June 6 – Big players do big things. While Ronaldo was scoring two goals to win the Champions League final in Cardiff, Wales, with Real Madrid, Lionel Messi was in Beijing launching a football theme park that will bear his name in Naijing, China.
June 6 – Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Zamalek have announced they will boycott the Qatari-owned television network beIN Sports following the damaging diplomatic rift between Qatar and several Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
June 6 – CONCACAF has signed the Allstate Insurance Company as its Official Insurance Sponsor for all championships for the next four years. No figure has been disclosed for the deal that also included four-year renewals of deals with the MLS and the Mexican national team’s US tours.
June 5 – The first football sponsorship fall-out from the cutting of diplomatic ties by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt with Qatar, has been the cancellation of Saudi club Al Ahli’s shirt deal with Qatar Airways.
June 5 – With less than two weeks to go before the tournament starts, FIFA has secured a domestic TV deal in Russia to broadcast the 2017 Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup with national sports channel Match-TV.
June 6 – Australian football, currently challenged by a slow moving reform process at federation level, has better news for stakeholders on the broadcast front with Ten Network announcing it has acquired the exclusive free-to-air rights to A-league and national team matches.
June 1 – What is more exciting, watching a Champions League match or being a passenger in a Nissan GT-R at 250km/h driving around the iconic Spa racetrack? Champions League sponsor Nissan have compared both via their Excitement Index methodology, though one wonders if in this context it should be renamed the fear index.
June 2 – A survey by Champions League sponsor Mastercard has seen British football fans voted the most passionate in Europe. ‘The 12th Man’ study saw 32% vote for British fans, ahead of 16% for Spanish fans and 12% for Italian fans.
June 2 – Italian league and Cup double winners Juventus who tomorrow face Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Cardiff, have confirmed that their Juventus Stadium will be renamed Allianz Stadium from July 1.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – FIFA’s links with China have been further cemented by the announcement of another Chinese World Cup sponsor, with smartphone company Vivo named as the latest commercial backer for both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
By Samindra Kunti
May 31 – Brazilian broadcast giant TV Globo has fallen out with the Brazilian FA (CBF) and will not cover the national team’s two friendly fixtures in June in Australia.
May 30 – New Balance has added its first European national team to its roster, picking up the kit sponsorship of the Republic of Ireland (FAI) national team from the start of the 2017/18 season. The US sportswear firm is also sponsor of Costa Rica and Panama.
May 26 – Premier League Tottenham Hotspur have extended their shirt deal with insurance group AIA until the end of the 2021-22 season. The club announced the extension while on their post-season tour to Hong Kong at AIA Group’s headquarters.
May 25 – Premier League West Bromwich Albion have quickly signed Chinese construction for Palm as the club’s main sponsor after Chinese online betting firm K8 pulled out of their two-year deal after just one season.
May 24 – Manchester United convincingly topped the Twitter growth stats for the 2016-17 season putting on more than 2 million followers over the season. Arsenal also increased their Twitter followers more than 2 million while another two clubs – Chelsea and Manchester City – had increases of more than 1 million over the season.