By Mark Baber
February 16 – Carlsberg, the Official Beer of UEFA EURO 2016 and the England team, has launched its campaign for this summer’s Euros and claims the tournament will be worth £60 million to pubs in the UK.
By Paul Nicholson
February 12 – The long held lead by Arsenal as the Premier League club with the most Twitter followers is likely to end this week with Manchester Untied having closed the gap on their London rivals to just 6,500 followers.
February 10 – Top Eleven has launched the 2016 version of its online football game and added in functionality allowing game players to train their squads and manage their clubs. The game, which has over 130 million registered players on Android and iOS apps, has also upgraded its browser-based version of the game. A Facebook version is planned.
February 9 –The Premier League has unveiled its new logo for the 2016/17 season. Gone is the Barclays title sponsorship but retained is the crowned lion’s head giving a nod to the past while providing for a shiny upgrade to the league’s visual identity.
February 8 – Manchester United, giants of the small screen when it comes to TV ratings, have hooked up with big screen Hollywood film distributors 20th Century Fox to promote the studio’s films at its home game.
By David Owen
February 5 – AC Milan have followed local rivals Internazionale in announcing a partnership with Le Sports, the Chinese internet company. The former LeTV is becoming the Italian club’s official new media partner in mainland China. The deal is said to “span three consecutive seasons” culminating with 2017-18.
By Paul Nicholson
February 4 – The expected entry of the giant US Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) operators into the so-far under exploited European markets has happened with a bang, with Boston-based DraftKings landing in the English market with deals with Arsenal, Liverpool and Watford.
By Mark Baber
February 3 – Sunderland AFC have become the latest Premier League club to launch a Mandarin version of their web site, building on the success of their Chinese social media platforms Sina Weibo and Tencent WeChat and working in association with the club’s principal partner Dafabet.
By Mark Baber
January 29 – Nike is believed to be reviewing its partnership with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), although details of why this is happening is unclear, with Nigerian media widely blaming review on the bad run of results by the men’s national team.
January 29 – With Europe’s giant clubs generally focusing on expansion opportunities in developing football markets like Asia and the US, Premier League Liverpool has turned their attention closer to home with the launch of club websites and online stores in French and Spanish.
By David Owen
January 29 – Italy’s Internazionale has agreed a deal for Le Sports, the former LeTV, to become the exclusive broadcast partner for the club’s TV channel in mainland China.
January 29 – Start-up Dutch firm SciSports has raised €1.35 million to develop its BallJames three-dimensional pixel technology that is used to enhance football data analysis.
January 28 – Premier League commercial giant Manchester United has announced a new partnerhip in drinks brank YOU.C1000, which becomes the club’s Official Isotonic Drinks Partner in Indonesia.
By Paul Nicholson
January 27 – The Premier League’s bumper €2.4 billion per season deal that kicks in with the 2016 season start has been well documented. Other leagues have looked on in envy and anticipation of good things to come in their home markets. Football Benchmark has looked at the macro-economies of the European countries to see if the English deal is justifiably much bigger than their European counterparts.
January 26 – Mitre, a brand of UK-based Pentland Group, has been unveiled as the new official match ball sponsor of Singapore’s S. League in a new five-year deal which sees the world’s oldest manufacturer of footballs become the league’s official football and product supplier.