Football

Fifa has unveiled the reforms that football’s global governing body will ask its members to adopt at a special congress in February 2016.

The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) has today (Tuesday) said it will submit itself to an investigation by Fifa’s Ethics Committee and ordered an independent forensic audit into its unsuccessful joint bid with neighbours Belgium for the 2018 World Cup.

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini today (Monday) came out fighting against their eight-year bans handed out by Fifa’s Ethics Committee, with the Fifa president describing himself as a “punching ball” and the Uefa leader, previously regarded as Blatter’s heir apparent, labelling proceedings “a true mockery.”

The adjudicatory chamber of Fifa’s Ethics Committee has today (Monday) issued eight-year bans to president Sepp Blatter and Uefa president Michel Platini, but has determined that the case concerned failed to constitute a corrupt payment.

Crystal Palace has confirmed that American businessmen David Blitzer and Josh Harris have acquired a stake in the English Premier League football club.

Suspended Fifa president Sepp Blatter is awaiting the verdict of the Ethics Committee he helped create after appearing before the body in a case that could see himself, and suspended Uefa president Michel Platini, banned from football for years.

English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur has had revised plans to develop what will be London’s biggest club football stadium approved by its local Haringey Council.

Spanish LaLiga football club Real Madrid has suffered a fresh blow in its efforts to redevelop the Santiago Bernabeu stadium after the city council rejected the plans, stating they were not in the public interest.

Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) has reduced its Major League Soccer (MLS) ownership interest to a single franchise after a group led by Mexican-American businessman Gabriel Brener acquired its interests in Houston Dynamo.

Dutch Eredivisie football club FC Twente has been banned from European competition for three seasons after the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) ruled it “deliberately misled” the governing body over its relationship with Doyen Sports Investments, a subsidiary of private investment fund Doyen Group.

Real Madrid explained its new data-driven fan engagement project with Microsoft to an international group of journalists and analysts in Madrid in November. SportBusiness Group analyst Lukas Zajancauskas was there.

Hassan Al-Thawadi, secretary general of the organising committee for the 2022 Fifa World Cup, has said Qatar has been unfairly “singled out” for criticism surrounding its preparations for the national team football event, stressing that no labourer has died on tournament construction sites.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed David Nakhid’s appeal against his exclusion from the race to become the next president of football’s global governing body Fifa.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) will hold elections on January 26 to form a new Executive Committee designed to instigate major reform at the governing body, following the latest developments in the Fifa corruption scandal.

Uefa has confirmed it is considering introducing goal-line technology (GLT) for Euro 2016 ahead of its possible use in the Champions League and Europa League next season, while prize money has been substantially raised for next summer’s edition of the leading national team event of European football’s governing body.

The 2015 UEFA Champions League semi-finals presented an opportunity to enhance customer datasets by adding social media activity generated around the matches.