The French Football Federation exec committee met on Aug. 31 to analyze the candidates for the upcoming UEFA presidency. FFF President NOËL LE GRAËT met with three of the candidates in the past weeks. Following the meeting, the FFF decided to give its support to ALEKSANDER CEFERIN. Acknowledging the legitimacy of ÁNGEL MARÍA VILLAR and MICHAEL VAN PRAAG’s programs to succeed MICHEL PLATINI, the FFF considers Ceferin’s candidature the best for the future of solidarity between federations (FFF). ... Kienbaum Bobsleigh World Champion ANJA SCHNEIDERHEINZE from Germany won the 2016 Kienbaum Award. The 38-year-old is the first winter athlete to win the award. The Kienbaum Award, named after the German Sports High Performance Center in Kienbaum near Berlin, has been awarded by the DOSB since '12 for role model athletes who represent values like the Olympic idea, fair play, respect and teamwork (Int'l Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation). ... The IOC has stripped Cuban discus thrower YARELYS BARRIOS of the Silver Medal she was awarded at the Beijing 2008 Games "after she failed a new anti-doping test." The IOC said that reanalysis of Barrios's samples from Beijing 2008 "resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance acetazolamide, a diuretic and masking agent" (PA, 9/1).
'NO LIES': A report into the "serious regulatory concerns" surrounding a charity run by DIDIER DROGBA is "due to be released by the Charity Commission within a month." In April, the London Daily Mail claimed that just £14,115 ($18,730) out of £1.7M ($2.3M) donated to the Didier Drogba Foundation "had gone to help causes in Africa." Former Chelsea player Drogba is "taking legal actions over the claims." He called the Mail's story "false and defamatory." In a statement, Drogba said, "There is no fraud, no corruption, no mismanagement and no lies" (BBC, 9/1).
SUPER AGENT: It is difficult to say how much the signing of MARIO BALOTELLI to Ligue 1 side Nice will give “super-agent” MINO RAIOLA, but Raiola’s work during the transfer window has “allowed him to cash in about” €30M ($33.5M) in commissions. That is more than the €21M ($23.5M) annual salary of CRISTIANO RONALDO. Raiola can thank his “golden egg” PAUL POGBA for most of his earnings, whose transfer from Juventus to ManU earned the Italian €20M ($22.4M) (20 MINUTES, 9/1).
