30 April 2016

Lausanne court needs more days to decide

We have to wait ten more days whether disgraced UEFA president Michel Platini can return to football or will he be removed after all. Today was the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) of his 'dearest' friend Sepp Blatter. These two still deny any wrongdoing that the Frenchman took 2 million Swiss francs from the 80 year old Blatter. The Swiss today gave his testimony for more than 90 minutes while 'poor' Platini was in the court for eight hours. After the whole process the 'accused' Frenchman was happy and felt optimistic about the win. But, if he is guilty, he might face a lifetime ban from CAS.
Earlier in the day it was announced that the decision will be out by next Tuesday, when is the UEFA congress in Budapest, but that is less likely to happen.

Indecent president

If a president is talking about another president of buying votes just to be the boss then, of course, the penalty will be severe...but not that much. For 20 days suspension out of football and a fine of 18.000 euros has to pay Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini for insulting another boss, this time, FIFA's - Gianni Infantino. Italian FF impose this sanction on Zamparini because he accused Infantino that he wanted only to reach the presidency.

29 April 2016

Former African player wants to become president

FIFA World player of the year (now Ballon d'Or award) from 1995 George Weah announced that he will run for the president. The 49 year old ex-striker will not go for the FA position but for his native country - Liberia. This will be his second bid after he lost to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2005 election. The three time African player of the year and ex-Liberia footballer is hoping to run the country next year when Sirleaf's final term will end. Weah, who is currently a senator in Montserrado region which also cover capital Monrovia, pledges to support vocational education, working on religious harmony and increase the national budget.

Supportive supporters

In a less interesting game tonight (in terms of goals) from the Europa League, Villarreal beat Liverpool in the stoppage time with 1:0. However, once again, the fans stole the show. Before the game started home supporters from the south stand honored the victims of 1989 Hillsborough disaster spreading giant Villarreal banner with the words "You'll never walk alone" and number of 96 (victims).

Awards in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League

This morning (European time) ended the Champions League from the CONCACAF region. Mexican Club America beat up another Mexican side Tigres UANL 4:1 in aggregate and right after the game individual winner awards were announced in various categories.
Golden Glove award took the goalkeeper Hugo Gonzalez Duran from the winning team - Club America. Jarritos (popular soft drink in Mexico) Golden Boot award belonged to Emanuel Alejandro Villa who was the tournament's top scorer with six goals and is playing for Queretaro (Mexico). The captain of the newly (old) crowned champions, Rubens Sambueza (Argentina / Mexico) is the winner of the Golden Ball awards. Alberth Elis from Honduras earned the title Best Young Player with Club Olimpia (Honduras) while Queretaro won in the Fair Play award category.
That is how CONCACAF became the second region in the world where Club America will participate in the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan from 08 - 18 December after New Zealand team of Auckland City was crowned OFC (Oceania) champions last Saturday.

28 April 2016

Five goals from two games

Shakhtar Donetsk - Sevilla 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 05 Vitolo
              1:1 23 Marlos
              2:1 35 Taras Stepanenko
              2:2 82-pen Kevin Gameiro

Villarreal - Liverpool 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 90+2 Adrian Lopez

Thursday's predictions

From scandalous and disappointing football from the first two days in the 'so called Champions League' where in two games we saw only one goal, Europa League has to overturn that boring impression. From 21.05 CET the two remaining games in this competition have to bring us many goals.

- Shakhtar Donetsk - Sevilla. No matter if they play away from home, Shakhtar Donetsk still look dangerous and compact team. On the other hand the Spanish team play some dreadful football away and in Lviv Arena have absolutely no chance to oppose the Ukrainians.
- Villarreal - Liverpool. Mainly consist of home players, Villarreal is playing some marvelous football with Bakambu-Soldado duo posing to cause headaches to goalkeepers. Liverpool side is having some difficulty with its play away from home and with its mixed results they are achieving its very difficult to accomplish a positive from El Madrigal. Slight advantage in this game we are giving to the hosts.

Party is expected in Milan

Whoever will be the two lucky finalists at the end of next month's final in Italy, the pre show will be a true fiesta. Before the second semi final, UEFA announced today that Alicia Keys will heat-up the final football show on the last Saturday in May.
The singer-songwriter, who has sold over 50 million albums, will perform live at Giuseppe Meazza stadium before an estimated audience of 180 million viewers and broadcast in more than 220 counties which makes the most watched annual sporting event in the world. 'I am extremely excited to share my new music at the UEFA Champions League final, an event that is celebrated in every corner of the world. I am honoured to be a special part of such a beloved experience', said the music star who will perform new music from her next album.

Excellent reaction from a teenager

Its not new(s) that in football we are dealing with any kind of supporters but this (only) 18 year old professional player, unlike his older colleagues, already knows how to react on racist chants.
Last Sunday night Benfica took an away victory at Rio Ave with 1:0. But a real star that weekend from Benfica's team was Renato Sanches. He was targeted by racists which imitated monkey exclamations. However, the young Lisbon teenager was not furious, remained calm, and by the saying 'if you can not beat them - join them' he replied back in the same manner.
In that way the black midfielder showed the hooligans what they really are.

President's unifying wish

In a high military tensions between these two countries, today FIFA's boss from Seoul expressed his big wish to see a football (friendly) game of South and North Korea. As football is bringing people together and is without boundaries Gianni Infantino said from the capital to decrease tensions on the divided peninsula as is better to be unified rather than stay divided. On this issue among other things, Infantino said at the end: 'Sometimes imagination can come true. Sometimes dreams can come true. These things can become a reality'.
Two Korea's last friendly meeting was played in Seoul in 2005. While 15 years earlier in October, in Seoul and Pyongyang, these two countries played two consecutive games against each other under the name 'Inter-Korea Unification'.
Since then hostile activities began in all spheres in the society, including sporting ties as well.

27 April 2016

Big surprise in Madrid

Atletico Madrid - Bayern Munich 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 10 Saul Niguez

Prediction from Vicente Calderon

After yesterday's dreadful performance at the 'strongest' European cup level in the first semi, tonight (maybe) things will get better as brave Atletico side take on strong Bayern Munich team. We are sure that most of us are thinking that Vicente Calderon will produce us the same boring game from Tuesday night but that would not be the case as both teams are hungry for goal(s). The hosts, who beat the champions at the previous round, are playing some exceptionally good football at home but German clubs are best known to have good fighting spirit wherever they are playing. However, the Madrid side can pull a little bit of surprise here as Atletico's best duo Torres-Griezmann will trouble Neuer and co. plenty of times.

