January 7 – Move over Neymar and Mbappe. Real Madrid and Brazil’s Vinicius Junior is the most valuable player in the world according to the latest player transfer valuations by the CIES Football Observatory.
January 7 – After a drawn-out sales process, Crystal Palace co-owner David Blitzer and Ryan Smith’s Smith Entertainment Group have become the new owners of Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise Real Salt Lake.
January 6 – Singapore-based investment fund ACA Football Partners has taken ownership control of KMSK Deinze, the Belgian second-division club has announced.
By Paul Nicholson
January 5 – Premier League Southampton have a new majority owner with Sport Republic acquiring the 80% shareholding held by Chinese investor Jisheng Gao.
By David Owen
December 31 – European champions Chelsea have reported a massive loss for the covid-impacted 2020-21 season. The West London side posted pre-tax losses of £155.9 million, compared with a £35.7 million profit the previous year, when figures were buoyed by the sale of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid.
December 30 – Italian Serie A champions Inter Milan are reportedly close to signing off a sale to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) as the country expands its football portfolio and its push into the football economy.
December 30 – Belgian club Anderlecht have announced a loss of €29 million, but the club claims that with last week’s capital injection bankruptcy has been averted.
December 21 – Barcelona can’t afford players to keep their playing squad competitive in European competition, but that hasn’t stopped the association’s members mandating the board to raise up to €1.5 billion to pay for the Espai Barça project.
December 20 – Brazilian legend and Real Sociedad owner Ronaldo has obtained a controlling stake in his old club Cruzeiro, which has been struggling in the second division of the Brazilian game.
December 17 – The on-going saga of the sale of Derby County is throwing up a number of potential takeover names but one bidding group in particular is starting to catch the eye, at least from a good governance perspective.
December 15 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) players in the US will be getting a wage boost in the form of cryptocurrency following the announcement of a multi-year sponsorship with Voyager Digital.
By Paul Nicholson
December 14 – The newly formed Australian Professional Leagues (APL), operators of the men’s A-League and women’s W-League, has sold a 33% stake to US investor Silver Lake for an estimated $100 million.
December 10 – There is still big money in youth development despite an overall stagnation in the transfer market. A new transfer value analysis of the Big 5 leagues says there are 15 players under the age of 23 who could command a transfer fee of €100 million or more.
By Paul Nicholson
December 9 – Two days before LaLiga’s clubs are scheduled to vote on the Impulso Project which will see CVC inject almost €2 billion into the league, the Spanish FA (RFEF) and its president Luis Rubiales have issued a statement against the fund raising and questioning its legality under Spanish law.
December 9 – Real Madrid has agreed a €225 million loan extension to complete the Santiago Bernabéu remodelling. The club said the loan was required work “not forseen” in the initial plans.