By Andrew Warshaw
February 6 – David Beckham’s dream of running his own club in the United States has become a reality after the global sporting superstar and former England captain announced that he has exercised his option to become the owner of a Major League Football team in Miami.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 5 – Cracovia Krakow has signed a new kit deal with Italian sportswear manufacturer Legea. The contract with Legea will come into force in July 2015, the Polish football club said. Legea will replace Nike which has been Cracovia’s kit supplier since 2012.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 6 – The state in Bulgaria has allocated 3 million leva (€1,5 million) for the reconstruction of the Ludogorets Arena Stadium in Razgrad. The project was approved by ministers yesterday, with the money being allocated from a fund for ‘Growth and sustainable development in the region’. The stadium is home of current league champions PFC Ludogorets.
By David Owen
February 5 – A party from Afghanistan is to pay a knowledge-sharing visit to England, as part of a programme to foster the development of football in the war-torn country and aid the nation-building process that the west is keen to see take root.
February 5 – Barcelona president Sandro Rosell may have departed but the club’s vice-president is continuing Rosell’s legacy of calling for changes to the structure of the game.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – The unpredictable and often precarious nature of foreign ownership in club football has been starkly illustrated by Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung resigning as a director of both the club and its parent company Birmingham International Holdings Ltd (BIHL) as he awaits the verdict of a money laundering trial.
By Paul Nicholson
February 5 – The scale of the financial commitment the Qataris are making in providing in-country infrastructure as it builds towards the 2022 World Cup was made clear again yesterday with $205 billion to be spent in the period up to 2018, according to a senior figure at the state’s largest bank.
By Paul Nicholson
February 5 – Israeli technology specialist Evento have signed a deal with Kroenke Sports Entertainment to launch its SitNearMe social media ticketing application for Kroenke’s sports francjsies including MLS team and the Colorado Rapids.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – FIFA and World Cup organisers will be breathing a lot more easily after Cape Verde lost their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over being expelled from World Cup qualifying – in the process avoiding potential chaos next summer.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – In another alarming example of how matchfixing is blighting Asian football, Malaysian authorities have found an entire lower league team guilty of manipulating games.
By David Owen
February 5 – Yet more US investment is flowing into European football, with the announcement that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has forged a strategic partnership with Hertha BSC of the German Bundesliga.
February 5 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke says all Brazil’s World Cup stadia, most notably Curitiba, will be completed by April even though that is only two months before the start of the tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 5 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who heads the European Club Association representing the interests of more than 200 clubs across the Continent, has urged UEFA to crack down on any big spenders who breach financial fair play regulations.
February 5 – Croatian playing legend and now president of the Croatian Football Association, Davor Šuker, is in the Caribbean visiting the Turks and Caicos Islands this weekend. The trip follows an initial approach from the Croatians to the Turks and Caicos Islands last December offering assistance and seeking to build a stronger relationship with the federation.
February 4 – FIFA believe they are making progress in an effort to break the footballing impasse between Israel and Palestine and improve the long-term problem of access for officials, competitors and equipment to and from the latter.