Blatter to testify in court

Two (good) FIFA friends from early days invites the other to help him out. However, this is at FIFA's request so the previous sentence does not count. Or maybe there is truth after all?
Decision day is looming for Michel Platini who wants to clear its name for his six years suspension from the sport. 'Wrongfully accused', the disgraced Frenchman confirmed today that another dishonored Swiss has been called as a witness in a Court of Arbitration for Sport. The 'so called' witness will be no other than - Sepp Blatter. So he will try to reduce or even erase Platini's ban unlike FIFA who likes to do quite the opposite. Will Blatter be successful to help his buddy or not we have to wait until Friday.
All this fuss is about those two million Swiss francs payment in 2011 from Blatter to Platini which no one of the two football officials above - recollects.

26 April 2016

Santiago Bernabeu next week will give us the second finalist

Manchester City - Real Madrid 0:0

First semi-final prediction

Tonight at the Etihad stadium Manchester City takes over Real Madrid. Last year the Spanish side humiliate this same opponent 4:1 although this game was not played in England nor Spain. However, the Madrid side is still considering as a favorite to take the game even though with its best player Cristiano Ronaldo left out, the other duo Bale-Benzema can cause so much trouble for the hosts.

Centenary celebration for Thailand FA

On this date, 25 April, hundred years ago Thailand FA was born. For this birthday Thai football gained some good results lately in all categories. The most important here is the men's team who, for the first time in their history, advanced to the third round of Asian qualifiers for the next World Cup in Russia. And with its current play they can certainly reach the final tournament in 2018.
Lots of football officials congratulate the anniversary, among them AFC president sheikh Salman and FIFA's boss Gianni Infantino who attended the celebrations in this southeast Asian country. We are also joining the fiesta and wish many more years for Thailand FA!

Juvenile attacked the referee

In one of the derby games yesterday night in Turkish football we saw horror scenes on the pitch as furious supporter first pushed and then kicked mercilessly the assistant referee for doing his job beside the goal. Today it was announced that Turkish authorities detained two Trabzonspor fans, where both of them are minors. One of the hooligans brutally attacked Volkan Bayarslan from behind in the ninety-first minute and that was the cause for abandoning the game against Fenerbahce.
Anadolu Agency reported that an 17 year old school student and another Trabzonspor fan were detained and handed over to the competent authorities for prosecution of juvenile delinquency.

Chinese company into Inter

One of the largest privately owned retailers in China - Suning Commerce Group is interested to buy stakes at Inter. Company's president Zhang Jindong and his associates are currently in Milan for talks who are believed to be negotiated initially for 20 percent stake in the club worth approximately 60 million euros. Shares of Inter's owners constantly will reduce and by 2 to 3 years Suning will gain full control of the club.

25 April 2016

Semi final games, first leg next week

The rest is over. Now is time to get into the real business. After the national championships and cups, next week we are going to find out if any teams are capable enough to have a big advantage in the first leg from the two best European cup competitions.

Starting from Tuesday English and Spanish club and starting from Wednesday Spanish and German club will entertain us in the Champions League. Both of them plays at the usual time slot of 20.45 CET and we can expect some thrilling football.

Tuesday, 26 April: Manchester City - Real Madrid.
Wednesday, 27 April: Atletico Madrid - Bayern Munich.

From 21.05 CET, in the Europa League one Ukrainian and one English club will oppose two Spanish clubs in the semi final. From year to year new clubs arrive at the latter stage, although the champion is still 'alive' in this competition.

Thursday, 28 April: Shakhtar Donetsk - Sevilla and Villarreal - Liverpool.

International game in Serie A without...Italians

Tonight's match between Inter and Udinese is going to be written as first in Serie A history that no Italian played at the starting 11 from both teams.
From 22 players at the pitch most of them were Brazilians - 6, three Frenchman, two Colombians and one nationality each, from: Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, Argentina, Japan, Mali and Ghana.
Out of 23 players at the substitute bench 'only' eight were Italians - four from each team. Three of them 'salvaged their national pride' by entering into the game in the second half.

Shocking scenes from Turkey

In the Turkish Super Lig we had some brutal scenes tonight right at the end of the match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce. And right after the horror was transferred at the stands...
In the ninety-first minute a furious fan attacked one of the referees besides the goal. The angry supporter knocked him on the ground and started kicking him before the security guards run over to stop him. Luckily, the unfortunate referee was able to get up and it was a real miracle how he escaped unhurt. Soon after at the Huseyin Avni Aker stadium appeared to be spiralling out of control with fans fighting, throwing chairs at each other so the game did not finish in a normal way as it was abandoned.
Before the interruption Fenerbahce led 4:0 and its not yet known what will be the delegate's decision.

24 April 2016

Video technology invitation

FIFA is organizing a workshop and invites all national associations and leagues who want to try out in video technology of repeated situations (shots). The event will be held in Amsterdam from 18 until 20 May and it will be a key step of an ambitious plan to review the images starting from the next World Cup in Russia. The organization said that it will allow the experiments to those who wants to be carried out and financed. Those leagues and associations who will be interested in the demonstrations next month will take part in the upcoming two year experiments.
Dutch FA were chosen as hosts because it has made experiments since 2013 where referees had help from video footage, although it was not used in competitive games.

23 April 2016

Qatar welcomes the president

Today FIFA has said that it will establish a committee to monitor the construction work on stadiums for the 2022 World Cup event in Qatar. The worlds football governing body decided on this step to ensure decent labor conditions for all workers. Trade unions and human rights organizations often criticize this tiny nation for alleged abuse and deaths of workers at construction sites.
It is expected that Qatar will spent tens of billions of dollars for the 2022 winter tournament who will build eight new stadiums, renovate the existing ones as well as planning building roads and accommodation facilities. Secretary general Hassan al Thawadi said that the first World Cup in the Middle East will meet all FIFA requirements.
Despite some country's concerns to revoke the hospitality, Gianni Infantino insisted from Doha that the 2022 World Cup competition will stay in Qatar.

