July 27 – The French Professional Football League (LFP) has renewed partnership with BeIN Sports, Orange and Webedia for its e-Ligue 1 for a further two years. Title sponsor Orange will continue in its role until the end of the 2018/19 season.
July 27 –Premier League Liverpool have signed Tibet Water Resources as their Official Regional Water Partner in China.
July 25 – West Ham are in the second group of six clubs FIFA has announced will compete in the first edition of the Interactive Club World Cup (FICWC) competition in London on August 5. Other clubs announced were VfL Wolfsburg, Olympique Lyonnais, Heracles, Sporting C.P. and PSV Eindhoven.
July 25 – Chelsea have issued an apology to the Chinese people over the actions of their young Brazilian player Kenedy who made “offensive social media posts” during the club’s pre-season tour of the country.
July 25 – Manchester City owner City Football Group (CFG) is expanding its business in the US and Canada to grassroots playing and training facilities with UK-based Goals Soccer Centres, the world’s largest operator of dedicated, 5-a-side pitches.
July 24 – The Saudi Arabian-led boycott of Qatari-owned beIn Sport as part of the diplomatic dispute in the region has not prevented the channel being awarded Middle Eastern and North African broadcasting rights for the Champions League and Europa League.
July 24 – Premier League newcomers Huddersfield Town are capitalising on their commercial opportunity with a new record shirt sponsor as well as new and renewed commercial partnerships.
July 21 – Football has always been global but the concept that its biggest club brands are also global opportunities is never more obvious than in the pre-season tours that see the giant of the European club game play ad-hoc tournaments, friendlies and exhibition game across the globe.
July 21- US telecoms giant AT&T has extended its long-running sponsorships with soccer in the country renewing deals with the MLS, U.S. Soccer and the annual Mexican national team tour in the US.
July 19 – Leicester City are the latest Premier League club to announce a shirt sleeve sponsor, taking advantage of the league’s new commercial branding rules. Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) will debut on the club’s shirts in today’s Premier League Asia Trophy match in Hong Kong.
July 18 – Germany’s Bundesliga has renewed one of its key digital gaming partnership with Electronic Arts but at the same time added to the sponsorship category with new partners in Konami and Sega.
July 18 – Liverpool, in Hong Kong on the first leg of their pre-season tour, have announced Japanese firm Falken Tyres as a new global sponsor.
July 18 – Southampton’s main club sponsor Virgin Media has added the shirt sleeve sponsorship to its package. The media brand will now have its logo on the front of the shirt and the newly created sleeve position.
July 17 – Online bookmaker Tempobet has signed a second shirt sponsorship deal in the English Football League, becoming principal partner at one of the Football League’s founding clubs Preston North End.
By Mark Baber
July 14 – The German football association (DFB) is trading in its Mercedes-Benz deal for a shiny new model from disgraced carmaker VW, reportedly worth €25-20 million per year. Mercedes have been the DFB’s main automotive sponsor since 1972.