Premier League: Alan Irvine (Scotland) to manage West Bromwich Albion through 2015

Alan Irvine (Scotland) will manage West Bromwich Albion (Premier League) until June 2015, the club announced on 14/06/2014. He will replace Pep Mel (Spain) who was fired for poor performance on 12/05/2014. Irvine, 55, had managed the youth academy of Everton (Premier League) since June 2011. West…

Brazil 2014: France trained the most World Cup players of any country, according to CIES

56 players trained in France are participating in the 20^th World Cup (in Brazil, from 12/06 to 13/07/2014), making it the country with the greatest "contribution to the development of selected players," according to a study by the CIES Football Observatory (International Centre for Sports Studies…

Serie A: Film producer Massimo Ferrero buys Sampdoria Genoa

Edoardo Garrone, the owner and president of Sampdoria Genoa (Serie A), announced the sale of the club to Massimo Ferrero, a film producer and owner of 60 cinemas in Rome, on 12/06/2014. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. "When I took over Sampdoria, I had two objectives," said Garrone…

Brazil 2014: 780 sofas set up in Union Berlin's stadium for World Cup

Union Berlin (2.Bundesliga, Germany's second division) is allowing football fans to install their sofas for free on the grass of the An der Alten Försterei stadium (capacity 21,738) in order to watch the 2014 World Cup (Brazil, 12/06 to 13/07/2014) matches in front of a large screen…

Serie A: Stefano Pioli (Italy) to follow Edoardo Roja as Lazio manager

Stefano Pioli (Italy) will manage Lazio (Serie A) for 2014-15 with an option for an additional season, the club announced on 12/06/2014. He will replace Edoardo Roja (Italy), who had held the post since 04/01/2014. Roja had in turn had replaced Vladimir Petkovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) who was…

Ligue 1: Paris SG beat their record with 32,500 subscribers for 2014-15 (hospitality excluded)

Paris-Saint Germain (Ligue 1) have beaten their own record by hitting their limit of 32,500 subscribers (hospitality excluded) for the 2014-15 season, the club announced on 13/06/2014. Subscribers have 70% of the 46,400 seats sold for Parc des Princes, said Paris SG. Non-hospitality subscriptions…

Liga: FC Barcelona achieve over 1m followers on Chinese social network Sina Weibo

FC Barcelona (Liga) have over 1,171,170 subscribers on the Chinese social network Sina Weibo, the club said on 12/6/2014. The Spanish club offers exclusive news and photos on its official page, and hopes to take advantage of the more than 500m users of Sina Weibo to improve its digital coverage in…

Top Federation kit and equipment supplier contracts

Financial Fair Play: Paris SG limited to five locally trained players out of 21 for European Cup

"Should a club be entitled to register a maximum number of 21 players on the A list, the minimum number of places exclusively reserved for 'locally trained players' shall be five instead of eight, of which a maximum of four shall be 'association-trained'," UEFA (Union of European Football…

Brazil 2014: 76.5% of World Cup players belong to European clubs (ECA study)

Out of the 736 players (32 teams of 23 players) in the 2014 World Cup (06/12/2014 to 13/07/2014), 563 players (76.5%) play in European clubs, according to the "ECA Player Release Analysis" published by the European Club Association (ECA) on 10/06/2014. "The clubs are the roots of football and…