Emirates renews PSG shirt sponsorship in 5-year deal
February 5 – The Emirates airline has agreed in principle to a new 5-year shirt sponsorship deal with Paris Saint-Germain, for an undisclosed sum.
Europe
Europol investigation finds organised crime knee-deep in match-fixing across Europe
By Mark Baber
February 5 – Europol has revealed results of a major investigation across 13 European countries that has uncovered an extensive criminal network involved in widespread football match-fixing, implicating more than 425 people across 15 countries and 380 professional matches.
Gate money in decline at top-flight European clubs
By David Owen
February 5 – Top-flight European football clubs took less in gate money in 2011 than they did in 2008, according to UEFA.
UEFA puts match data contract out to bidders
February 4 – UEFA have moved to take greater commercial control of their match data with a request for proposals (RFP) for the collection of UEFA match data and the distribution rights for official match data.
AZ’s Jozy Altidore gives racist abusers a lesson in dignity and respect
By Mark Baber
January 31 – AZ Alkmar striker Jozy Altidore responded to racist abuse by Den Bosch fans, Tuesday, by insisting the match continue and going on to score a penalty, as his side ran out 5-0 winners.
Rummenigge questions logic of playing in the snow
By Mark Baber
30 January – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (pictured), chairman of the European Club Association and Bayern Munchen, says a rescheduling of the season away from winter football could be on the cards.
La Coruña still have a sporting chance to avoid administration, but situation rapidly worsening in Bucharest
By Mark Baber
December 19 – Spanish club Deportivo de La Coruña are in imminent danger of entering administration.
Barça coach Vilanova temporarily steps down for cancer treatment
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – Messages of support are flooding in from around the world after Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova stepped down temporarily because of a cancer recurrence.
Napoli outraged at two-point sanction for match-fixing
By Andrew Warshaw
December 20 – Italian club Napoli are up in arms for being hit with a two-point deduction after becoming the latest Italian club sanctioned for alleged match-fixing.
Kosovo “disappointed” with partial FIFA acceptance and push for full membership
By Andrew Warshaw
December 18 – Kosovo’s Football Federation (FFK) are to push for full membership of FIFA after receiving only partial acceptance from football’s world governing body.
Blatter to question Serbia’s paltry sanctions from UEFA
By Andrew Warshaw
December 17 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter is to contact his opposite number at UEFA, Michel Platini, to question the meagre sanctions handed to Serbia by Europe’s governing body in the wake of the racism and violence that marred the under-21 tie against England in Kruševac in October.
12 Bulgarian players arrested for match-fixing allegations
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – Bulgarian police have detained 12 players and two alleged organisers in the first arrests of an ongoing investigation into match-fixing.
Cyprus FA President to hold meeting to reunite divided island
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – A hugely symbolic development in relations between the football authorities on both sides of the political divide in Cyprus will take place in the New Year when the President of the Cyprus Football Association (CFA), Costakis Koutsokoumnis, holds a formal meeting with representatives on the Turkish-controlled north of the island.
FA criticise UEFA’s Serbia racial abuse punishment
By Andrew Warshaw
December 14 – Despite UEFA President Michel Platini’s oft-quoted insistence that his organisation favoured a zero tolerance approach to racism, Serbian authorities were handed a series of less than drastic sanctions today in the wake of their fans’ behaviour at the now infamous under-21 fixture against England in October.
UEFA calls for ban on third party player ownership
By Andrew Warshaw
December 12 – European football’s governing body is clamping down hard on third party ownership – by which footballers are partly controlled by outside parties when it comes to access and transfer rights.