By Samindra Kunti
December 12 – The Chinese owners of FC Sochaux-Montbéliard have given assurances that the French club is financially secure and will compete in next season’s Ligue 2.
By David Owen
December 8 – Brighton and Hove Albion, pressing hard for a place in the Premier League for a second consecutive season, have highlighted the financial balancing-act facing upwardly mobile clubs with ambitions of top-tier football. The high-flying Seagulls from the English south coast have reported a pre-tax loss for the year to 30 June 2016 so substantial that it outstripped turnover for the same period.
December 9 – The English Football Association has suspended Leeds United’s controversial Italian owner Massimo Cellino (pictured) from all football activities for 18 months and fined the Italian £250,000 for breaking transfer regulations.
December 9 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur reckon that 3,000 construction jobs will be created by the build of their new 61,000 capacity stadium, many of them going to local people.
By Andrew Warshaw
As if he didn’t have enough problems trying to defend the inconsistent displays of his Manchester United team, Jose Mourinho is now facing calls for an investigation into his tax affairs after leaked documents to a group of European media outlets suggested that he and other leading figures – most notably Christiano Ronaldo –made transactions that could be construed as tax avoidance.
December 5 – Completion of the sale of Serie A side AC Milan by Silvio Berlusconi to the Chinese investors now looks certain not to be completed on December 13, and could be pushed back to the end of February 2017 as the Chinese investors wait for government authorisation for the release of their money.
By Paul Nicholson
November 30 – German giants Bayern Munich join Barcelona, Manchester Untied and Real Madrid as the fourth club to break the €600 million revenue mark. Reporting revenues of €626.8 million for the 2015-16 season, the Bavarians added more than €100 million to their previous revenue figure of €523.7 million.
November 30 – The sale of AC Milan by Silvio Berlusconi to Chinese investors looks increasingly certain to take longer than the December 13 completion deadline. Berlusconi is now saying that he would be prepared to allow a 6-week extension, for a further non-refundable down-payment.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – The findings of the biggest global survey to date of working conditions in men’s professional football has thrown up a raft of startling conclusions, destroying the myth that most players live in a protective bubble, drive fast cars and lead enviable millionaire lifestyles.
November 24 – AC Milan’s long awaited sale to new Chinese investors is now scheduled to complete December 13, but there seem to be some doubts on whether the sale will complete following remarks made by owner Silvio Berlusconi.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
November 18 – The full scale of the pressure on Jose Mourinho to succeed in his first season at Manchester United has been underlined by the revelation that the club will lose more than £20 million in sponsorship income from Adidas if they fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League. But the club says it is still on course to hit record revenue of between £530 million and £540 million for the full year.
November 17 – As this weekend’s Milan derby approaches with both clubs now in the hands of Chinese investors, officials are questioning the authenticity of one of the deals.
By Paul Nicholson
November 15 – Dieter Hahn (pictured), the controversial and secretive boss of German media corporation Constantin Media and a key figure behind the scenes in the alleged cash for votes scandal around the Germany 2006 World Cup bid, has engineered a stunning boardroom coup that leaves him in control of Constantin which is to restructure as a sports only business.
By Paul Nicholson
November 9 – The polarisation of financial power around Scotland’s two big clubs, Celtic and Rangers, was emphasised again with Aberdeen reporting a record £13.4 million turnover, up £337,000 from last year.
November 8 – A Spanish judge has re-opened the case against Brazilian star Neymar and his father to stand trial on fraud charges relating to his 2013 move to Barcelona from Santos.