The Real Madrid Foundation will open an official football academy in Cameroon this week. The project called "Madrid Rumbo al Sure" aims to provide educational and sports material for children in several countries across the world, and "Cameroon is next on the list." More than 100 children from Madrid will travel to Cameroon "to learn about a dozen collaboration initiatives in the country" and take part in volunteer work on the academy (INSIDESPANISHFOOTBALL.com, 7/11).
HOT TICKETS: In Madrid, Rubén Jiménez reported tickets to see Real Madrid train at UCLA on Aug. 4 are "selling for the price of Champions League finals" tickets. VIP tickets, which allow you to meet the players after their practice, are selling for $382. Normal tickets sell for $85. This year, Real Madrid plays four games in the U.S.: The L.A. Galaxy on Aug. 2, Santos Laguna in Las Vegas Aug. 5, AC Milan in N.Y. on Aug. 8 and Celtic in Philadelphia on Aug. 11 (MARCA, 7/11).
PAY TO PLAY: RT reported that Soviet football veteran and Russian Football Union employee Anzor Kavazashvili said Russian footballers refused to come out to the pitch during Euro 2012 until they were promised “crazy” bonuses for representing their country. Kavazashvili said, "Ahead of the first match against the Czech Republic, our players have put a condition that they wouldn’t play unless they were paid a certain sum. In the end, we agreed that at the group stages they’d receive €800,000 (each) for victory and €400,000 for a draw." He added, “This is crazy money, equal to the annual budget of a good sports school or even several of them. It's just awful" (RT, 7/11).
WORLD CUP: COPA2014.gov.br reported that halfway through '12, construction work "related to the 2014 World Cup" has helped host city Belo Horizonte experience a "significant drive in its economy." More than 14,000 jobs have been created with the number on the rise (COPA2014.gov.br, 7/9).
