Spain's Anti-Violence Commission served the Valencia fan "who threw a bottle at Barcelona players" with a €3,001 ($3,270) fine. The incident took place toward the end of Barcelona's 3-2 win over Valencia in October. As well as the fine, "the fan who threw the bottle has also been issued with a six-month stadium ban" (MARCA, 11/10).
Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund "has surpassed local rivals FC Schalke in terms of membership numbers." Dortmund has added around 3,000 new members since the start of the season, while Schalke gained only around 800. That means Dortmund is the new No. 2 in the Bundesliga with 144,141 members. Bayern Munich sits on top with 277,000 members (SPONSORs, 11/10).
FIFA said that more than 30,000 tickets for next year's Confederations Cup in Russia “have been sold on the first day of their availability.” Russian news agency TASS reported that tickets for the tournament went on sale at 1pm Moscow time “and were swiftly snapped up.” FIFA said, “Overall, 30,000 tickets have been sold over the first day. Five percent of the tickets were bought by foreigners, with Chileans taking the lead with a big margin, followed by the fans of the German and U.S. football teams” (ESPN.com, 11/10).
FIFA has upheld Football Kenya Federation’s decision “to have 18 teams in Kenyan Premier League” from ’17. World football’s governing body ordered the Kenyan Premier League Ltd. to constitute a top flight comprising of 18 teams from ‘17. FIFA has upheld FKF’s idea of “having 18 teams in KPL” as opposed to the league managing body’s wish to have 16 (GOAL, 11/9).
With India hosting the FIFA U17 World Cup in ‘17, the country’s football “is undergoing a revolution.” This is “being spearhead by vigorous work on the grassroots level in an attempt to change the whole ecosystem of football from bottom to top.” All India Football Federation President Praful Patel said, “We are right now investing actively with passion to develop football in India and take it to a higher level. ... Our entire focus is on the grassroots and that is why I can say that Indian football is headed in the right directions as results are visible to us” (PTI, 11/10).
