By Andrew Warshaw
June 3 – Former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, whose fall from grace as one of European club football’s most influential administrators has been well chronicled, has begun serving his three years and six months jail sentence for tax evasion.
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 3 – After its failed attempt at becoming a publicly-owned company on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, CSKA Sofia looks to have dragged itself away from the possibility of bankruptcy with the appointment of one of Bulgaria’s biggest businessmen, Petar Mandjukov (pictured), to the board.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 2 – The anti-corruption investigation into the entire bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be completed three days before the start of the World Cup – but it will take “approximately” another six weeks before the findings are submitted and probably even longer for any sanctions to be announced.
By Mark Baber
June 2 – Palestine’s national football team won their first ever international trophy on Friday – lifting the Asia Challenge Cup in the Maldives after defeating the Philippines 1-0. The win secures a place in next year’s AFC Asia Cup to be held in Australia and underlines the urgency of FIFA efforts to ensure an accommodation is reached between Israel and Palestine in order to allow Palestinian football to be played,
Dear readers, friends and associates
A year after its re-launch and after a successful liaison with our Chinese partners at NetEase, our daily publication for the business and the politics of football – not to mention our dedication to fight racism not only in football – InsideWorldFootball.com (IWF) has taken another step towards strengthening its position in the international marketplace.
June 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has re-iterated that he will only stand for re-election if he gets a strong enough feeling that this is the wish of the majority of the 209-strong membership at the organisation’s forthcoming congress.
June 2 – One of Brazilian football legend Pele’s seven children has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for laundering money for drug traffickers. Edson Cholbi Nascimento, known as Edinho, denies the charges, which date from 2005, and will reportedly be allowed to remain free pending appeal.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
June 1 – Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers have been quick to respond to the explosive allegations of corruption published by English newspaper the Sunday Times, saying that the bid committee broke no rules and that Mohamed bin Hammam was not part of the bid team. FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia is meeting Qatar 2022 bid officials today as part of his on-going investigation of the conduct of all the bidding member associations.
By David Owen
June 1 – Chile is better known for its copper than its football. So it is fitting that the industry should be providing a rich seam of support for Alexis Sánchez and the rest of the country’s World Cup squad as they make final preparations for Brazil.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce says the most explosive allegations to date linked to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup must be added to the investigation into the entire bidding process being conducted by FIFA’s corruption buster, Michael Garcia.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce says the most explosive allegations to date linked to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup must be added to the investigation into the entire bidding process being conducted by FIFA’s corruption buster, Michael Garcia.
By Ben Nicholson
May 30 – Investment bank Goldman Sachs has produced a report, entitled ‘The World Cup and Economics 2014′. The report analyses the previous stock performance of host, winning, and runner-up World Cup nations, as well as providing a statistical review of each teams’ chances of progressing.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 30 – FIFA’s Congress in Sao Paolo next month will include some of the most pressing issues facing the game including match-fixing, third party ownership, the Israel-Palestine impasse and an update by Dominic Scala, chairman of the organisation’s Audit and Compliance committee.
By Mark Baber
May 30 – With Adidas an official sponsor of the World Cup and Nike topping the viral charts with its video marketing campaign, Puma have taken a different track to global domination – their World Cup marketing will get underway AFTER the tournament is over, and just prior to the start of the school year.
By Paul Nicholson
May 30 – Group 4 of the Women’s CFU Cup, the inaugural Caribbean Football Union event for senior women, kicks off today in Haiti. To date the tournament is being hailed a success despite the unforeseen withdrawals of Dominica, Guadeloupe and now Anguilla.