France to play in 2016 qualifiers though place assured
By Andrew Warshaw
January 24- Euro 2016 hosts France are to play in the competition’s qualifying competition — but with a guarantee of their place in the finals secure.
Europe
Capello handed increased role as he commits to Russia through to 2018
By Richard van Poortvliet
January 24 – Fabio Capello has signed a contract extension with the Russian national team, which will see him in charge through to the 2018 World Cup, which the country will host.
Hoeness bites back as leaks trigger raid on German tax offices
January 24 – German prosecutors have searched tax offices in Bavaria as part of the probe into Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness who last year caused a sensation when he admitted publicly that he had millions of euros in a Swiss bank account that he had not declared.
Rosell quits Barcelona presidency as pressure reaches boiling point
By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, one of the most influential figures in European football, has sensationally resigned over an investigation into last year’s signing of star Brazilian forward Neymar.
UEFA exco holds first 2014 meeting with 2016 leading the agenda
January 23 – Fresh details of next month’s draw in Nice for the first ever 24-team European Championship finals are expected to be revealed on Friday after UEFA complete its first executive committee meeting of the year at its Swiss headquarters.
Collymore cracks and demands tougher Twitter action on social media trolls
By Tom Parsons
January 23 – Stan Collymore has called for Twitter to make it their responsibility to take action against those who send abusive and racist Tweets. The former Liverpool star turned media pundit has been subjected to offensive tweets over a long period of time and has finally decided enough is enough and quit the social network all together – he returned to the social network later in the day.
French giant PSG surges up football’s money league
By David Owen
January 23 – Paris Saint-Germain’s meteoric, Qatar-fuelled surge to the top table of European football is highlighted today by publication of the 2012-13 Deloitte Football Money League. The table, a simple ranking of the world’s top 20 clubs by revenue, has PSG at number five, below only the two Spanish giants, European champions Bayern Munich and Manchester United – and above Manchester City, the other club most palpably boosted by Gulf funding,
EA Sports stays in the game with new ref deal
January 22 – EA Sports has announced a continuation of its partnership with the referees’ association for professional football in England, though no figure has been announced for the sponsorship.
Czech Gambrinus liga eyes new broadcast rights deal and a boost in fees
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 22 – STES, the marketing arm of the Czech football association FACR, has been negotiating the sale of broadcasting rights for Gambrinus liga. Local company Pragosport and international media rights agency MP & Silva agency are said to be the leading contenders in the race to acquire the broadcasting rights for the top tier of the Czech professional football league.
Levski’s former coach takes to TV to threaten action over unpaid wages
By Alexander Krassmirov
January 21 – Serbian former head coach of Levski Sofia Slavisa Jokanovic has threatened to sue the Bulgarian club for unpaid wages. Jokanovic took over the team in July 2013, but remained at the helm just three months before being sacked last October because of poor results.
Have boots will travel. Expats swamp Europe’s top 31 leagues, finds report
By Paul Nicholson
January 21 – The percentage of club-trained players making it into first team squads in Europe has hit an all-time low, according to data from the CIES Football Observatory’s sixth annual Demographic Study.
Ribery comments kick ‘political’ Ballon d’Or vote into play
By Andrew Warshaw
January 21 – Some might call it sour grapes, others that it is a totally justified argument. But Franck Ribery’s angry reaction at being overlooked at last week’s Ballon d’Or award has certainly stirred up debate.
Barca scrap plans for new stadium in favour of a €600m home makeover
By Paul Nicholson
January 21 – Barcelona have scrapped plans of a move to a new-build stadium at Avenida Diagonal in favour of a €600 million redevelopment of their iconic Nou Camp stadium. The new plan will now be put by the club’s directors to the vote of Barca’s 160,000 members in April.
Third player given court date over English match-fixing charges
January 20 – Moses Swaibu has become the third English Conference player to be charged with conspiracy to defraud. He, along with former teammates Michael Boateng and Hakeem Adelakun, played for Whitehawk FC, a Conference South team based in Brighton.
Poland’s Wroclaw sells majority stake in Slask to local businesses
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
January 20 – Another Polish top tier club has had a change of ownership. Poland’s city of Wroclaw has sold a majority stake in troubled football club Slask Wroclaw to local companies Hasco-Lek, Supra Invest and Inter-System.