La Liga "has confirmed that attendances during the first four gameweeks of the season were up 5.2%." The 998,456 spectators "surpassed the 949,035 who attended during the same period last season" (MARCA, 9/21). ... Spanish Football League (LFP) President Javier Tebas "will try to strengthen the league's games played at 4pm," with a look toward int'l markets, so that teams playing at this hour will have bigger audiences. Tebas: "I am going to try to compromise with Atlético Madrid, Valencia, Betis, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona and Real Madrid so that at least once a month they will play at 4pm. It is a way of trying something that other leagues are not doing" (LIBERTAD DIGITAL, 9/21). ... UEFA President Michel Platini on Sunday "vowed to help football grow in Afghanistan, as he visited the capital Kabul and praised players for keeping the game alive through decades of warfare."
Platini's visit "came amid a nationwide surge in interest in football after the
national team beat India 2-0 in the final of the South Asian Football Federation championship earlier this month in Nepal" (AFP, 9/22).
