Down and out Mouscron files for bankruptcy
June 1 – Mouscron has filed for bankruptcy, bringing to an end last-minute rescue attempts by the club and the city to find a new investor.
Finance
Huddersfield and Nottingham Forest vie for £170m+ riches of world’s most valuable match
May 27 – Forget the Champions League final, the most valuable fixture in world football will be played on Sunday between Huddersfield and Nottingham Forest at Wembley.
Was Chelsea a £4.25bn rip off? Real Madrid top ranking by club value, ahead of Man Utd and Barca
By Paul Nicholson
May 26 – Chelsea may have been the biggest deal ever done for the sale of a football club, but the club isn’t the most valuable in Europe, Real Madrid are, according to the latest football club valuation report by Football Benchmark.
Matt Scott: An explosion of truth could blow everything up at Chelsea
“Quand on enferme la vérité sous terre, elle s’y amasse, elle y prend une force telle d’explosion, que, le jour où elle éclate, elle fait tout sauter avec elle.” Émile Zola, J’accuse
Abramovich failure to give legal guarantees raises new questions over Chelsea sale
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
May 17 – The much-publicised £4.25 billion sale of Chelsea to a US-led consortium is reported to be at risk of collapsing because of a dispute between the UK government and owner Roman Abramovich over where the funds might end up.
LaLiga reports 24% drop in 20/21 club revenues but forecasts a return to €4bn+ revenues this season
March 11 – LaLiga’ clubs generated total revenues of €3.818 billion in the covid-impacted 2020/21 season, a 24.1% drop in revenue on the 2019/20 season.
Liverpool vs Real Madrid; €998m vs €816m; €276m defense vs €242m attack
May 10 – UEFA has added a new club competition this season but it is still clubs from the Big 5 leagues that are dominating the final rounds. A report by Football Benchmark links that dominance directly to player and squad values.
Boehly group completes £2.5bn Chelsea deal; Ratcliffe told to get on his bike
May 8 – Chelsea have confirmed that terms for the club’s sale have been agreed with the consortium led by LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly, financed by Clearlake Capital, and with US investor Mark Walter and Swiss businessman Hansjoerg Wyss along for the ride.
Counting the cost of covid: Ligue 1 records massive €645m deficit
May 6 – France’s Ligue 1 has reported a mammoth deficit of €645 million for the 2020-2021 financial year because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the collapse of the transfer market.
Benfica striker Núñez heads ranking of highest value players outside Big-5 leagues
May 6 – With the transfer window about to re-open the big clubs in Europe’s Big-5 leagues will be looking for value buys. But buying outside the Big 5 leagues doesn’t necessarily mean buying cheap.
Spurned by US seller, Ratcliffe bangs the drum for keeping Chelsea British
May 5 – British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone public saying he is “not giving up” on taking over Chelsea despite apparently being told to forget his £4.25 billion offer.
Chelsea sale clouded as Abramovich wants debt repaid and Ratcliffe questions US money
May 4 – The imminent sale of Chelsea is reported to have hit a potential snag over fears that owner Roman Abramovich might renege on his pledge to write off a £1.6 billion debt.
Boehly gets to third base in bid for ownership of Chelsea
May 3 – A consortium led by the Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly has been chosen as the preferred bidder for Premier League club Chelsea despite a last-gasp bid from the UK’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, according to UK media reports.
OneFootball raises £300m to drive growth and push business into blockchain and NFTs
April 28 – Football media platform OneFootball has raised $300 million to accelerate its growth and in particular an expansion into Web3, a new iteration of the internet based on blockchain technology.
Investcorp set to close on €1bn acquisition of AC Milan
April 27 – AC Milan could be in the ownership of Bahrain-based private equity group Investcorp by the end of this week, according to reports.