Ahead of Barcelona's first game against La Liga side Eibar "in an official competition," Eibar fans "have appeared surprised by the security measures that Barcelona is demanding from the visiting fans." Barcelona warned that Eibar fans "will be patted down before the entering the stadium, where they will have to arrive two hours before the kickoff." Families "planning to travel with children have also been surprised" to receive notices from Barcelona that "they will not be able to be identifiable with anything related to Eibar, as they will be in a section with Barcelona fans" (MARCA, 10/12). ... A "small pipe bomb exploded outside the offices of Cyprus' referees
association on Monday, police said, confirming a second attack on
members of the profession in a month." The "small-density explosive caused slight damage outside the Nicosia offices of the association." Earlier this year, a bomb "damaged the car" of a prominent int'l referee and head of the association (GLOBAL TIMES, 10/13). ... The Asian Football Confederation has chosen the first week of May next year for its
"eagerly anticipated presidential election, ending months of uncertainty
about a firm date." It is "widely assumed" that Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al
Khalifa, "who won a landslide but highly controversial victory last year"
and whose two-year term ends in '15, will stand for re-election but
"more intriguing will be who else decides to throw their names into the
hat" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 10/13).
