Racing Santander, a third-tier Spanish club, made an interesting decision in their quaterfinal match of the Copa del Rey. Shortly after kickoff, the members of Racing joined together at midfield and refused to play. This comes among the revelations that the team hasn’t been paid in “quite a few months” according to the captain, Mario Fernandez. The players asked for the teams president and his board to step down in a joint statement released Monday. Personally, I’m glad that the team had the guts to stand up to the upper echelon of the clubs’ management. While I am sure that every coach and player that is a part of Racing Santander enjoys the game of soccer, they all also need to get paid for their efforts.

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1699020/racing-real-sociedad-match-suspended-racing-protest?cc=5901

As if topping the Premier League and progressing in both the Champions League and FA Cup were not enough, the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has now been handed another gift , a hefty slab of cash. For too many years since he took charge in 1996, Wenger has been financially handcuffed in the transfer market following the strict spending criteria determined by the Arsenal board. Yet, Monday’s announcement that the Premier League side and the German kit supplier Puma had signed the largest commercial deal in both companies’ history has cast such caution to one side. Coming into effect on July 1, the five-year deal with Puma is worth nearly $250 million according to media reports. The tie-in with Puma ends a 20-year association with rival sportswear company Nike, with Arsenal believing that their new partner can not only give them bespoke attention but also help drive inroads to important “markets like Asia and the Americas.” Arsenal hopes its relationship with Puma can finally put the Londoners on an equal financial footing with some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/27/sport/football/football/

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/business/media/an-imported-sport-soccer-gets-its-own-glossy-magazines-in-the-us.html?src=xps

… if professional soccer has gained a solid foothold in the United States, soccer journalism continues to lag its foreign peers. There have been few well-known publications dedicated to the sport; the most prominent is Soccer America, founded in the 1970s.

Now two soccer magazines are entering the fray with A-list writers and designers, hoping that enthusiasm generated by the approaching 2014 World Cup will help create a readership that will endure for years afterward.

One of the magazines, Eight by Eight, introduced its first issue in Manhattan last month. The other, Howler, is a year old. (A third, called XI, is in the throes of a financial crisis after a year in print, and its future is unclear.)

New Zealand’s Ivan Vicelich has decided to retire from his international career after 19 years.  He is their most capped player with 88 appearances for the “All Whites.”  The hugh point for Vicelich was in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.  Although they were eliminated in the group stage, they were the only team to go undefeated at the tournament.  Vicelich said: “Playing for the All Whites is an honour and a privilege for me and my family and I enjoyed every single match I played for the national team.”  Vicelich represented the All Whites with distinction at three FIFA Confederations Cups: Mexico 1999, France 2003 and South Africa 2009.  His final match with the All Whites was a loss in intercontinental play-off for Brazil 2014 against Mexico last year.  Vicelich has been a star for New Zealand for 19 long years(1995-2013) and will not be forgotten.

http://www.fifa.com/world-match-centre/news/newsid/226/684/1/index.html

Sandro Rosell resigns as president of Barcelona with immediate effect. Rosell made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday night. One of the reasons being was that he allegedly had misappropriated funds from signing Neymar. The Brazilian Neymar joined Barcelona in the summer. A Barcelona club member Jordi Cases has alleged that the amount paid was a lot more than the £48.6m fee reported at the time.   The deal is now being investigated by a court for possible misappropriation of funds. Sandro also feels that he and his family receive threats as he states, “For some time my family and myself have suffered threats and attacks in silence. These threats and attacks have made me wonder if being president means having to jeopardise my family.” The threats along with the allegations against him led to his decision to resign. Although the vice president will serve as his successor, is this a smart decision for  Barcelona especially since the Fifa world cup is right around the corner? Has Sandro made the right decision for his club, himself and family?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/23/sandro-rosell-resigns-barcelona-president-neymar

Sandro Rosell, The president of Spanish champion soccer team Barcelona resigned on Thursday, January 23, 2014 to fight criminal accusations he misappropriated funds from the signing of Brazilian forward Neymar. A  Judge in Madrid ruled the previous day that he will have a lawsuit alleging the real cost of the Neymar transfer from Santos  was hidden almost 6 months ago. Rosell states “I don’t want unfair attacks to negatively affect management or the image of the club. This is why I think my time here has come to an end” while also insisting that the deal to bring Neymar to Barcelona was legal. Neymar was acquired in the summer of 2013 for a reported 57 million euros, however, the legal case claims the real cost of the Neymar transfer was 94 million euros. The criminal offense of misappropriation of funds is punishable by up to six years in prison. Although the lawsuit does not accuse Rosell of taking money from the deal. The case prompted Barcelona’s board to call an emergency meeting, and Rosell announced after more than two hours of deliberations that he was quitting. Rosell, elected in 2010, said vice president Josep Bartomeu will take his place and complete the presidential term that expires in 2016.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20140123/barcelona-president-sandro-rosell-neymar-lawsuit.ap/

Frenchman fifa presidential candidate Jerome suggests introducing orange cards which allows referees to send players to a sin-bin (penalty box). He also has several proposals which includes: punishing players when questioning officials, quotas for foreign players, and abolishing the ‘triple punishment rule, and so it goes on. His aim is to make fifa more “democratic”, he believes it needs to be “more democratic, more respected, which behaves better and which does more.” But doesn’t it make it more dictatorial by adding more restrictions? If these proposals pass what will happen to the future of football or fifa ? Will this cause international outrage? Or will this actually help the future of fifa in becoming a more “respected” association? How will foreign players feel about the quotas? Do you agree with Jerome’s proposals?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25811977

 

Luck went to Mexico City and the famed Estadio Azteca last March to see the United States take on Mexico in a World Cup qualifier. He then traveled to London for the Champions League final between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/sports/football/andrew-luck-is-a-fan-of-two-types-of-football.html?ref=sports

A twenty-five minute video about the host nation of 2014 World Cup Finals.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=2256768/index.html