New La Liga record

Wednesday night: Deportivo la Coruna was humiliated at home by Barcelona 0:8. With this win the Catalans achieved the most convincing victory of the season, who, by the way equalized the away persuasive win in club's history.
Luis Suarez may have stole the show with his four goals that night, but it was another South American player who set a new record in Spain. For helping Suarez's goals he gave two assists and with those Lionel Messi is at the top of the table with 121, first equaling and then surpassing ex-Real Madrid midfielder Michel Gonzalez who 120 times successfully passed the ball. After the game Luis Suarez remained at the top with 14 assists this season while his teammate Lionel Messi is closing up with 11. 
In comparison with his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo and since his arrival in Spain, the two of them have unbelievable statistics to date: his name appeared 313 times with 84 assists while the Argentinian scored 332 goals with 121 assists.

22 April 2016

New national stadium in Albania

On days when the supporters are thrilled and excited that its national side will be for the first time in a major football tournament, today Albania FA spokesman Tritan Kokona announced a new build-up project worth 50 million euros. Many times UEFA has threatened to pull its national games out of the country, but the new and modern National Arena stadium will have all the qualities it needs. Starting construction from next month, the new 22.300 seat project will be build in Tirana at the old Qemal Stafa stadium. The draft was being made by an Italian company while national company Albstar will be performing the work. When it finishes in three years it will also have underground parking, shops, hotel and bars who will be used for entertaining events.
Mostly Albania is playing its home matches in Elbasan.

Unsuccessful interference in Burundi

Football and politics do not go together hand in hand, but the next story tells us quite the opposite. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said that the Swiss foreign ministry requested from him to overthrow an African president.
Last year the civil war in Burundi took over 400 people with thousands fleeing the country. In order to stop that Blatter made contact with the Burundi president Pierre Nkurunziza who was planning to run for the third term. In exchange for his candidacy, the Swiss offered him ambassador role in FIFA. Nkurunziza is a known football lover: he owns a side - Hallelujah FC, and he was also a coach of an Burundian first national division. As the coup was not successful Nkurunziza, who declined the offer, was re-elected for a third term in July, so the whole deal working at FIFA was off. Swiss foreign ministry did not confirm Blatter's claim. The intervention was supported by USA and some Western countries, Nkurunziza's office said and admitted that the president and the Swiss have indeed met each other last May. All this is explained (thoroughly) at the latest biography book from the Swiss 'Sepp Blatter, mission and passion football'.
At the end, the president is still at his new (old) position while Blatter has been removed from football for six years.

21 April 2016

Copa America Centenario without Neymar Jr.

After a strong will of playing at both tournaments, the decision was finally made by the club. However, this news will not be accepted positively by the Brazilian fans from the most oldest competition in the world: that its best player will skip this summer's Copa America Centenario. Instead Neymar Jr. will join the Olympic team who, with his teammates, will try to win the first ever gold medal for Brazil. If playing at both, Barcelona fears that it would interfere with his performance for the next season as the two competitions are quite close, with only a month away. 'Barcelona expresses its gratitude to the Brazilian Football Confederation for accepting the club's proposal for Neymar Jr. to only play at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer, and not at the Copa America in the United States' said in the club's statement.
Copa America will start from 3 - 26 June while the Olympics will commence from 3 - 21 August.

Female candidates in UEFA

For the first time in UEFA a female will be a member in the organization's executive committee and two candidates send their application for the position. The nominees are: Karen Espelund from Norway, an ex-team player who is now working as general secretary for its national FA and the marketing director of the French FF - Florence Hardouin. The lucky winner will be elected at the UEFA's annual congress on 3 May in Budapest, Hungary who will serve a three year mandate.
The organization will also have to elect female delegate in FIFA next year.

State of emergency should continue

France would like to be a good, comfortable and safe host for this summer for EURO 2016 games. That is why the Government is proposing to extend the security measure for another two months which has to be first approved by the constitutional court and then the parliament. Over the last weeks the French authorities have simulated exercises of chemical weapons attack. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the extension until the end of July will 'allow a better response against a terrorist threat' for the continental championship. Tournament organizers have increased the security budget by 15 percent for the games.
The state of emergency, which was extended twice, was scheduled to end 26 May.

Asia mourns another death

Malavan's stiker Mehrdad Oladi has passed away from heart attack. He was pronounced dead after he was taken to hospital where his heart stopped at the age of 30.
Playing mostly in his native Iran, for Oladi have shown interest many Turkish and European teams. In his short career he appeared 13 times for the national side, scoring one goal.

20 April 2016

'Videos will be useful in 2018 World Cup'

In a wake of the today's fast changing new technologies, future World Cups will also unlikely suffer some (additional) changes. FIFA president Gianni Infantino today hopes that the next World Cup, 2018 in Russia, will be the first global football major tournament where video referees will help officials during matches. 'I really hope that the World Cup in Russia will be the first World Cup where video refereeing is used to make refereeing maybe better' he said.
Also today, UEFA has approved the use of hawk-eye goal-line system starting from this summer's European continental championship - EURO 2016 in France and slowly introducing towards the two cup competitions later on.

GLT system is chosen

This summer a hawk-eye goal-line technology (GLT) system will be used for the first time ever in a major European football event. Same as in tennis and cricket, hawk-eye will be installed in all ten stadiums across France. The debut technology will determine whether the ball crossed the goal-line.
UEFA has announced using of GLT in January at the continental championship, while in March it was said to be done the same with the two cup competitions. This system will remain in the sport and will be used for the next season's UEFA Super Cup in Trondheim, Norway. Starting from 2016/17 in the play-off rounds and onwards it will be used in the Champions League matches, while GLT will be implemented in the Europa League year later (beginning from the 2017/18 group stages).
This system includes seven cameras that monitor the flight of the ball, and the referees receive a sign of vibration that a goal is scored. Nevertheless, beside each goals the two additional referees will remain, which they now be 'more focused on the situation in the penalty area', UEFA said in a 

19 April 2016

Arrests for 'framing' officials

For 'framing' Fenerbahce during the corruption investigation in 2011, Turkish authorities have arrested 38 people. State agency Anadolu reported that police had warrants for 64 people suspected in the plot from 28 cities across Turkey, but all of them were retained in populated largest city - Istanbul. Among the suspects are former police chiefs, lawyers and at least one journalist who are believed to belong to a 'terror organization' and have conducted illegal wiretapping. All will face charges and a possible indictment.
Fenerbahce is saying all along that this case was a set up from the police and prosecutors linked to Fethullah Gulen's movement, as an attempt to seize control of one of the Turkey's top clubs.

