Football

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke has warned that Brazil’s 12 host cities for the 2014 World Cup have “no choice” over the organisation of Fan Fests for this summer’s national team football tournament.

AC Milan has moved to deny the latest takeover speculation surrounding the club, rejecting reports that Singapore-based businessman Peter Lim has made a €500m ($690m) bid for the Serie A football team.

Michel Platini, president of European football’s governing body Uefa, said he does not expect clubs that breach its Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules to be banned from next season’s Champions League or Europa League club competitions.

English Premier League football club Liverpool has unveiled plans to expand its Anfield home to a capacity of around 58,800 as it bids to end a long-running saga over the future of its historic stadium.

The field of contenders for hosting rights to Uefa Euro 2020 has been narrowed ahead of Friday’s deadline for submission of final bid dossiers, with Poland, Portugal and the Czech Republic all withdrawing their candidacies for the national team football tournament.

The English Football Association (FA) has suffered a £34m (€41.8m/$56.9m) drop in income during a year in which the governing body set a record for the amount it re-invested in the sport.

Spanish Liga football club Barcelona will be able to strengthen its squad during the summer transfer window after Fifa elected to suspend a ban it had imposed on the Catalan giant.

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke has stated Sao Paulo’s Arena Corinthians will be ready for the opening game of the 2014 World Cup, but added that organisers “don’t have a single minute to lose” to complete preparations.

US football team New York City has announced Yankee Stadium will serve as its home ground when it debuts in Major League Soccer (MLS) next year.

Qatar 2022 has elected to reduce its stadium development commitment for the Fifa World Cup from 12 to eight, according to the Bloomberg news agency.

Marco Polo del Nero will assume the presidency of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in 2015 for a four-year term after being elected unopposed as Jose Maria Marin’s replacement.

Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioner Don Garber has announced Atlanta as the latest location to be awarded an expansion franchise for the North American football competition.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has ratified plans to expand its flagship Asian Cup national team competition from 16 to 24 teams at its executive committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Italian football registered a six per cent fall in attendance during the 2012-13 season while the debt of Serie A clubs increased to €2.947bn ($4.1bn), according to an annual report by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

The much-hyped Indian Super League (ISL) took another major step towards its launch on Sunday as the likes of Spanish Liga club Atletico Madrid, cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar (pictured) and Sourav Ganguly and Bollywood stars were confirmed as owners of the eight teams that will compete in the new football competition.

Dutch Eredivisie football club PSV Eindhoven has joined forces with sports data and video content company Infostrada Sports and pan-European telecommunications firm UPC to launch its Connected Stadium project.