first team squads in Europe’s ‘Big 5’ leagues is lowest in France (23.66) but highest in Italy (25.5), according to latest research by the CIES Football Observatory.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 11 – China and India may be arguably the world’s two biggest untapped footballing markets but unless they solve the problem of match-fixing and betting fraud they will never catch up.
By Mark Baber
May 11 – As the 10 year anniversary of the Glazer takeover of Manchester United approaches, a story has emerged that the Florida-based owners have ruled out selling Old Trafford’s naming rights. Meanwhile another mischievous story suggests United players have had to be ordered to drive their sponsor-provided Chevrolets.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
May 11 – Adidas has extended its deal with Poland’s Ekstraklasa, under which it will remain the official ball supplier of the country’s top tier until the end of the 2016/2017 season.
May 11 – Although the league season across Europe isn’t quite over, the managerial rumour mill is already in full swing – with Pep Guardiola’s switch to Manchester City top of the list.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 11 – Sepp Blatter will try one last time to forge a compromise to prevent Palestine’s call for Israel to be suspended from FIFA from being put to the vote at the FIFA Congress on May 29.
By Paul Nicholson
May 11- Chelsea received a boost in new Twitter followers in the week they confirmed themselves as Premier League champions, putting on more than 5,000 new followers than their north London rivals Arsenal. Man Utd are maintaining their run at the top of the Twitter weekly rankings – they put on another whopping 49,294 followers, over 14,000 more than Chelsea.
May 11 – The Caribbean Football Union’s senior club competition will go into its final round games in Trinidad, May 22-24. Three of the four qualifying teams will go into the June 1 draw for the 2015/2016 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
May 9 – With the play-offs for promotion to the Scottish Premier League (SPL) beginning today, a row has broken out over ticket prices with both Rangers and Hibernian being disallowed from admitting season ticket holders without a fee.
By Alexander Krassimirov
May 8 – The largest shareholder in Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia Ivaylo Madzhukov (pictured) has admitted that the club is still threatened with bankruptcy. The new investors, however, have said they will do everything possible to prevent it. It is not yet clear whether the club will be granted a license for next season, because of the huge tax debt it owes the National Revenue Agency.
May 8 – ‘Nice guys come last’, so the saying goes, but in UEFA’s world being a good corporate citizen wins your country an additional Europa League place.