The
official emblem of the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017 was
unveiled on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, the host city for the tournament. The FIFA Club World Cup trophy shape was used as a starting point for the emblem. The design draws inspiration from the UAE's history, heritage and culture. The iconic ball, created from Arabic calligraphy meaning Emirates, is featured at the top of the emblem (
FIFA).
Brazil’s Santa Catarina state league "signed up with Sportradar’s match-fixing security service to monitor league matches." It is the second of the state leagues, after São Paulo, to "bring in the company’s Fraud Detection System to monitor betting patterns." The multi-year contract will cover the southern Brazilian state's 92 league matches each season (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 4/11).
The Court of Arbitration in Sport on Monday "backed FIFA's ban on third-party player ownership but softened a suspension" against Belgian second division side Seraing United, which has been "at the heart of a legal battle over the issue." FIFA banned third-party ownership in '15, calling the practice a "threat to the game." Seraing United was fined 150,000 Swiss francs and "banned from making deals for four transfer windows in September of the same year" for its links with Maltese-based firm Doyen in player deals. CAS said that it had "confirmed the validity" of the FIFA regulations on transfers but that it "considered that the sanction imposed on the Belgian club was too severe." The transfer ban was "reduced to three windows" (AFP, 4/10).
Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said that the club was "in advanced talks with Philipp Lahm over the vacant sporting director post and were surprised he turned it down." Lahm, 33, will retire from playing at the end of the season and was "linked with the sporting director post, which has been unoccupied since Matthias Sammer resigned last summer." However, Lahm and Borussia Monchengladbach Sporting Dir Max Eberl "ruled themselves out" (ESPN.com, 4/11).
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is "looking for a former national football player to facilitate investigation into a match-fixing case" involving three Malaysian Indian Sports Council-Malaysian Indian FA players. MACC is seeking out Khairul Anuar Baharum, "among local football players" (NEW STRAITS TIMES, 4/11).