August 31 – Cryptocurrency is increasingly making inroads into the commercial football club market with the latest announcement being a strategic partnership between investment finance dealmakers Blackbridge Cross Borders and blockchain technology business SportyFi, operator of the SportyCo platform.
August 28 – Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is poised to restart plans to renovate the club’s west London stadium, Stamford Bridge, though it seems increasingly likely he will not be the owner once the stadium rebuild is complete.
August 23 – Not everything he touches turns to gold. Star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now thumping goal in at the LA Galaxy in the US, has taken a hit himself and has closed his joint venture fashion label A-Z label.
August 22 – Socios.com, the blockchain technology that enables clubs to monetise their fan bases, has stepped up its push into the football business with the recruitment of Magnus Linder from Bettson to head club partnerships and business development.
By Paul Nicholson and Andrew Warshaw
August 10 – The amount spent in the summer transfer window by English Premier League clubs has fallen for the first time in eight years. Clubs spent £1.23 billion in the window that closed yesterday, a drop of £200 million, but still £180 million up on the net expenditure record of £685 million in summer 2016, according to Deloitte figures.
August 8 – Arsenal’s second biggest shareholder Alisher Usmanov has confirmed that he is selling out to Stan Kroenke allowing the American mogul to take full control of the club.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 7 – American billionaire Stan Kroenke, the major shareholder in Premier League Arsenal, looks set to buy the rest of the club in a deal that would value it at £1.8 billion but which, while unifying the shareholding under one owner, is already splitting opinion amongst supporters.
August 3 – Sporting Club de Portugal have filed a complaint to FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) seeking €197 million in compensation for three players who terminated their contracts at the end of last season and subsequently signed for other teams as free agents.
August 2 – The fast-franchising USL has added Professional soccer is coming to Chattanooga as USL Division III today announced its sixth team for the league’s inaugural season.
August 1 – Football agent Jon Smith, one of the first of the so-called band of Super Agents, is behind a fund-raising for a new player agency that will be part-owned by fans.
July 31 – Premier League clubs will generate a combined record £313.6 million for the 2018/19 from shirt sponsorships, according to a Sportingintelligence analysis, the ninth time they have conducted this report.
By Paul Nicholson
July 31 – The attractiveness of French Ligue 1 clubs to foreign investors is undiminished. Girondins de Bordeaux owner M6 Group has announced it has entered into exclusive negotiations with US-based investment fund GACP to sell its shareholding.
July 30 – Sports data specialists Genius Sports Group is to be acquired by a group of funds advised by Apax Partners. The new money will be used to expand internationally, said the company.
July 27 – English second-tier club Queens Park Rangers have agreed a settlement costing almost £42 million with the English Football League after an arbitration panel dismissed the club’s claims that Financial Fair Play rules are unlawful.
July 27 – Real Madrid are going to the financial markets to raise between €400 million and €500 million for a remodeling of their Santiago Bernabéu stadium.