Here are some of last week’s top stories from around the global soccer industry…
New Year noose tightens: Swiss hand over bank docs to US prosecutors (Inside World Football)
Switzerland’s federal justice authorities have handed over the first batch of bank documents to their US counterparts in relation to the corruption scandal that has engulfed FIFA’s north, south and central federations.
The Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said the package of evidence will be used in the criminal investigation that has so far seen 41 individuals and marketing companies indicted in a $200 million network of bribes and kickbacks stretching back over two decades.
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Labour’s Ex-Finance Chief Ed Balls Named Chairman of Soccer Club (Bloomberg)
Norwich City soccer club has appointed the U.K. opposition Labour Party’s former finance spokesman Ed Balls as chairman.
Balls, 48, takes up his non-executive role with immediate effect, the English Premier League club said in a statement on its website Sunday.
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Suspended Guatemalan judge pleads not guilty in U.S. soccer case (Reuters)
A suspended Guatemalan judge who was arrested while aboard a Disney cruise ship has pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes in exchange for media and marketing rights to World Cup qualifier matches.
Héctor Trujillo, who was secretary general of the Guatemalan soccer federation and a judge on the country’s Constitutional Court until his Dec. 4 arrest, entered his plea on Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, a spokeswoman for Brooklyn prosecutors said on Thursday.
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ESPN invites five FIFA Presidential candidates to debate before election (ESPN)
ESPN has invited the FIFA presidential candidates to take part in a televised debate, the network confirmed on Tuesday.
Five candidates are bidding to replace Sepp Blatter as the leader of the world governing body, with an election set for Feb. 26.
Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Tokyo Sexwale, Gianni Infantino and Jerome Champagne have met FIFA’s requirements for entry, and ESPN has welcomed them all to express their views to the public.
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Soccer league files lawsuit over NFL occupancy for Super Bowl 50 (NBC)
The peeved parents of a youth soccer league in Santa Clara are seeking legal action after losing soccer fields for the next two months due to Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium.
According to Ramona Giwargis of the San Jose Mercury News, the Santa Clara Youth Soccer League filed a suit on Wednesday in hopes of stopping the NFL from taking over soccer fields adjacent to the stadium. The space is expected to used as a media village for the Super Bowl, a stipulation agreed upon by the city in bidding for the championship in 2013.
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Salman will be FIFA president and more: 12 predictions for 2016 (Sports Illustrated)
The calendar says it’s January now, but I’m already thinking ahead to the time from June 3 to July 10. That’s when the U.S. will host the Copa América Centenario and France will welcome the world to Euro 2016. So get ready for Euro games during the U.S. day and Copa games at night. Get ready for wall-to-wall TV coverage featuring the best players in the world. Get ready for a summer soccergasm.
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Reports: Robert Sarver, Steve Nash try to buy Spanish soccer club (Phoenix Business Journal)
Phoenix Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver and former Suns and Los Angeles Lakers player Steve Nash are part of a group trying to buy a soccer team in Spain.
ESPN FC and other media outlets report Sarver and Nash are looking to buy Real Club Deportivo Mallorca in Spain’s second divison.
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New year, new TV billions: Premier League rules the world, with foreign sales of games set to hit £1 billion a year in 2016 deals (Daily Mail)
The Premier League are close to completing the sale of overseas TV rights for 2016-19, which will allow executive chairman Richard Scudamore to deliver lucrative New Year tidings to his clubs.
The astonishing bottom line, according to a forecast by The Mail on Sunday, will add up to £3.2billion for the foreign rights alone for those three years.
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FIFA and IAAF endure grim 2015 but corruption crises far from over (the guardian)
Far from shaking off a hangover on New Year’s Day, the dank fug that enveloped world sport in 2015 as it lurched from crisis to crisis like a drunken reveller looks set to only intensify in the coming months.
For those looking through a glass half full, the past year was one where light was finally shone on dark corners and the stench that had emanated from the black granite boardroom in Fifa’s opulent $300m headquarters for decades began to clear.
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Michel Platini’s Dubai trip may lead to FIFA ethics committee probe (SkySports)
Banned UEFA president Michel Platini could face further investigation from FIFA’s ethics committee after attending an awards ceremony and conference in Dubai on Sunday despite being barred from all football activity.
Platini was handed an eight-year ban from the game by the ethics committee on December 21.
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This article originally appeared on Business of Soccer. To learn more about BOS you can follow them on Facebook or Twitter.
