A judge in Valencia, Spain has agreed to investigate La Liga Valencia's trade of David Villa to Barcelona in '10. Barcelona paid €40M at the time. The court will now review lawyer Andrés Sanchís' complaint that former Valencia President Manuel Llorente and former club VP Javier Gómez, among others, "committed fraud, falsified public documents and used manipulation to embezzle and alter the price of public goods and funds." At the "heart of the matter is club's capital increase" that occurred in '09 (AS, 3/18). ... On Sunday, Real Madrid will meet Barcelona in "one of the most followed sporting events in the world." For "this reason," Honduras' Liga Nacional decided to "completely change its schedule so that no games would coincide with El Clásico." With Real Madrid scheduled to play Barcelona at 2pm in Honduras, two games will be moved to Saturday and another will be delayed so that it "starts just after Real-Barcelona" (MARCA, 3/18). ... Air travelers "face canceled or rerouted flights in Brazil during the World Cup" because of game-day airspace restrictions in the 12 host cities. Only military aircraft "will be permitted to fly" within a radius of seven kilometers of stadiums where football games are being played (BLOOMBERG, 3/17). ... A banner quoting Chinese President Xi Jingping on the importance of tradition and culture, brandished by Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua fans protesting their club’s name change, "was confiscated by police amid angry scenes at Hongkou Stadium on Saturday night" (WILD EAST FOOTBALL, 3/18). ... Japan’s national football team will be heading to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, "accompanied by the cutest video game characters." The Samurai Blue and its official apparel sponsor, adidas, announced that "the Pokemon characters from the popular video game franchise are their official mascots in the world’s biggest football competition" (JAPAN DAILY PRESS, 3/17).
