Football

Spanish Liga football club Barcelona has agreed to pay a fine of €5.5m ($6.13m) to the Spanish authorities to settle a long-running tax fraud case relating to the 2013 signing of Brazilian superstar Neymar.

The Chinese business sector has furthered its investment in football after it was confirmed today (Tuesday) that LED signage manufacturer and operator the Ledman Group has completed a takeover of Australian A-League club Newcastle Jets.

Fifa has today (Monday) said that professional services firm KPMG has elected to step down as its auditor after more than a decade of service, with world football’s governing body stating that it “welcomes” the chance to work with a new partner.

European football’s governing body Uefa has said it will assess security measures in the wake of the violent clashes that have marred the opening of Euro 2016, and has threatened the Russian Football Union (RFS) and English Football Association (FA) with expulsion from the national team tournament in France should incidents continue.

A group of Chinese and American investors have acquired a controlling 80-per-cent stake in French Ligue 1 football club Nice.

French President Francois Hollande has issued a warning to unions considering striking during the country’s hosting of Uefa Euro 2016, saying that he is prepared to take “any necessary measures” to ensure the national team football tournament runs smoothly.

Football’s global governing body Fifa has named the host venues for the 2016 edition of its Club World Cup tournament, which will take place in Japan.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has dismissed allegations that he helped cover up a top footballer’s positive doping test as “silly” and “unconvincing”, adding that he and Russia were being smeared as payback for winning the hosting rights to the 2018 Fifa World Cup.

Aleksander Ceferin, head of the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS), has become the second individual to formally announce his candidacy to succeed Michel Platini as president of Uefa, football’s European governing body.

South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) president Alejandro Dominguez has formally confirmed that Brazil will host the 2019 edition of its Copa America national team tournament.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko is set to run for re-election as the president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), it emerged yesterday, as fresh allegations of a doping cover-up in Russian sport emerged.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) is in advanced talks over an agreement that would see its Copa America national team tournament hosted on a permanent basis by the United States, according to reports.

Chinese conglomerate Suning Holdings Group announced this (Monday) morning the completion of a deal to take over Inter Milan and set a target of restoring the status of the legendary Italian outfit to being one of the world’s top 10 football clubs.

Premier League football club Swansea City has confirmed that it has been taken over by US businessmen Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan.

Lawyers acting on behalf of Fifa, football’s global governing body, said today (Friday) that former top officials Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves pay rises and bonuses totalling nearly CHF80m (€72m/$82m) over five years.

The German Football Association (DFB) has announced a profit of €3.5m ($3.97m) for its 2015 financial year, stating the results demonstrate it is on a “stable economic base”.