By Mark Baber
February 17 – Puma issued an upbeat fourth quarter 2014 report Monday, revealing a 3.3% increase in currency adjusted worldwide sales of €3.2 billion (£2.6 billion) and documenting the company’s success in halting a slide in sales and repositioning its branding. Full year earnings were below expectations though and shares have slipped 17% over the year.
February 17 – Barcelona, slapped with a transfer ban by FIFA for bringing in under-age players, appear to have found a way to get round the sanction by targeting players but not registering them before January 2016.
The FIFA Presidential election has absolutely nothing to do with public support, or indeed media backing. Around two fifths of nine tenths of NOTHING. I reiterate that after an in-depth Talk To Al Jazeera interview to be aired over next few weeks with Prince Ali, the candidate considered the main challenger to Sepp Blatter.
By Samindra Kunti
February 17 – Belgian second division club RAEC Mons has filed for bankruptcy at the local commercial court after prolonged financial difficulty.
February 17 – A former apprentice with English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur has won a huge damages claim after a cardiac arrest nine years ago left him with brain damage.
February 17 – When CONCACAF launched its U15 Boys championship in 2013 with 22 teams, it became the first confederation to hold an U15 championship. In 2014 it broke new confederation ground, hosting an U15 Girls tournament.
February 17 – Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaliy Mutko has again been critical of the Russian Football Union (RFU) for its proposal of limiting foreign players in club squads to ’10+15′, saying “what kind of celebration will we have (at the World Cup in 2018) if our own team is completely useless”.
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 17 – Alexander Tomov (pictured), the largest shareholder in Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia, one of the country’s top four clubs, faces 10 years in prison if convicted of fraud charges brought against him by Bulgarian prosecutors.
By Mark Baber
February 16 – As the Premier League goes from strength to strength, attracting the best players from around the world at the peak of their careers, analysis of the ages of football players in Premier League squads by Infostrada highlights the “sad decline in the numbers of young (and particularly English) players in the EPL.”
February 16 – Amid continuing reaction to the Premier League’s eye-watering £5.1billion domestic television deal announced last week, one top-flight club has already said it will not use the massive increase to ease the burden on paying supporters.
February 16 – Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has pointed the finger for alleged tax evasion over the 2013 signing of Brazilian forward Neymar at his predecessor Sandro Rosell.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 16 – Egypt’s Premier League is set to resume in the wake of the fatal stampede earlier this month that left at least 20 fans dead but there is some confusion as to the exact date matches will start again.
February 14 – Europe edged out South America in the final of the Al Kass International Cup in Doha, Qatar, with Paris St Germain reversing a group loss to Brazil’s Sao Paulo, winning via a dramatic penalty shootout. Arsenal overcame AC Milan to take third place.
February 16 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter is leaving no stone unturned in his determination to secure the African vote at the presidential election in May.
By Ben Nicholson
February 16 – Las Vegas’ expansion bid has received a fatal letter from MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Addressed to Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman the letter said that the MLS would be unable to consider Las Vegas for an expansion franchise until 2018, due to “the uncertainty as to when we might be able to move forward in Las Vegas”.