Charges against Liverpool

UEFA is accusing the Merseyside club over (additional) fireworks offence. Liverpool could be dragged into further trouble after a flare was thrown onto the pitch in the Europa League quarter final, second leg game against Borussia Dortmund. The Reds are already facing charges of general crowd disturbances, illicit chanting, more fireworks and throwing various objects by their fans from the previous round against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the same competition.
This fresh flare incident against the Germans, the organization will look on 19 May.

One-match stand closure

Italian champions Juventus will have to partially close their stadium after anti-semitic chants against Palermo. Approximately 3.000 Bianconeri supporters in the Curva Sud area offended the guests by calling the Sicilians 'not Italian, but a bunch of Jews'.
There was also a fine of 15.000 euros, while the ban will apply this Wednesday against Lazio.

18 April 2016

Asia has suffered a great loss today

After a long illness an ex-AFC general secretary Datuk Seri Paul Mony Samuel has died on Saturday.
Mostly operating in the Asian continent he started his career as a teacher, football player and a coach. As an football official Datuk Seri Paul started from early 1980s when he was appointed as assistant general secretary in FA Malaysia (FAM). From that position, in 1984 he became executive secretary in the organization, before becoming general secretary from 1985 until 2000 - also in FAM. Later he was appointed as FIFA's development officer in Kuala Lumpur. As a great football administrator Datuk Seri Paul participated in four FIFA World Cups in a row - from 1994 until 2006. In AFC he worked as a general secretary from 2007 to 2009. Datuk Seri Paul died in his native Malaysia from Parkinson's disease at the age of 71.
Out of respect in all next week's AFC Champions League matches on 19 and 20 April, it will be held minute silence.

Impressive Messi

Barcelona is obviously in crisis now after three consecutive defeats in La Liga. But that word 'crisis' cannot be said for Lionel Messi as tonight he was the only scorer for his team, and with its 500 goals from 633 matches in his career.
The Argentina striker so far has scored 450 goals out of 526 games for the Catalan club: 309 goals in Primera Division, 39 in the Spanish Cup and 11 from the Spanish Super Cup. In European cup competitions his name appeared in Champions League 83 times, 3 in the Super Cup and 5 goals he netted in the FIFA Club World Cup. From 107 appearances for the national side Messi have scored 50 goals.
The world's best player is already the leading goal scorer for Barcelona and La Liga. Out of his 309 goals Messi is way ahead of Real Madrid's forward Cristiano Ronaldo who has 256.

16 April 2016

Cancellation of games in Japan

Beginning from Thursday, southwestern Japan was hit by a powerful earthquake. Over the weekend by the strength of the aftershocks became bigger and bigger and the area of Kumamoto at the island of Kyushu was affected the most.
In a natural catastrophes like these it is obvious that sport will not be a first priority. Because football is affected as well, games between Avispa Fukuoka - Nagoya Grampus and Sagan Tosu - Vissel Kobe from the J. League first division are cancelled. Some matches from second and third division football were announced to be off as well.
Some other sporting events near the area are also cancelled. Our condolences goes to all the victims and we hope that sport will be back to normality very soon!

The wait is over for Platini

Current UEFA president and disgraced football official Michel Platini on 29 April is expecting positive news. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have announced that date to be the final verdict for the Frenchman. He constantly denies receiving a 2 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) payment from FIFA boss Sepp Blatter. Both officials 'do not recollect' that ever happened and both of them are appealing the (reduced) six years ban from the sport in CAS.
Originally they got eight years punishment from (the harsh) FIFA, but because of their great services to the game, two years were written off. As neither one was satisfied they are now 'hungry' for the remaining six years.
Now the highest sporting court has exactly two weeks to decide whether to annul the charges against Platini or the suspension will stay in place.

15 April 2016

Serbian coach penalized

Yesterday the disciplinary committee of Slovenia FA (SFA) has suspended Olimpija Ljubljana's coach Marko Nikolic for seven games and fined him 1500 euros. SFA stated that 'clear racism' is the reason behind the sanction. 
Last Sunday against Zavrc, Nikolic called Blessing Eleke 'black idiot' because he celebrated the equalizing goal of his team too long. Later on he apologized to the Nigerian striker for his outburst. The goal was scored deep into injury time, in the ninety-third minute as the game ended 1:1.
As seven more rounds remain until the end of Slovenian championship this means that the Serbian trainer cannot help the club to win the title. Currently Olimpija lead the table and are two points ahead of second placed NK Maribor. Despite the ban Marko Nikolic will remain coaching Olimpija Ljubljana's team.

Spanish rivals again divided for the Europa League

Unlike the Champions League, two Spanish teams are fighting with an Ukrainian and English side for the trophy. Late last night Sevilla survived a penalty shoot-out drama, so the defending champion is still alive (for now). Schedule for the semi finals:

Shakhtar Donetsk - Sevilla

Villarreal - Liverpool

Last Thursday of the month and first Thursday next month are 'picked' up as decision dates. 28 April is the first leg while 05 May has to be all clear of the two finalists. Both matches start from 21.05 CET.


Pairs of the last four

In a little unusual time for the Champions League, UEFA today conducted the semi final draw. With Barcelona out of contention, we are only four games away of finding out who will be the new European champions:

Manchester City - Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid - Bayern Munich

Next week we will have a break from the competition as the action continues 26 and 27 April. Second leg matches on 03 and 04 May has to give us the answer which two teams are entering the final.

Selected country for conducting tests

Last month the International Football Association Board approved video refereeing in football and last week in London, Italy was chosen to carry out testing on disputable situations. From 2016/17 season Serie A will be an exclusive league in Europe to take the goal-line technology system. The tests, however, will be in two stages. In the preliminary phase it will be closed for public and the official introduction will start from 2017/18 season. The VAR (Video Assistant Referees) system will help referees whether the ball crossed the goal-line, penalty situations and the controversial decision about sending-offs.

