Football

Ipswich Town FC and England Under 19 teenage midfielder Teddy Bishop has been charged with breaching Football Association rules in relation to betting. The 18-year-old, who came through the academy system at Portman Road, faces a charge of committing “alleged multiple breaches” of the guidelines. Bishop has until June 1 to respond to the charge, the FA said on its …

Following a tough run of customer-friendly results, Britain’s bookies will be hoping for a favourable boost from next week’s UEFA Champions League Final. Data collected by global payments leader, Worldpay, during the 2014 Final between fierce rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid reveals that the volume of transactions processed by Britain’s online bookies spiked by a massive 23 per cent on the …

Italian police anti-corruption unit has arrested 50 people, including players, club officials and a Calabrian mobster in connection with accusations relating to match fixing. The arrests have been made in relation to a dozen investigated matches in Italian football’s third tier professional league. Giving further detail regarding the arrests the Italian police said it had gained substantial evidence on the …

The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has confirmed that Ladbrokes will become its title sponsor for the next two seasons. The deal announced this morning is believed to be worth £4 million and will see Ladbrokes gain marketing coverage throughout Scottish football’s four professional leagues. SPFL football divisions had been without a sponsor since 2013, when the league was restructured. …

Championship football club Blackburn Rovers has confirmed that sports betting operator Dafabet will become its official shirt sponsor for the 2015/2016 English football season. Blackburn Rovers confirmed that the sponsorship agreement is worth seven figures plus bonuses for Rovers and will last a minimum of three years. Dafabet will also become the Lancashire football clubs official Asian betting partner Alan …

The Times has reported that Sportech Plc is considering the potential sale of its UK Football Pools business. The Liverpool based betting pools and wagering systems operator who recorded a 5% decline in EBITDA earnings to £24 million, are reported to be open to listening to offers as the company looks to focus on expanding its US facing racing division. …

Addressing the Soccerex Asian Forum in Jordan on the issues of sports corruption and match fixing, Chris Eaton Executive Director of the International Centre for Sports Security (ICSS) urged attending delegates to push for all Asian nations to adopt a “transparent, legalised, regulated and supervised sport betting, so there will be far less money to fix football or any other …

Spain’s Council of Ministers has banned Real Madrid & Barcelona from exclusively negotiating their television rights deals, in the upcoming and future La Liga broadcast licensing negotiations. The two biggest football clubs in La Liga (Spain’s premier football division) will be forced from 2016 to share in a collective TV Rights pool which will be distributed and controlled by La …

George Harborne, Head of Partnerships at Premier League side West Bromwich Albion, reveals some reserach the club has done into naming rights for stadia. Old Trafford, Anfield, Bramall Lane, Goodison Park, The Hawthorns and the list goes on. English football has an abundance of beautifully historic stadia, all adding to one of the countries football primary unique selling points – …