It is with immense sorrow that FC Barcelona announces that Francesc ‘Tito’ Vilanova i Bayo (Bellcaire d’Empordà, 17/09/1965-Barcelona, 25/04/2014) departed this world today at the age of 45. He passed away this afternoon after losing his battle against an illness that had affected him since 2011.
http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/tito-vilanova-eternally-remembered
Convicted football match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal is being held by Finnish police on an international arrest warrant, officials say. Perumal was arrested and jailed in Finland in 2011 for fixing games. In the three years since he was first arrested he has turned informant and provided detailed information on syndicates working out of Singapore using fixers in Europe and financial backers in China, our correspondent adds.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27140082
Rio de Janeiro is now desperately behind schedule for its 2016 Olympics – one insider put it at 10% ready, where London was 60% ready at the same stage. It was left in question that whether Rio can successfully hold the situation of 2014 World Cup. For example: the main Olympic park at Barra da Tijuca was until recently strike-bound. However, when some people think that mega-events traumatise a complex modern city, Rio in this June may surprise us in a very positive way.
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/apr/23/world-cup-olympics-rio-de-janeiro-brazil-sensation-disaster
This is a World-cup top tenner brought by the ESPN. It includes ten of the biggest flops and embarrassments on the field of World Cup. In the list, there are: South Korea in 1954, England in 2010, France in 2010 and 2002, Scotland in 1978, Italy in 1966 and 2010, Netherlands in 1990, Columbia in 1994, and Brazil in 1984.
Or maybe for every fan, every year that their favorite team didn’t reach the champion was a big flop.
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/worldcupcentral/id/3710?cc=5901
According to the report from The Guardian, Manchester City’s Yaya Touré believes he is undervalued as a player because he is African and that the standings in the game of his fellow Ivorian Didier Drogba and Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o have suffered for the same reason. Yaya Touré says that though he received a lot of recognition from fans, he and other African players still failed to receive the praise they deserved from the medias and awards.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/19/manchester-city-yaya-toure-african-players-undervalued
Blatter thinks points deductions would have more of an impact than making teams play behind closed doors. As he said “porting sanctions are the only effective punishment,It has to cause the clubs real hurt otherwise nothing will change.” He also believes stadium closures “represent a disproportionately collective punishment” and is against excluding innocent fans of opposing teams.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27070453
The sixth edition of the football film festival kicks off in New York with a focus on Brazil. This football film festival was first launched by Rachel Markus, who was a former NYU film student and freelance writer, met up with Greg Lalas, who was also a writer and former professional soccer player in the Fall of 2009. In its sixth year, Kicking and Screening is preparing to greet its second World Cup season with a program leaning heavily on the summer’s events in Brazil, including an evening of Brazilian-inspired films and a party this Friday.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/08/kicking-and-screening-celebrating-soccer-films-from-brazil-to-egypt
This is another article reports on Barca’s banning on transfer from The Guardian. I found this article worth reading for it provides a clear analysis for the situation as well as a similar case study example in the past. What’s more, at the bottom of the page, comments from the readers were also interesting.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/02/barcelona-transfer-ban-warning-signs-fifa
Barca were found guilty of “serious” breaches of the world governing body’s regulations, with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) also sanctioned for its tacit approval of the club’s conduct. The decision to prevent Barca buying players in either of the next two transfer windows threw their recruitment plans into chaos, jeopardising a £100 million summer spending spree and casting doubt over whether deals they had already lined up were still valid.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/barcelona/10739015/Barcelona-handed-one-year-transfer-ban-for-breaking-rules-over-international-transfer-of-under-18s.html
Usually, “stadium” shirts are priced at £60, while versions for children aged between eight and 15 cost £42. And these days, the £90 England national shirts have enhanced “cooling technology” compared to the £60 shirts, according to Nike’s website. Shadow Sports Minister Clive Efford said: “I’m disappointed that fans are being asked to pay up to £90 for a new England shirt.” And he also said that:”the game of football seems to be increasingly about profit and commercialism rather than the community and the fans, who have sustained football for many generations.”
It is said that the best-sale England shirts in the history should be the ones from the periods when the team played well.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26826554