14 April 2016

Plenty of goals in the quarter final, second leg games

Sevilla - Athletic Bilbao 1:2, on penalties: 5-4

Scorers: 0:1 56 Aritz Aduriz
              1:1 58 Kevin Gameiro
              1:2 79 Raul Garcia

Shakhtar Donetsk - Sporting Braga 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 25-pen Darijo Srna
              2:0 42-own goal Ricardo Ferreira
              3:0 50 Viktor Kovalenko
              4:0 73-own goal Ricardo Ferreira

Sparta Prague - Villarreal 2:4

Scorers: 0:1 05 Cedric Bakambu
              0:2 42 Samu Castillejo
              0:3 45+1-own goal David Lafata
              0:4 49 Cedric Bakambu
              1:4 64 Borek Dockal
              2:4 71 Ladislav Krejci

Teams in bold qualified for the last four. The semi final draw will be on Friday, 15 April at 12.30 CET.

Last predictions from this round

Tonight from 21.05 CET last games will be played in the Europa League from the quarter final. Before this second leg no club has a secure advantage for the next stage, so we should see some fighting and entertaining football.

- Sevilla - Athletic Bilbao. Trailing 2:1 from last Thursday means that the Basques have to win the match. So no draw is suitable for them and from minute one they have to attack Sevilla, who, from game to game is playing very confident at home. Knowing that Athletic will not give up and throw everything at them Sevilla will accomplish another victory.
- Shakhtar Donetsk - Sporting Braga. Ukrainians maybe got the easiest opponent as the Portuguese side is playing awful football as visitors. Where they are in advantage many teams are relaxing after the first leg, Braga is strong enough only to draw, but the home side will win the game
- Sparta Prague - Villarreal. The brave Czech team lost the first game and they will do everything to win this one. Villarreal, who is having some mixed results playing away will certainly like to improve their winning image. The Spanish team will go for a win but Sparta will make us sure that no one will be defeated here.

13 April 2016

New champion awaits Europe as Griezmann stops Barcelona

Atletico Madrid - Barcelona 2:0

Scorer: 1:0 36 Antoine Griezmann
            2:0 87-pen Antoine Griezmann

Free bet for the Spanish derby, part two

Vicente Calderon is expected to be boiled tonight as two old La Liga rivals are playing their quarter final, second leg match. While Barcelona has minimal advantage,  Atletico are determined to progress to the next stage. It is unlikely that this game will go to extra time, or even penalties, but we predict that it will be a stalemate.

12 April 2016

Ronaldo's hat-trick puts Real into last four

Real Madrid - Wolfsburg 3:0

Scorer: 1:0 15 Cristiano Ronaldo
            2:0 16 Cristiano Ronaldo
            3:0 76 Cristiano Ronaldo

Madrid's prediction

If the want to move forward into the next stage, they have to do better from last Wednesday. Real is chasing two goals in tonight's game with Wolfsburg, who, are playing awfully as guests. On the other hand, despite their 2:0 loss in Germany last week Real Madrid is playing a marvelous football and in Bernabeu should seal their passage into the semi finals.

Charges against brutal policeman

Public prosecutor in Portugal has brought charges against a policeman who viciously beat Jose Magalhaes in front of his family. Benfica supporter Magalhaes along with his sons, aged 9 and 13, and his father in 2015 were present at the decisive game against Vitoria Guimaraes. As this match brought Benfica championship title, they were allowed to leave the stadium as they were crushed by jubilant fans. The brutal incident occurred outside the stadium when the fan was beaten, in front of his youngest son who was screaming at the officers while his father has been pushed away. Immediately after it was released and on social media the dramatic video has been sparked outrage across Portugal.
Now charged with assault the policeman, who lied in the statement report, could be fined or face more than 10 years in prison.

Groups determined for round three

Unlike the hexagonal tournament which will start this fall in the CONCACAF region, today its similar event was drawn for Asia.
Twelve national sides, divided into six pots with two teams each, learned their fate with the continuation toward the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Playing in home and away games third round will start from August 2016 and will last until September 2017. 

Group A:
6. Syria
5. Qatar
4. PR China
3. Uzbekistan
2. South Korea
1. IR Iran

Group B:
6. Thailand
5. Iraq
4. United Arab Emirates
3. Saudi Arabia
2. Japan
1. Australia

Two group winners will qualify for the final tournament while third placed teams will go into the next stage where they will face each other.

Guilty Hawit

Ex-FIFA vice president admits today in court that he received bribe in hundreds of thousands of dollars for selling marketing rights for tournaments in Latin America. Alfredo Hawit who confessed in all four conspiracy charges, may spent a maximum of 20 years in prison. The trial will resume in October.
'I knew that it was wrong of me to accept such payments' said in the Brooklyn court on Monday. Although he knew it was wrong, the 64 year old Honduras lawyer still conspired to get companies in Argentina and USA marketing rights in exchange for bribes.

China's big plans

One of the biggest country in Asia, PR China is aiming to become world's football superpower by the year 2050. In the 30 years ambitious Government program, until 2020 in the country should be registered 50 million players from all categories. In order to play this beautiful game - where even the president Xi Jinping is a fan of, in the next six years China will significantly improve their football infrastructure, either renewal or building new, more than 70.000 stadiums plus 20.000 football training centres throughout the country.
And while China's female team is enjoying their world's fame and success as one of the best football nation, its male counterparts experienced their greatest success in the 2002 World Cup where they recorded three loses in the group stage. Nowadays, by just looking at the national team play, China is on the good course to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia while they already qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup edition in United Arab Emirates.

Unchanged old active list

According to 'France football' magazine Lionel Messi is still the world's best paid player with yearly income of 74 million euros. From 2015 the revenue for the Argentine star was increased by 9 million euros in comparison with previous years. In second place is Portuguese and Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo who have 67.4 million euros while Brazilian Neymar Jr. earns 43.5 million euros. All these figures are pre-tax salaries and does not include various bonuses or sponsorship deals.
These three players maintained the same spot in this list three years in a row.

10 April 2016

Semi final spot up for grabs

Sixteen teams from both European cup competitions are fighting to enter into the last four. As it stands no club has the advantage of a secured place into the semi final so the following eight pairs should be very interesting to watch.

In the Champions League two games are divided into two days. Some of them can go into extra time or even penalties and all four matches start from 20.45 CET:

Tuesday, 12 April: Real Madrid - Wolfsburg and Manchester City - Paris St. Germain.

Wednesday, 13 April: Atletico Madrid - Barcelona and Benfica - Bayern Munich.

