July 17 – Premier League Arsenal look set to lose their recently announced sponsorship by Chinese electric vehicle makers BYD. The club appear to have been caught in a suspected sponsorship fraud after the carmaker announced that a suspect had been arrested for securing fraudulent deals.
By Paul Nicholson
July 16 – Saudi Arabia quickly responded to FIFA’s statement that it was to take legal action in Saudi Arabia against pirate television channel beoutQ that broadcast every match of the World Cup in Russia illegally to the kingdom, saying that it welcomed the FIFA action.
July 16 – Premier League West Ham United is swapping its MRF Tires sleeve sponsor for financial services firm Bassett & Gold. No term or value was given for the deal that sees an expanded sponsorship package than the previous one-year deal with MRF.
By Paul Nicholson
July 13 – French champions Paris Saint-Germain have signed a three-season official partnership with French motor manufacturer Renault.
By Paul Nicholson
July 12 – FIFA has stepped back into the beoutQ piracy debate ‘urging’ Saudi Arabia to support efforts to stop the copyright theft taking place in the country and saying that it will take legal action in Saudi Arabia to protect its rights.
July 12 – US brand Kohler has become a global partner of Manchester United in a multi-year partnership that will see the company take the club’s sleeve branding.
July 12 – Championship play-off winners Fulham – who in doing so guaranteed themselves a £160 million three-season Premier League income stream – have capitalised further on their promotion with a club record two-year sponsorship with global betting brand Dafabet.
July 11 – Online bookmaker Betway, which has just added two top-tier LaLiga clubs to its sponsorship roster, has now signed its first Italian club, AS Roma.
July 11 – Manchester City have announced a global multi-year partnership with water technology company Xylem. The company will also partner with Man City’s sister club New York City FC and the Manchester City women’s team.
July 10 – Reports are that Facebook has snapped up its second major European league with a live TV rights deal with LaLiga for the Indian subcontinent.
By David Owen
July 10 – Belgium will try to keep the Adidas flag flying at Russia 2018 in St Petersburg tonight.
July 10 – Vitality, already the stadium naming partner at Premier League Bournemouth, has become Chelsea’s official health insurance partner.
July 9 – The US Soccer Federation is to hold its first football-specific hackathon on Chicago, July 14-15, at the 1871 – Chicago’s Centre for Technology and Entrepreneurship.
By Paul Nicholson
July 6 – Italian football faces a sponsorship crisis following a government proposal to ban on all gambling advertising, including sponsorship or promotional deals with gambling companies.
July 6 – The entry of the giant OTT streaming services into the top tier football rights market is gathering pace with Facebook agreeing an estimated £260 million deal for live Premier League matches in south-east Asia.