German bank raising €200m fund to invest in football businesses
November 22 – Private German bank Donner & Reuschel is launching a football and entertainment fund that will focus invest on media rights, private equity and real estate.
Finance
UEFA probe Milan finances as Chinese owner hunts for new equity partners
November 22 – UEFA has asked AC Milan for more information about the club’s financial state before deciding whether to take action for possible breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, according to various sources.
Ashley gets £300m bid for Newcastle United but may hold out for £400m
November 21 – A Dubai-based financial advisory firm headed by British businesswoman Amanda Staveley is reported to have tabled a formal takeover bid in the region of £300 million for Premier League Newcastle United, one of the most iconic and best supported clubs in English football.
Atletico Madrid’s new €50m shareholder Ofer wants money rather than results
November 21 – Atletico Madrid’s new billionaire Israeli shareholder Idan Ofer has has said his €50 million investment in the club is for business reasons and not his love of the game or Atletico.
Arsenal shareholder Usmanov opens €80m talks with Anderlecht for majority control
By Samindra Kunti
November 20 – Arsenal major shareholder Alisher Usmanov has expressed an interest in acquiring Belgian champions Anderlecht but will be up against Belgian entrepreneurs Paul Gheysens and Wouter Vandenhaute in any bid to take control of the club. The current takeover price is at €80 million for 75% of the club’s shares.
Man Utd hit £141m for first quarter as matches ramp up the cash pile towards £585m target
By Paul Nicholson
November 17 – Manchester United are immediately showing the importance of their return to Champions League football announcing a 17% revenue rise to £141 million for the first financial quarter of 2018 ended September 30.
Japan’s DMM takes control at Sint-Truiden as Duchatelet exits Belgian football
By Samindra Kunti
November 16 – Japanese online company DMM is the new owner of Belgian topflight club Sint-Truiden. Charlton owner Roland Duchatelet (pictured) has sold his shares, ending his ties to Belgian football.
Saints owner Gao builds on his Lander Sports credentials in China
November 13 – Lander Sports, the Chinese holding company whose principal Jisheng Gao (pictured) holds 80% ownership of Premier League Southampton, has signed a deal with Zhihui Real Estate to speed up the construction of its sports projects.
Chelsea hit 3-year delay on stadium rebuild, Abramovich hunts down £500m infusion
By Paul Nicholson
November 11 – Chelsea’s development of Stamford Bridge into a new-build 60,000 capacity stadium has been pushed back by at least three years.
Hat-trick of annual profits for Sheikh Mansour’s Man City (just) as revenue hits £473m
By David Owen
November 9 – Manchester City, the Abu Dhabi-owned club whose multi-talented squad under Pep Guardiola already look like waltzing off with this season’s Premier League title, have reported a minuscule pre-tax profit of just £104,000 for 2016-17.
Man City and Spurs have most valuable squads in Europe. Neymar and Kane top player values
November 7 – Manchester City and Spurs have the most valuable squads in Europe, according to research by the CIES Football Observatory. Barca come third in the ranking with Chelsea in fourth spot. All of their squads are valued at over €1 billion.
Moshiri and Usmanov under the money microscope over Everton shareholdings
November 6 – Already in trouble on the pitch despite a come-from-behind victory on Sunday, English Premier League club Everton, who spent around £150 million in the summer to try and break into the top places, are now the subject of a television investigative documentary into who owns them.
Apocalypse now. Report has nothing but bad news for football finance and its governance
October 31 – Professional football clubs are under a growing threat from organised crime. Only 25% of clubs in top leagues worldwide produce publically-available financial reports. And only 40% of national associations are financially viable without the help of FIFA, an organisation whose top officials are being chased down by the US Justice Department under their RICO laws that are used to investigate mafia-style crime rings.
Premier League clubs scrap plans to break parity and give more TV cash to big six
October 25 – Proposals to give a greater share of overseas television revenue to the Premier League’s so-called big six from 2019 has been ditched after no progress was made over the controversial plan.
Bayern post €640m revenue record and €66m profit
October 24 – German champions Bayern Munich have reported a record revenue for the 2016/17 season of €640.5 million. This was despite the club failing at the Champions League quarter final stage and failing to reach the German Cup final – together amounting to an estimated €25 million of lost revenue potential.