By Andrew Warshaw
March 30 – After months of often painstaking negotiations that several times almost collapsed, more than half a century of division is on the verge of being wiped out in Cypriot football.
March 30 – Dynamo Kiev have been ordered to close part of their stadium for next month’s Europa League quarter-final as a result of racist behaviour by fans towards Everton players.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 30 – Palestine has formally submitted a resolution to the FIFA Congress in May demanding the suspension of Israel, a blow to FIFA president Sepp Blatter in his efforts over two years to forge a lasting mediation between the two sides.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 30 – Russia are demanding UEFA automatically award them victory by default following the sickening sight of goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev being struck on the back of the head by a flare during disgraceful scenes at their Euro 2016 qualifier with Montenegro which was later abandoned.
By Ricardo Setyon
March 29 – The legend of the Maracanã stadium, with its close to 200,000 people cheering on a Sunday match, is a legend that is disappearing in the mists of time. Gone are the days when Fluminense, Vasco da Gama, Flamengo and Botafogo, would show why Brazilian football and its iconic players enchanted the Brazilian fans and the world.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
March 29 – Partizan Belgrade has signed a sponsorship deal with the country’s leading operator Telekom Srbija. Under the contract, which will see the Serbian company serve as the club’s main sponsor until the end of 2016, Partizan will receive a total of RSD 140.7 million (€1.2 million).
By Alexander Krassimirov
March 29 – Bulgaria’s Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) has refused to allow release of the prospectus for a second attempt in year at an initial public offering (IPO) by CSKA Sofia. Meanwhile, after a desperate plea by management for cash to save the club, fans have been donating money to ensure the club can get its license to play.
By David Owen
March 29 – A 20% jump in income from its Asia and North Africa region enabled FIFA to generate marginally more TV revenue from the 2014 World Cup than the previous edition in South Africa. This was in spite of a near 10% decline in revenue from the key European region.
March 27 – Moldovan top division club Dinamo-Auto have indefinitely suspended two players over allegations of match-fixing.
By Mark Baber
March 27 – Turkish Airlines has announced to the Istanbul Stock Exchange that it intends to add the UEFA Champions League to its list of football sponsorships. The value of the three-year deal has not been revealed, but current Champions League sponsor packages are currently between €55-65 million per season.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 27 – FIFA are to send their Director of Security Ralf Mutschke to Sierra Leone to help tackle a match-fixing crisis that has caused deep division between sports administrators and government officials.
By Samindra Kunti
March 27 – Tax authorities in Belgium are stepping up their investigations into domestic football following unannounced inspections at the Belgian FA and the Pro League.
By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 27 – He is guarded about how many votes he will pick up and where they will come from. And he won’t guarantee he will stay the course. Yet there is a certain gravitas, authority, self-belief and dry humour about Michael van Praag that gives the impression the Dutch FA president might, just might, just have a fighting chance of upsetting Sepp Blatter at the FIFA presidential election on May 29.
March 27 – CSKA Sofia, champions of Bulgaria 31 times, have issued a desperate plea to their supporters to cough up emergency funding to avoid being expelled from the country’s top division over mounting debts.
March 27 – With Russia having completed its final planning for 2018 World Cup stadium build and construction underway, the current focus is now switching towards budgets and planning for infrastructure around the championships.