Next week awaits us the deciders in the Europa League as well. Unlike the Champions where almost every year we are watching the same clubs over and over, in this competition we have disparity of teams and that what makes the Europa League more excitement tournament from the previous one. Also here no teams have clear passage onto the next stage, extra time and penalties are also possible, so from 21.05 CET the next four pairs would be very interesting:

Thursday, 14 April: Shakhtar Donetsk - Sporting Braga, Sparta Prague - Villarreal, Sevilla - Athletic Club de Bilbao, Liverpool - Borussia Dortmund.

Semi final draw in both competitions will be conducted on Friday, 15 April.

American investors interested in Swansea

American duo Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien are in a bid to takeover Premier League side Swansea City. Over the years they have build a strong relationship with its Swansea longtime chairman Huw Jenkins, who will stay at the club's president after the transaction. The Welsh side is hoping the agreement will be reached by the end of this season and the amount is reported to be around 123.8 million euros (100 million pounds).
If the club indeed will be sold by May, one of the priorities for the new buyers will be to expand Swansea's stadium.

09 April 2016

Portuguese coach rejects Asian invitation

Jobless since December, Jose Mourinho missed a good opportunity to coach an Asian team for the first time. The 53 year old rejected Syria of leading them to a global football major tournament - the World Cup. Syria, who is attempting to qualify for the first time in this prestigious competition, are in a good way of achieving that dream by entering the third qualifying round which will begin in August.
As for Mourinho, he will be back coaching another club this summer. Mostly offering his coaching services in Europe, he is obviously not interested to go on international level (yet).

Battle over Neymar Jr.

For its national football association Copa America is (also) an important tournament, but the coach fancies him to see at the Olympics.
Last week Barcelona told the final decision concerning Neymar Jr - that he will play at this summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. But CBF (Brazil FA) tends to fight over the player and wants him to play in both important tournaments this year - Copa America which starts in June and the Olympic Games who will commence in August. The Brazilian striker has said that he likes to play in both competitions but it seems he cannot change Josep Bartomeu's mind who said that the decision has been made. Beginning from 1916 Brazil have won eight times its national championship unlike the Olympic Games who still awaits on their first gold medal. That is why Dunga wants Neymar Jr. so badly to play in the Olympics and (possibly) bring Brazil its gold medal before their jubilant fans in Rio de Janeiro.
As the Olympics are not entered as an official FIFA tournament, the clubs have no obligation to release its players. But less than two months to go for the South American competition, we will see if CBF would reverse Barcelona's decision.

08 April 2016

Pots determined after FIFA's world list

After today's FIFA world rankings list from April the pots are finally known for the third 2018 World Cup qualifying round from the Asian region. IR Iran remained the best team in Asia while Australia are the biggest climbers of 17 places to reach fiftieth position.
Twelve teams will be splitted into two groups with six teams each. Round three will commence from August 2016 and will last until September 2017. The groups will be known on Tuesday, 12 April when the draw will be made in the Asian headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

Pot 1: IR Iran and Australia.

Pot 2: South Korea and Japan.

Pot 3: Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

Pot 4: United Arab Emirates and PR China.

Pot 5: Qatar and Iraq.

Pot 6: Syria and Thailand.

The first two teams from both groups will directly qualify for the World Cup in Russia while third placed teams will face each other in the next - fourth round.

Play-off draw concluded

So far the Asian World Cup qualifying matches and the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers were jointly route to the AFC Asian Cup which will be held in United Arab Emirates in 2019. But from now on, each goes on separate ways. The World Cup qualifying phase will continue with its third round and at least gave us the 12 teams who are going to participate in the Asian Championships. However, three more qualifying rounds will be needed to find out the remaining 12 teams entering the major Asian tournament.
Yesterday the first play-off draw, out of two, was being made. The lowest ranking teams from Asia, from twenty-ninth to thirty-eighth position consist of this first play-off, which brought up some deja-vu ties from just finished Asian World Cup qualifying second round, group matches. Malaysia has been paired with Timor-Leste, with the Malaysians winning 1:0 at Timor-Leste after drawing 1:1 at home in the opening first leg. Both sides occupied last two places in group A. Another bottom clash group B match will happen again with Tajikistan an Bangladesh. Tajikistan drew 1:1 away before thrashing Bangladesh side 5:0 in Dushanbe in the reverse leg. The schedule of the first play-off games is as follows:

1. Chinese Taipei - Cambodia.

2. Maldives - Yemen.

3. Tajikistan - Bangladesh.

4. Malaysia - Timor-Leste.

5. Laos - India.

First leg games will be played from 02 June while reverse matches will take place 07 June.

The losing sides will have another chance to prove themselves in the second play-off round. Made up of just 3 pairs, already in it awaits Bhutan who is the world's lowest rank side in Asia - takes (last) thirty-ninth place.

Losing team 2 - Losing team 5.

Losing team 3 - Bhutan.

Losing team 4 - Losing team 1.

Sixth September will be the first leg and second leg will be played 11 October.

Five winners from the first plus three winners from the second play-off games, together with 16 (mainly) fourth placed Asian World Cup qualifying teams, are going to take part in the third and final round. Over here six groups will be formed with four teams each. 

- Afghanistan, Bahrain, Guam, Hong Kong, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Myanmar, North Korea, Oman, Palestine, Philippines, Singapore, Turkmenistan and Vietnam already awaits the winners. Kuwait's participation is currently uncertain because of the suspension by FIFA. This round will last exactly one year: from 28 March 2017 until 27 March 2018.

07 April 2016

Thursday's first leg results

Athletic Club de Bilbao - Sevilla 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 47 Aritz Aduriz
              1:1 55 Timothee Kolodziejczak
              1:2 83 Vicente Iborra

Sporting Braga - Shakhtar Donetsk 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 44 Yaroslav Rakitsky  
              0:2 75 Facundo Ferreyra
              1:2 89 Wilson Eduardo

Villarreal - Sparta Prague 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 02 Cedric Bakambu
              1:1 45+3 Jakub Brabec
              2:1 63 Cedric Bakambu

Europa League free bets

Every European cup competition week usually ends up with the Europa League. Its quarter final time, first leg with some intriguing matches awaits us tonight from 21.05 CET:

- Athletic Club de Bilbao - Sevilla. After Barcelona - Atletico Madrid two days ago in the Champions League, this is the second Spanish derby in this cup week. Athletic Bilbao look confident at home, never seems to lose matches in the La Liga against this same rival. However, the champions of this tournament have other ideas of the game and despite being a tough opponent for the Basques we believe that they will leave San Mames undefeated.
- Sporting Braga - Shakhtar Donetsk. In their first ever meeting from 2010 Shakhtar defeated Braga 3:0 in this same stadium. Six years later Braga has become stronger and stronger when they are playing at home. Ukranians are also playing well from game to game but a minimal advantage we are giving to the Portuguese side.
- Villarreal - Sparta Prague. Czech team are known as a tricky opponent when they are playing away from home, so Villarreal's job will not be easy tonight. Mostly comprised from home players Sparta may look stronger but we see the Spanish team as victorious.

