March 24 – The World Football Forum 2017 held their official launch in Changsha, China yesterday. Their timing could not have been better as later in the day at the Changsha stadium, the Chinese national team stunned Asia with a 1-0 win over South Korea in World Cup qualifying – the first time the Chinese have beaten the South Koreans in more than 40 years.
March 23 – As Bundesliga CEO Christian Seifert was talking about his international growth strategy for the Germany’s top tier league, two of his member clubs – Bayern Munich and Wolfsberg – were opening offices in China.
March 23 – FC Barcelona have officially unveiled their Barça Innovation Hub (BIH) with the aim of positioning the club as the leader in sports knowledge, innovation and technology.
March 22- Bundesliga CEO Christian Seifert may have expressed concerns about the dominance of Bayern Munich in the German league, but that debate has not held back his bullish expectations and strategy for growth of the league, especially internationally.
March 22 – Champions League final tickets are on sale and will set buyers back £390 for a Category 1 seat at the Cardiff venue on June 3. Bayern Munich fans who protested at the price of Arsenal away tickets, will be apoplectic at the cost if their team reaches the final.
March 22 – The Players’ Tribune, a US-based website set up for sportsmen and women to tell their personal stories and express their views, wants to pull in English Premier League players and other footballers across Europe.
March 21 – Italy’s Internazionale have signed car manufacturer SWM Motors as an official partner with the company’s SWM X7 becoming the Official Car of F.C. Internazionale for the Greater China area.
March 21- Liverpool became the fourth Premier League club to break through the 7 million Twitter follower barrier this week. They put on 27,100 new followers for the week.
March 17 – Manchester City have become the first Premier League club to sign a sleeve sponsorship for next season when the league relaxes its branding exposure rules.
By Paul Nicholson
March 17 – It has been a busy week in the sports broadcast market with UK Culture Secretary Karen Bradley referred 21st Century Fox’s £11.7 billion bid for full control of Sky to communications regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority – Sky are the Premier League’s dominant TV partner. In France, Qatari owners have pumped in another €600 million into beIN Sports to cope with losses believed to at more than 1 billion.
By Paul Nicholson
March 16 – With Issa Hayatou no longer president of the Confederation of African Football and the future of CAF general secretary Hicham El Amrani uncertain under the incoming presidency, there is also a question over whether the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) and Presentation Sports will continue with their complaint against CAF over the award of a 12-year marketing rights package to Lagardère Sports for $1 billion.
March 15 – The past week has been a good one for growth in Twitter followers to Premier League clubs. Manchester United topped the weekly growth stats again with 70,500 new followers compared to 59,200 the previous week.
March 14 – Leicester City, battling to save their Premier League season and status, have received encouragement from their long term sponsor, snack manufacturer Walkers, who are rebranding “one of its most popular flavors of crisps in a sign of support” ahead of the club’s Champions League tie tonight (Tuesday) against Spain’s Sevilla.
March 13 – Premier League Liverpool have added a new official partner with Halewood Wines and Spirits joining the club’s sponsorship roster.
March 10 – Manchester City continue to dominate growth on Facebook with 133,600 new Facebook likes this week – a 0.57% growth. This is 55,000 more new likes than local rivals Manchester United who grew by 78,780.