La Liga side Espanyol now has 24,500 members. That figure is lower than the 25,000 with which Espanyol closed the previous season, "but the club is close to that mark and there is time to pass it comfortably." Espanyol has 1,100 new members "in comparison to last year at this point," but it "will perhaps be difficult to reach 28,000 members, which was the objective established for the first season of the new project" led by club President Chen Yansheng (SPORT, 8/9).
PRESEASON BOYCOTT: Serie A side Napoli fans' indifference toward their team "reached a new low on Sunday when only 5,000 turned up at the Stadio San Paolo to witness their 5-0 win over Monaco." The club is used to almost filling its stadium for its "high-profile preseason friendlies." However, following the controversial €90M ($100M) sale of Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus, "that enthusiasm has ebbed to the point that the Stadio San Paolo looked almost deserted on Sunday." The club has "reacted to fears the crowd figures may dwindle also once the Serie A season has started by granting all fans who purchased a ticket for their fixture with Nice last week a free ticket for the league clash with AC Milan at the end of August" (ESPN.com, 8/8).
FOOTBALL BRIEFS ...
Everton defender John Stones was "named by the official UEFA website" in the Man City Champions League squad for the playoff match with Steaua Bucharest before he was officially announced as its player. Stones was "listed as the club’s No24." A UEFA spokesperson said, "We have checked with the club [Man City] and the player is in the squad. We received all of the squad lists from the clubs before the deadline -- so before midnight -- and submitted them to our website which is the standard procedure. Maybe it was a misunderstanding between us and them. Possibly they were not aware that it would go live on our website so quickly but for us it’s a standard procedure. It’s the first time that something like this has happened (London GUARDIAN, 8/9).
The Saudi Arabian Football Federation and the Int'l Centre for Sport Security announced the signing of a "new bilateral cooperation agreement to enhance the safety, security and integrity of football in Saudi Arabia." Through this new partnership the ICSS will "work together with SAFF to provide professional services to strengthen existing safety, security and integrity measures currently in place in Saudi Arabian football, as well as utilising the ICSS’s international expertise in this area." In particular, the ICSS will support SAFF in "the fight against match-fixing by helping the federation raise awareness of the problem and spreading knowledge through dedicated workshops covering all aspect of the game" (GULF TIMES, 8/8).
