Here are some of last week’s top stories from around the global soccer industry…
Paraguay officials raid South American soccer confederation CONMEBOL (Reuters)
Paraguayan state prosecutors on Thursday raided the headquarters of South American soccer confederation CONMEBOL after a request for cooperation from U.S. justice officials probing corruption inside world soccer, the prosecution office said.
CONMEBOL lawyer Cristóbal Cáceres said the raid was linked to the case pending in the United States against former long-time confederation chief Nicolás Leoz, who was indicted for corruption and is facing extradition.
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FIFA Ethics Body Informs Blatter, Platini on Grounds for Ban (Bloomberg)
FIFA’s Ethics Committee has notified Joseph “Sepp” Blatter and European soccer boss Michel Platini of its reasons for banning them for eight years over an unauthorized 2 million-Swiss franc ($2 million) payment, according to a statement on the sporting body’s website.
“After receiving the grounds for the decisions, both officials may lodge an appeal with the FIFA Appeal Committee,” it said on Saturday. Agence France-Presse reported that UEFA President Platini will file his appeal on Monday.
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Video Assistance in Football Moves Step Closer (FC Business)
Video assistance could be set to be introduced in football after the International Football Association Board (The IFAB) indicated it could give permission for experimentation with the technology for match officials.
Its use was discussed during The IFAB’s Annual Business Meeting (ABM) held at the Royal Garden Hotel in London on Thursday 7 January, where the Board of Directors gave a strong recommendation that experiments could be given the green light at the 130th Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held in Cardiff from 4 to 6 March.
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UEFA rounds out Euro 2016 national sponsor list (Soccerex)
Abritel-HomeAway has become the sixth and final national sponsor of Uefa Euro 2016.
The deal will see the French portal of the HomeAway group broaden its inventory of short-term property lets for fans travelling to the European soccer tournament to support their national teams. Visiting groups will be able to rent entire properties as an alternative to hotel stays.
Abritel-HomeAway is the first short-term rental provider ever to sponsor the Uefa European Championship.
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New MLS club LAFC welcomes Will Ferrell as co-owner: ‘This is not a joke’ (the guardian)
Los Angeles FC, the MLS expansion club expected to begin play in the 2018 season, unveiled its swanky new colors and crest in a glittering gala ceremony in LA on Thursday. Then Will Ferrell joined the party.
About 25 minutes into the presentation, where the club’s new black-and-gold colors were laid out, Ferrell got up on stage, and plonked a chair between co-owner Peter Guber and LA mayor Eric Garcetti. Mia Hamm, the former US women’s national team star and another of the LAFC co-owners, asked the comedian: “You want in?”
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Prince Ali: Fifa presidential candidate ‘tough enough’ for job (BBC)
Fifa presidential candidate Prince Ali of Jordan has told BBC Sport he is “tough enough” to lead football’s world governing body. He also insisted he could be trusted as he attempts to bring about “real change” at the crisis-hit organisation. Fifa is under investigation after alleged corruption by some of its most powerful figures.
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IFAB overhauls rules to make football more user-friendly (ESPN FC)
The International Football Association Board in London this week approved re-written laws of the game, overhauled by football’s rule-makers in an attempt to remove inconsistencies and make them more user-friendly.
A 22,000-word document has been halved to 12,000 words over the last 18 months. The new laws will be ratified at the body’s March meeting, and will be in force for the European Championship in June. They include changes such as sending players off for pre-match fights, permitting the ball to go in any direction at kickoff, allowing more players to be treated on the field and stopping teams benefiting from players being punished.
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Florida Cup: Atletico aiming to expand the club’s brand with U.S. tournament (Goal.com)
Atletico fans’ passion is big enough to overcome distance and boundaries, and Galo Doido’s presence and impact on the Florida Cup’s backstages last Friday in Orlando proved so. But that’s just the first step, as president Daniel Nepomuceno wishes to use the club’s participation in the tournament to expand Atletico’s brand in the world market even further.
“Atletico is, nowadays, a valuable brand, as it receives numerous invitations to take part in friendly tournaments. Unfortunately, because of our tight schedule, we aren’t allowed to always be present,” Nepomuceno said.
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Chelsea wage bill pushes them £22m into the red despite Lukaku sale (Inside World Football)
Rising payroll costs were partly responsible for pushing Chelsea back into the red last season, new figures have shown. The Chelsea FC company accounts for the year to 30 June 2015 put aggregate payroll costs at £215.6 million, up from £190.6 million, an increase of 13%.
This helped push operating expenses at the struggling Premier League champions, who recently replaced José Mourinho as manager with Guus Hiddink, to £378 million, resulting in a group operating loss of £63.7 million. A £42 million profit on the sale of players including in-form Romelu Lukaku and Ryan Bertrand was chiefly responsible for restricting the pre-tax loss to £22.7 million.
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Sensoria partners with Microsoft on new soccer data dashboard, using sensors in players’ shoes (GeekWire)
In recent years, the clearest way to improve a sports team’s performance has been to gather more data about each player, using stats and numbers to provide a more complete picture of how the team can improve. Today, smart clothing company Sensoria and Microsoft are announcing a partnership that will let soccer teams keep better tabs on what players are doing on the pitch.
The collaboration uses Sensoria’s biometric sensors built into a set of smart soccer boots, connected to a system powered by the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. Sensoria, which is also based in Redmond, Wash., already has a smart sock that tracks pace, steps and other biometric data, and partnered with Renault last year to build a smart racing suit for professional racecar drivers.
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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.