Unexpected guests in UEFA

These days often mentioned 'Panama papers' affair 'knocked' on the door in UEFA as well. The Swiss federal police raided the organization due to the controversial contract while Gianni Infantino was general secretary. His name was mentioned as a co-sign TV rights contract in 2006 for an Ecuadorian station. Then president, and now disgraced, Michel Platini is also included in the reports as they signed a deal with two Argentinian businessmen who since are mentioned in the corruption scandal. Of course the Frenchman is denying everything while Infantino is astonished.
Owners of the Jinkis company, Hugo and his son Mariano - who are now under house arrest, have sold the European Champions League almost three times expensive than it was originally bought. One of the major broadcaster in Ecuador, who bought the rights - Teleamazonas, is not believed to had done any wrongdoing.

Kuwait games forfeited

Due to the sports law changes in Kuwait and its national FA not independent, FIFA decided its fate about the two unplayed games last month. On 24 March Laos supposed to play in Kuwait while five days later Kuwait had to travel to South Korea. Those games were cancelled because of the Kuwait FA (KFA) suspension and today it was confirmed by the worlds football governing body that both matches were forfeited. Besides that, KFA is also fined with 15.000 Swiss francs (13.754 euros).
Both forfeited results did not had any meaning to the final position in group G. From the group South Korea qualified as champions while second place Lebanon missed the chance to be one of the four lucky winners to progress through to round three.

06 April 2016

Surprise winners in Germany

Wolfsburg - Real Madrid 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 18-pen Ricardo Rodriguez
              2:0 24 Maximilian Arnold

Wednesday's free bet

In tonight's game Wolfsburg welcomes Real Madrid in the quarter final with its first ever meeting. The visitors, which are playing some excellent football at the moment, with all that stars will not allow to be surprised in Germany. We cannot say that Real Madrid will win many goals but a victory here will be enough before the reverse leg next Tuesday.

Primera Division denounces outrage

Just finished El Clasico is again in the news, but this time on negative connotation. La Liga is immediately condemned that during Saturday's game against Barcelona there were anti-gay slurs towards the Real Madrid's star Cristiano Ronaldo. La Liga's report will be send to the Spanish government's committee against intolerance in sport.
The controversial moment happened at the beginning of the match when it was observed a minute silence towards the Dutch legend Johan Cruyff just before the kickoff.

Ten more days to decision

Greek Deputy Sports Minister Stavros Kontonis defies everyone by saying that the domestic cup competition should remain banned for the rest of the season. But FIFA is definitely not satisfied with this decision by saying that the ban has to be lifted or EPO (Hellenic Football Federation) will face consequences. Both UEFA and FIFA send a letter to Greek authorities to reverse the cancellation of the Greek Cup by 1 April. Because that did not happen, now a new deadline is given by FIFA's emergency committee: either reinstate the domestic cup by 15 April or EPO will be suspended (on indefinite time). In other words if Greek authorities fail to reach an agreement to resume the competition, Greece will be excluded of playing official games with EPO suspended from FIFA. With the European qualifiers for the World Cup in Russia starting in September, this elimination will be a real blow to the national team.
Greek Cup was immediately cancelled after chaotic scenes happened on Toumba stadium on 2 March semi-final, first leg game between PAOK and Olympiakos in Thessaloniki where fans hurled flares and missiles onto the pitch in the ninetieth minute.

05 April 2016

Two second half goals from Suarez enough for Barcelona

Barcelona - Atletico Madrid 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 25 Fernando Torres
              1:1 62 Luis Suarez
              2:1 74 Luis Suarez

Camp Nou prediction

Always thrilling El Clasico is over in Spain, but now Barcelona is awaiting another Spanish derby this time in the Champions League. Just four days after Real, tonight the Catalans welcome another Madrid side - Atletico, who might be a little tougher opponent. Both teams know each other very well, it is currently first against second in La Liga and we are expecting to see plenty of entertainment. However this is a completely different match and with an international referee anyone can win. Many think that tonight's game will end up in draw but we give slight advantage to the hosts for victory.

New football affair

Yesterday the Uruguayan lawyer Juan Pedro Damiani, who was also an FIFA ethics committee member, was internally investigated by the organization. Today the news is that Damiani with the ex-FIFA vice president Eugenio Figueredo over Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca controlled about seven off-shore companies. Countryman Figueredo is charged with money laundering, bribe, corruption and financial fraud.
The company is helping clients how to launder money and avoid tax. Out of 11.5 million page documents and 2.6 terabytes of data leaked from Mossack Fonseca the client's list is huge: from world known politicians and their relatives to football players, like Michel Platini, Lionel Messi, Ivan Zamorano, Darko Kovacevic, Gabriel Heinze plus 20 other names. Each one of them are accused of tax evasion in the countries where they live.

04 April 2016

Agent fees list in Germany

From all Bundesliga teams, Schalke paid largest percentage to managers in the last two transfer windows. With 16.9 million euros the Gelsenkirchen club is in front ahead of Bayern Munich who paid 200.000 less. Borussia Dortmund follows the list with 15.8 and Wolfsburg with 12.9 million euros. The only club who paid less than a million is a newly promoted club Darmstadt 98 which singled out 761.000 euros.
This is the first list of this kind published by the DFB (German FA) due to the new FIFA regulations.

More excitement on the way

Six days of quality games, some surprising results and breathtaking goals from various official qualifying tournaments which ended this Tuesday, we are back to club football and from next week, Tuesday until Thursday, more entertaining matches are on the way. In Europe the two best cup competitions are continuing with their quarter final ties, first leg.

In the strongest, Champions League eight clubs left in the tournament. Two matches are divided into two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, and all are starting from 20.45 CET:

Tuesday, 05 April: Bayern Munich - Benfica and Barcelona - Atletico Madrid.

