France 1 Germany 1 (5-6 pens)
July 19 – Germany recovered from a 13th-minute red card to knockout France on penalties following a 1-1 draw and set up a blockbuster semi-final against Spain.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 13 – Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan is back on the offensive and again questioning Michel Platini’s credentials as being the best candidate to take over as FIFA president in succession to Sepp Blatter who is standing down on February 26.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 12 – South Korea’s Chung Mong-joon will formally launch his bid to take on Michel Platini to become FIFA president early next week – right in the UEFA chief’s own backyard.
By Paul Nicholson
August 12 – Mexican beer brand Tecate has added a third regional sponsorship of one of Europe’s top club, this week signing Paris Saint-Germain who join Barcelona and Juventus as having Tecate as the official regional beer.
August 13 – Watch round two of the AFC Cup qualification tournament LIVE and FREE on Insideworldfootball at http://www.insideworldfootball.com/watch-live-football
Germany’s football fans can at last breath a sigh of relief: after 82 days of rest, the Bundesliga is finally ready to start its new season.
By Ricardo Setyon
August 12 – In Brazil former footballers becoming politicians is not unusual – Bebeto, Vampeta, Tulio, Roberto Dinamite, and even Zico and Pelé had their time as members of governments – but none have reached the heights of Romário, one of the best goalscorers the country has ever produced.
August 12 – ICSS (the International Centre for Sport Security) has announced that Richard Haass (pictured), president of US think tank, Council on Foreign Relations, will give the opening address at Securing Sport 2015, to be held in New York, November 3-4. Condoleezza Rice, 66th U.S. Secretary of State, will also be speaking at the conference.
By Alexander Krassimirov
August 12 – The owners of Bulgarian top tier side Lokomotiv Plovdiv have threatened to pull the club out of the A Grupa division after being hit with a BGN 37,500 (€18,750) fine by the Disciplinary Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) for racist chants by fans during a match against Litex Lovech.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 12 – Qatar hopes to finally reveal how many stadiums it will use in total for the 2022 World Cup by the end of this year.
August 12 – A Paraguayan club has been ordered to pay compensation to a footballer whose contract was suspended while he was being treated for cancer, according to world players’ union FIFPro.
August 12 – Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho’s reputation for courting controversy and being prone to over-reaction as well as winning trophies is already making headlines with only one match of the new Premier League season completed.
August 12 – A top-flight Turkish footballer has escaped unharmed after gunmen fired on his bulletproof car in Istanbul.
By Paul Nicholson
August 12 – The hottest ticket in England last weekend was one for a Premier League match, pretty much anywhere. Of a total of 369,536 tickets available across the 10 opening home matches, a massive 362,658 were sold, leaving just 6,878 tickets unsold, half of them at Newcastle’s St James’s Park for the 1.30pm Sunday lunchtime kick-off against Southampton.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – Francois Carrard, former director-general of the International Olympic Committee, has been confirmed by FIFA as the independent head of its much-trumpeted Reform Task Force set up in the wake of the worst corruption crisis to hit the organisation in its 111-year history.
August 11 – Watch the AFC Cup qualification tournament LIVE and FREE on Insideworldfootball at http://www.insideworldfootball.com/watch-live-football