Bulgaria hit with further match-fixing allegations
April 15 – Bulgarian football is facing yet another potential match-fixing scandal following allegations of games being manipulated in the country’s second division.
News
Russian racism escalates with Spartak under fire after Arsenal game
April 15 – Anything Torpedo Moscow can do when it comes to discrimination, Spartak Moscow can seemingly match. Within days of Torpedo being found guilty of racism and ordered to play two more home games behind closed doors after their fourth offense of the season, so Spartak Moscow have been punished after fans displayed racist images during the April 9 fixture at Arsenal Tula.
Man City fuelled for new deal with Vivo Energy in Botswana
By Mark Baber
April 15 – Manchester City have agreed that Vivo Energy, the company that distributes and markets Shell branded fuels and lubricants across Africa, will be the Club’s Official Fuels and Lubricants partner in Botswana, extending an existing association with the company, unveiled at the end of 2014, which covered the Ivory Coast.
UK Labour Party commits to giving fans right to appoint directors and buy shares
By Mark Baber
April 15 – Football has made it on to the election agenda in the UK with the Labour Party making a manifesto commitment to introduce legislation to allow football supporters to appoint club directors and also to give fans the right to purchase shares in their club when there is a change of ownership.
Arena Amazonia: a football tragedy waiting to happen
By Ricardo Setyon
April 15 – The writing was on wall from the moment the decision was taken to build. The Arena Amazonia – a beautiful and giant stadium, in the heart of Manaus, the capital city of the most important forest on Earth, and constructed for the greatest show on Earth, the FIFA World Cup – has become a monument to Brazilian football’s financial folly. A legacy nightmare.
Cola wars: Coke fizzes to US finish line to oust Pepsi deal
April 14 – US soccer is changing its Cola brand. PepsiCo, which has been a core sponsor of the MLS since 1996, is making way for Coca-Cola who take over as the official non-alcoholic beverage of the MLS and the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).
Russia to replace imports with domestic products for World Cup 2018
By Mark Baber
April 14 – The Russian government has extended their import substitution policy to construction projects for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, in response to fall of the rouble, oil price fall and Western sanctions.
Figo keen to exploit fertile CONCACAF lobbying territory
By Andrew Warshaw
April 14 – The Fifa presidential campaign swings into the Bahamas this week, with Concacaf the latest battle ground for those bidding for power on May 29.
Former top-flight player acted as game-rigging fixer, court told
April 14 – An Ex-Premier League footballer searched for players to help “fix” lower-league matches, a English court has been told.
Bruised Australia not keen on World Cup sharing idea
April 14 – Australia has given a lukewarm response to the idea of co-hosting the World Cup with New Zealand. Oceania is the only Continent still to stage the tournament and the Kiwis are apparently eyeing up the possibility of sharing the tournament with their neighbour.
Webb gathers his federations for congress as new era readies for new challenges
April 14 – This Thursday the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) will gather its national federations in Bahamas for what will be the third annual congress under the presidency of Jeffrey Webb. It has been a period of dramatic transformation and reform for the confederation and produced a regional governing body that is virtually unrecognisable in comparison to what had gone before.
Shaky start for Russian legacy as Rotor Volgograd goes bust
April 14 – World Cup legacy is championed as an important ingredient of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event and generally the build-up to the event generates enthusiasm and excitement for the game – it is a catalyst for the growth of the game in the country. So the news that Rotor Volgograd, one of Russia leading clubs in the 1990s has gone bust, is a an unfortunate counter to the legacy proposition.
For and against: someone’s backside will get spanked in the FIFA elections
April 14 – Ask two former legendary players from two different continents and you will likely get two different viewpoints on the upcoming FIFA presidential election.
FC Augsburg signs new lead sponsor in increased revenue deal
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
April 13 – German Bundesliga club FC Augsburg has secured a new sponsorship deal with Germany’s insurance group WWK Versicherungsgruppe. The insurer will tale over as the club’s main sponsor in a deal estimated to be worth €3 million per year.
Peace in Africa: Morocco and Tunisia say war with CAF is over
April 13 – Morocco and Tunisia say they have settled their differences with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) following their respective spats over the African Cup of Nations.