European football's governing body UEFA is investigating 40 cases of suspected match-fixing involving Champions League and UEFA Cup games. Most of the alleged cases involve clubs from eastern Europe.
Clashes between Spanish and Italian clubs was a theme of the Champions League draw on Thursday night and it continued on Friday, with the Europa League draw. The clash between Villareal and Lazio will be one of the highlights of the group stage.
Aston Villa's manager Martin O'Neill has a lot of work to do, as his team lost their playoff first leg against Rapid Vienna Thursday 1-0. Elsewhere, French side Toulouse saw off Turkey’s Trabzonspur with a decisive 3-1 win.
After Real Madrid's multi-million dollar bids for Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, the president of UEFA, Michel Platini (pictured), has expressed shock at "excessive transfers" which he sees as "a serious challenge to the idea of fair play".
FIFA plans to have five on-field referees in an experiment during the next season of the Europa League, the renamed UEFA Cup. The two extra officials will monitor the penalty boxes to help with the tough calls close to goal.
Shakhtar Donetsk became the first Ukrainian side to win the UEFA Cup title in Istanbul on Wednesday, beating Germany's Werder Bremen 2-1 in extra-time, thanks to goals from Brazilians Adriano (pictured) and Jadson.
Germany's Werder Bremen will clash with Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk in Istanbul, where the UEFA Cup final will be played for the last time before it becomes the Europa League next season.
UEFA has confirmed four host stadia in Poland for the Euro 2012 tournament organised by Poland and Ukraine. But, out of four proposed sites in Ukraine, only Kiev has been accepted so far due to doubts over the infrastructure of the other venues.
Werder Bremen upset the odds with a 3-2 away victory over German rivals Hamburg in their UEFA Cup semi-final. Bremen will face Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk, who earlier ousted arch-rivals Dynamo Kiev, in the May 20 final in Istanbul.
Shakhtar Donetsk got the better of Ukrainian arch-rivals Dynamo Kiev in the second leg of their UEFA Cup semi-final clash to book a place in the May 20 final in Istanbul, where they will play either Hamburg or Werder Bremen.
