By David Owen
August 28 – Gianni Infantino’s New FIFA may have enjoyed the odd commercial success, notably with esports, but it has failed to reignite the body’s value as a marketing vehicle for international corporations. This has been treading water since FIFA was engulfed by reputational issues in the final days of the Blatter era.
August 26 – Private equity is a step closer to investing in the Italian top flight with firms CVC Capital Partners and Advent International preparing a joint bid of €1.3 billion for a minority stake in Serie A.
August 21 – Manchester City’s owners City Football Group (CFG) are reportedly still in discussions to buy French second division club ESTAC Troyes.
By Paul Nicholson
August 18 – German giants Borussia Dortmund have reported a loss of €43.9 million for the 2019/20 financial year ending June 30 on revenues of €486.9 million. The club had reported a €17 million profit in 2018/19.
By David Owen
August 18 – Michel Platini once told me that he would be annoyed if one day, when asked how their club had got on, football fans replied that the shares had gone up, rather than giving the result of a match.
August 18 – In the latest twist and turn in the long-running Newcastle takeover saga, a Singapore-backed company Bellagraph Nova Group (BNG) has claimed it has opened ownership talks with the Tyneside club.
August 12 – Serie A’s Atalanta, who face PSG in the quarter finals of the Champions League tonight, have unveiled Intesa Sanpaolo as a club sponsor and banking partner who lead on the financing of a €40 million stadium redevelopment.
August 11 – Barcelona pay their players an $12.28 million annually, more than any other club in the world. That is more than a million more than Real Madrid (the world’s second highest payers) at $11.5 million.
August 11 – It isn’t every day that the prime minister of a country gets involved in a specific club take-over, but Boris Johnson has called on the English Premier League to explain why it neither approved nor rejected the recently failed Newcastle United deal.
August 6 – An exciting new era looks in store for Roma, with Texas-based Italian-American billionaire Dan Friedkin signing a deal to purchase the famed Serie A side.
August 6 – Arsenal’s head of recruitment is among 55 staff redundancies as the club became the first in the English Premier League to announce significant job losses caused by the effects of Covid-19.
By David Owen
August 3 – Pandemic-related lockdowns and travel restrictions have wreaked havoc with football schedules. But the enforced isolation of individuals and family groups for weeks on end in many soccer-mad countries is evidently doing no harm at all to the video-gaming and esports booms.
July 31 – The UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules are not completely in tatters after the Manchester City case. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled against an appeal filed by Turkish club Trabzonspor that will see them banned from next season UEFA club competition.
July 30 – Real Madrid are the world’s most valuable football brand according brand valuation specialists Brand Finance. Barcelona are valued just €6 million behind them while Man Utd rank third, €105 million behind Real, but €62 million ahead of all-conquering but fourth ranked Liverpool.
