Orange dials in for another 3-year sponsorship with PSG
By Mark Baber
November 5 – French-based telecoms company Orange has renewed its partnership with Paris Saint-Germain for another three years.
Football Marketing
Palermo links up with Russian currency trader
By David Owen
November 1 – US Città di Palermo, the Sicily-based Serie A club, has acquired an official ‘Global Forex and Binary Options’ partner. The club – known for its pink and black, ‘the sad and the sweet’, colours, adopted in 1905 – has paired up with InstaForex, an online currency, metals and index-trading specialist headquartered in one of the planned 2018 FIFA World Cup host-cities, Kaliningrad.
Sportradar widens its investor base and signs FAM data deal
By Mark Baber
October 29 – The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has signed a deal with sports data provider Sportradar to set up a football management system allowing it to better manage its leagues, data collection and distribution.
Copa del Rey matches switch to YouTube for PPV broadcast in 17 countries
By Tom Parsons
October 28 – The Spanish football league has agreed a deal with Mediapro to broadcast this season’s Copa del Rey games internationally via YouTube as a pay-per-view offering.
Wearable technology pioneer takes game data analysis to next level
By Ben Nicholson
October 26 – As the date nears for companies to present their electronic performance and tracking systems to IFAB and FIFA, Insideworldfootball has spoken to wearable technology market pioneers Catapult about how far the technology can inform decision-making, including in-game, how it can be used generally, and what FIFA/IFAB are looking for.
La Liga preps for €3bn domestic TV rights bonanza
By David Owen
October 26 – Spain’s La Liga is expected soon to start the process of selling domestic broadcasting rights for the next three seasons, in a move it hopes will drive up value by some 50% from the €600 million realised for 2015-16. El País, the much-respected newspaper, has suggested that an auction of these rights for the 2016-17 to 2018-19 period is likely before the end of the year. Spain moved recently to the same collective selling model as that utilised by other leading European football leagues.
Schweinsteiger bullets look-a-like Chinese nazi doll
October 23 – German captain Bastian Schweinsteiger is reported to be considering taking legal action against a Hong Kong company making Nazi dolls that bear a striking resemblance to him.
Pay TV misses out in UK as BBC and ITV to share Euros
October 23 – UK football pay tv broadcast giants Sky Sports and BT Sport have missed out on upcoming European summer TV football festival in France as the BBC and ITV have jointly secured the media rights to EURO 2016.
FIFA to take leap into the wearable technology world
By Ben Nicholson
October 19 – FIFA, alongside The International Football Association Board (IFAB), are looking to develop standardised wearable-technology. FIFA and IFAB have invited producers of electronic performance and tracking systems (EPTS) to present their systems.
Premier League’s Chinese TV rights holder Letv to rebrand
By David Owen
October 19 – Letv Sports & Technology, the Chinese business that last month won exclusive live broadcasting rights for the Premier League in Hong Kong for three seasons from 2016-17, is to rebrand.
Betsafe puts its money on Man City partnership to grow UK sign-ups
October 16 – Manchester City has added online gaming company Betsafe as an official betting partner for both the club’s men’s and women’s teams.
Fantasy league Oulala tickles fancy of UK players with monetised game
By Paul Nicholson
October 15 – Oulala.com, the daily fantasy football platform, has unveiled a new version of its site which is available to consumers in the UK for the very first time. The monetised site allows users to buy into games and play daily and in ‘real time’.
Supponor and ADI combine to boost ad options and distribution
October 9 – Digital pitchside advertising specialists Supponor and ADI have combined their expertise to launch the world’s first broadcast quality LED virtual advertising solution.
Man Utd get ahead in the fashion game with New Era global deal
October 13 – While neighbours Liverpool have hired a manager (Jurgen Klopp) who has a penchant for wearing a baseball hat, Manchester United have gone a more pragmatic step towards conquering the baseball hat world by concluding a sponsorship deal the king of the baseball hat suppliers, New Era.
Klopp’s Kop arrival excites as Liverpool get a big twitter boost
By Paul Nicholson
October 12 – The week of the international break has resulted in some remarkable twitter follower gains for English Premier League clubs with Liverpool in particular putting on more than 50,000 followers and jumping to second place in the weekly ranking.