Brasileiro side Sport Club do Recife "employed fans’ mothers to act as stewards in the hope it will discourage supporters from fighting." The club "trained around 30 mothers for Sunday’s derby against Nautico and put them to work patrolling the pitch perimeter dressed in high visibility vests" bearing the words Seguranca Mae -- "Security Mums" in Portuguese (London GUARDIAN, 2/9). ... Morocco has been banned from the next two Africa Cup of Nations "after failing to host this year's tournament." The country's football federation was also fined $1M and ordered to pay €8M ($9M) in damages. CAF also fined hosts Equatorial Guinea $100,000 "for crowd trouble during Thursday's Africa Cup of Nations semi-final loss to Ghana" (BBC, 2/6). ... The Spanish and Portuguese professional football leagues announced on
Monday their intention to "challenge FIFA's ban on third-party ownership of players to the European Union's competition commission." The Spanish Football League (LFP) and the Portuguese Football League (LPFP) said in a joint statement, "The
prohibition of third-party ownership constitutes an economic agreement
that restricts the economic liberty of clubs, players and third parties
without any justification or proportionality. This ban damages the clubs, principally those
with less economic resources, preventing them from sharing with third
parties the economic rights of the professional players in their squads
and to manage their financial obligations in the most prudent form" (AFP, 2/9). ... Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Angel Maria Villar said in a statement that he supported the Asturian Federation's decision to go on strike over the weekend. Some 750 games were suspended in Asturias over the weekend, with "every team from group 2 of the Third Division to the last category of youth football in a historic strike." Villar: "The RFEF wants to express its support for the position taken openly, democratically and unanimously by the 160 attendees at the assembly held on Feb. 3, 2015" (SPORT, 2/9).
