Real Murcia will play in the Spanish third division's Grupo I during the upcoming season following relegation for financial reasons. The team will have to make 19 trips to cities as far from Murcia, located in southeast Spain, as Santiago de Compostela, which is located 1,009km away in northwestern Spain. Real Murcia's shortest road trip will be 594km. The team will travel a total of 15,676km this season -- with its average bus trip expected to take seven and a half hours and cover 825km (MARCA, 8/11). ... Swiss Football Federation Head of Refereeing Carlo Bertolini said that "the vanishing spray will make its debut in the Swiss Football League next spring." He said, "It wasn't possible to introduce it earlier, but starting with the second half of the season the spray will be used here" (BLICK, 8/11). ... Visiting fans "will not return to Argentine football stadiums" in '14, but the "door is open for a return the following year." Province of Buenos Aires Sports Secretary Alejandro Rodríguez said, "It could happen starting next year, when there could be two new laws to modify the Penal Code and reclassify fan gang crime." Of an immediate return, Rodríguez said "it is a rumor, there are no possibilities of visiting fans returning" (CLARIN, 8/10). ... League Championship side Norwich City is "promising to clamp down on any supporters found guilty of using racist abuse after fans brought an incident at Molineux to their attention." It "is believed that a handful of the visiting support aimed abuse at a Wolverhampton Wanderers player, thought to be their recent signing, Rajiv van La Parra." The family of a black Norwich player was "believed to be closeby" (LONDON TIMES, 8/11). ... Sports data provider Sportradar has "penned an agreement with the Thai Premier League to monitor betting" during the '14 season. The association builds on the organization's existing partnerships in the region with the Asian Football Confederation and Football Federation Australia (FFA), and will see Sportradar "scrutinise betting behaviour and patterns for all 380 games of the campaign, including those games that were completed earlier in the year" (SBC NEWS, 8/11). ... Fans carrying iron bars got into a "heated confrontation" before the Brasileiro match between Corinthians and Santos that marked Robinho's return to Santos on Sunday. Nearly 100 fans clashed before the game at the Vila Belmiro Stadium. Video footage showed fans "swinging iron bars and throwing rocks and other objects at each other on the streets outside the stadium." Some Santos supporters "aimed firecrackers at their rivals" (AP, 8/10).
GHANA WARNED: FIFA said in a written warning to the Ghana FA that it risks an int'l ban if the country "conducts a government-ordered Commission of Enquiry into its World Cup campaign." After the "disastrous campaign" in which more than $3M "had to be flown from Ghana to Brazil to pay the players -- two of whom were later thrown out of camp for disciplinary reasons -- Ghana President John Mahama called for a review." FIFA, however, "prohibits governmental interference in the running of a national association" (BBC, 8/8).
GERMANY APPROVES VANISHING SPRAY: The German Football League (DFL) has approved the use of vanishing spray in Germany's top two divisions. The League Association Board voted unanimously in favor of the measure (Bundesliga).