Wednesday, 06 April: Wolfsburg - Real Madrid and Paris St. Germain - Manchester City.

Thursday is a regular day for the second best European competition. Unlike the Champions League, in the Europa League as well Spain is a leading nation who have most teams in quarter final - three. From 21.05 CET the following four pairs will play:

Thursday, 07 April: Sporting Braga - Shakhtar Donetsk, Villarreal - Sparta Prague, Athletic Bilbao - Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund - Liverpool.

Second leg games in both competitions are immediately the following week: 12, 13 and 14 April.

New blow to FIFA

When he took over as presidency at the end of February, Giani Infantino promised a clean FIFA with all the manipulation work part of its history. But today a main member of the ethics committee is being internally investigated for links with a former vice-president and corrupt football official.
Uruguayan lawyer Juan Pedro Damiani and his firm supply legal assistance for off shore companies linked to Eugenio Figueredo. His countryman, Fugueredo, was arrested last May in Zurich and was charged with fraud, money laundering and bribery.
All this high football officials have played its role in FIFA by damaging the organization millions and millions of euros with alleged cases of corruption, but who guarantees for the ethics committee members and are they reliable enough and honest?

Italy has lost a great man today

Former Italy and Milan defender Cesare Maldini has died today at the age of 84. Played his entire football career in his native country, Maldini made more than 400 appearances with the Rossoneri winning for league titles in Serie Before he retired from football in 1966 he took the European Cup with Milan in 1963. Later Maldini became their manager from 1972-1974. Earning 14 caps for Italy, he participated in the 1962 World Cup in Chile.
When in 1996 became an Italian coach, his son Paolo captained the team where in 1998 World Cup Italy reached the quarter final stage. In 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea Maldini took over Paraguay where they reached the last 16 phase.

03 April 2016

Brazilian star out of Copa America Centenario

Dunga's predictions have been substantiated. Just before tonight's El Clasico, the president of Barcelona Josep Bartomeu before Brazilian journalists confirmed that Neymar Jr. will not take part in this summer's Copa America tournament. Instead he will play at the Olympics in August as Brazil are aiming to become Olympic champions for the first time ever and what a nice way to do it than to win and celebrate the gold medal before their own fanatical supporters in Rio de Janeiro at the famous Maracana stadium. The Olympic games are not in the list of an official FIFA tournament, so clubs are not obliged to release its players for the event.
Dunga and his associates went through tough talks of persuading Neymar Jr. to play in the Olympics because of the importance of the tournament for Brazil. They were also hoping that Barcelona will release the player for both competitions and its up to the player to decide which competition will chose but according to Bartomeu 'it will be impossible to release the players twice as they need to have some rest after two strong seasons.
The real losers of Neymar's decision will certainly be the fans around the USA who had hoped they will watch all the stars in this competition.

02 April 2016

Portuguese star ends unbeaten streak

These two weeks break did not suit the Spanish champions. Just finished El Clasico has proven to be fatal of Barcelona's winning streak. With 10 man Real Madrid stops them at the number of 39 consecutive matches without defeat for the Catalans as Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winning goal. This was the first Madrid's win at Camp Nou since 2011/12 season.
Next week Barcelona awaits another (Spanish) derby with another Madrid side - Atletico, as first leg of Champions League quarter final starts on Tuesday.

Suspended referees in Asia

Due to suspicion of match fixing two Thai referees were dismissed by the AFC. Thanom Borikut and Chaiya Mahapab were given 60 days suspension for alleged manipulation of games. However the AFC may extend the ban to further 30 days and also has written to FIFA for a worldwide extension. Today Thailand FA has been notified of the decision.

Two Asian countries move away their Asian Champions League encounters

Until further notice, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates have been chosen as host venues for Saudi Arabian and Iranian clubs for playing the Asian Champions League matches. Because the political tensions of Saudi Arabia and IR Iran did not yet improved, the AFC told these two federations to move their games on neutral ground due to security concerns. That is why the above three Gulf states were chosen as hosts of their games, as Saudi Arabia FA proposed Qatar and UAE while Iran FA picked Oman.

01 April 2016

Stimulus of winning the EURO 2016

The European Championship in France is getting closer and closer and DFB (German FA) already determine bonuses for its players.
Each German competitor will not receive anything if the team fail to pass the group stages or if they lose in last 16. But from then on, premiums are becoming bigger and bigger. For the quarter-finals stage each player will earn 50.000 euros or 100.000 euros for the semi-final. If they lose the final each will receive 150.000 euros, but if the trophy is lifted and become champions of Europe everyone would get 300.000 euros.

Defaulter Eboue

Because of an unpaid debt toward his ex-manager, FIFA has banned Emmanuel Eboue for 12 months.
From 2013 the Ivory Coast international is refusing to pay a debt to his then manager Sebastien Boisseau, and from July 2013 FIFA has threatened him with a ban. As he was not interested in the request, the organization in September 2014 fined the 32 year old with 25.000 euros who sets a new deadline for four months. Then Eboue complained to the highest sports's court (CAS), and when he lost the case he got an additional period of 120 days but even then he remained 'deaf' on the issue.

Undisciplined player fired

After a number of incidents, Wolfsburg said enough is enough. The Bundesliga club is tired of 'deliberate' mistakes Nicklas Bendtner is making and they decided to let him go 15 months before his contract ends. Danish 28 year old lack of professional discipline like, late for training due to oversleeping, refusing to promote the club, hanging out with the fans and also he was accused for insufficient commitment towards the team. On top of that on social networks he attached a picture of how he is posing besides a luxurious Mercedes car, one of the rivals of Volkswagen who is also the main sponsor of Wolfsburg.

Rigorous UEFA

Today the European football organization has banned three clubs who has financial debts. If these trio fail to pay until 31 January, when UEFA has set a deadline, then they would not participate in the European Cup competitions for the next three seasons.
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk are in deep financial problems but despite that they were allowed to compete in last season's Europa League final, where they lost 3:2 to Sevilla. Certainly, the political instability in Ukraine did its part, whereas players reportedly are receiving only parts of their salaries. The other expelled teams are Targu Mures from Romania and Inter Baku. Club statement said that the Azerbaijan club will appeal the decision to the sport's highest court - CAS.
Beside these three one more team is added to this ban. Another Romanian club Astra Giurgiu was also ordered to settle their debts until the same date but UEFA did not give further details on that matter.