January 22 – Former Argentine World Cup star Osvaldo Ardiles says he is “fine and doing well” after being admitted to hospital following a car crash in the Falkland Islands. Ardiles, 61, became a legend not only in his country after Argentina’s 1978 World Cup triumph but also at Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur where is regarded as one of the all-time greats, winning both the FA Cup and Uefa Cup.
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.
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.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 22 – As the Chinese celebrate their New Year, the year of the horse, so the football federation welcomes a new president who faces a “colossal” task and a race against time to repair the sport’s corruption-tainted image off the pitch and a lack of progress on it.
January 22 – Despite the bitter political tensions between the two neighbours, North Korea has agreed to send men’s and women’s football teams to South Korea for this year’s Asian Games in Incheon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
By Alexander Krassimirov
January 17 – 583 football clubs will be entitled to vote in the upcoming Congress of Bulgarian Football Union on 14 February, when the elections for a new president of the federation will take place. That was announced after a meeting of the Executive Committee – 137 clubs were excluded because they are not currently engaged in any activity.
January 17 – A new Spanish football anti-corruption unit has been set up to try to combat the scourge of match-fixing and illegal betting. Manuel Quintanar (pictured), director general of the so-called integrity department at the Spanish league, says those found guilty should be given far stronger sentences.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 17 – Scottish football has become caught up in a new betting scandal after Michael Moffat (pictured), a striker with League One club Ayr United, was banned for six games for breaking the rules.
By Paul Nicholson
January 17 – The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is holding its 2014 NWSL College Draft today with more than 180 players submitted for selection by the nine teams in the US-based professional league. Now preparing for its second season, the eight founding clubs have been joined by an expansion franchise – Houston Dash – who were given an initial pre-draft 10-player selection.