After "much wrangling," the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) confirmed Atlético Madrid's Vicente Calderón as the host stadium for the Copa del Rey final on May 27. Atlético will "vacate the historic arena in the summer" to move to its new home, the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano. The Calderón hosted last year's Copa final, in which Barcelona defeated Sevilla (MARCA, 2/13).
Repairs to damage to La Liga side Celta Vigo's Balaídos stadium "have concluded." Celta's home Europa League game against Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday "is expected to be held with all safety." Vigo Mayor Abel Caballero said that the works "consisted of reinstalling portions of the roof that had fallen, an area of 20 square meters" (EFE, 2/13).
La Liga side Espanyol's game against Las Palmas on March 10 will "be Espanyol's sixth Friday game this season." Espanyol CEO Ramon Robert said, "We understand that people are upset, Friday is not a day that is convenient. ... We want to talk with La Liga, we have a meeting scheduled, and one of the points is this: they are giving us a lot of Fridays, with so many teams there should not be some that only have to play one game on a Friday" (AS, 2/13).
Calls have been made for children under the age of 10 to be "banned from heading footballs." Former Wales int'l Iwan Roberts made the comments after a university study suggested heading a football caused "small but significant changes in brain function" immediately afterward. Roberts encouraged the FA of Wales to make the "correct decision" and "ban the practice for kids under 10." Roberts said, "I think it would be a brave move from the FAW if they were to take this stance" (WALES ONLINE, 2/13).
A football fan was killed and several others injured after "violence erupted in Rio de Janeiro before Sunday's Botafogo-Flamengo match," Brazilian news reports said. The "clashes" took place before the Rio de Janeiro state championship game that Flamengo won 2-1. Police "eventually brought the violence under control with rubber bullets and tear gas" (REUTERS, 2/13).
Questions over the "reliability" of goal line technology "are being raised in France after an apparent failure in the system in a Ligue 1 game on Saturday." The match between Toulouse and Bastia was goalless when, after 17 minutes, Toulouse goalkeeper Alban Lafont made a "reflex save" on his goal line from the visitors' Prince Oniangue. Though the ball did not appear to have crossed the line, Bastia "hoped to confirm that" with the goal line technology images. But none were able to be shown on TV or on the giant screens inside the stadium. A Bastia spokesperson said, "After talking to the TV production crew, we got confirmation the goal line technology cameras didn't work" (ESPN.com, 2/13).
Tunku Sultan Ismail "emerged as the hot favourite to lead Malaysian football for the next four years after the Johor royal confirmed his participation" in next month's FA of Malaysia presidential elections. The Johor Crown Prince "will contest the hot seat" against former Kelantan President Tan Sri Annuar Musa at the FAM elections on March 25 (ESPN.com, 2/13).
