Spain’s MediaPro secure Serie A TV rights in €1.05bn deal
February 7 – Italy’s Serie A has accepted Spanish’s MediaPro offer for rights to broadcast matches for the 2018-21 seasons at just above €1.05 billion.
Unhappy ending. Thai FA chief Poomunmuang borrowed $9.5m from brothel owner
February 7 – The reputation of Thai football, for years under the control of the now disgraced Worami Makudi, has been rocked yet again – this time involving Makudi’s successor Somyot Poompunmuang, the country’s former national police chief.
Koeman returns to Holland to pick up the national team challenge
February 7 – Ronald Koeman, a legend in his playing days but whose two managerial spells in the English Premier League with Southampton and Everton ended with him being sacked, has taken over as head coach of his national team with a view to restoring credibility after the failure to qualify for the World Cup in Russia.
India offers Constantine new contract through to end of 2019 Asian Cup
By Samindra Kunti
February 7 – The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has offered national team coach Stephen Constantine an extension of his contract up to the end of the 2019 Asian Cup. The Englishman qualified India for the continental championship, but within federation circles doubts rose about his suitability to take India forward.
FC Tuscon and South Georgia Tormenta are first franchises for USL’s new Division III
By Paul Nicholson
February 7 – The fledgling third tier professional division of US football – USL Division III has named FC Tucson as the second fanchise, following the announcement last week of South Georgia Tormenta FC as the first founder member of the league scheduled to kick off in 2019.
Crowd-sourcing platform Tifosy completes €1.5m bond financing for Serie B’s Frosinone
February 7 – The mini-bond launched by sports investment platform Tifosy for Italy’s Serie B club Frosinone, has reached its €1.5 million target.
PepsiCo renews for a second 3-year cycle of UEFA Champions League sponsorship
February 6 – PepsiCo have renewed their sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League for a second three-year cycle taking them from the start of the 2018/19 until 2021. The deal also includes sponsorship of the UEFA Super Cup in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Liverpool overpaid for van Dijk but so did Barca for Coutinho. Costa was overpriced too
February 6 – The three biggest transfers in the winter window - Philippe Coutinho (€160m), Virgil van Dijk (€84m) and Diego Costa (€66m) – were all concluded at a higher value than the real worth of the players, according to analysis by the CIES Football Observatory. Liverpool overpaid by €21 million for van Dijk, but balanced that with Barca’s overpayment of €13 million for Coutinho. Chelsea managed to get an impressive €26 million more than CIES’s estimated real value for Costa.
FIFA sends mission to Spain to discuss life post-Villar and government interference
By Andrew Warshaw
February 6 – Pressure is mounting on Spanish authorities to sort out the aftermath of veteran powerbroker Angel Villar’s demise after yet another intervention by FIFA.
Premier League resistance thaws on idea of a Winter break
February 6 – It’s been a source of debate for years and years. Should English football copy much of Continental Europe and introduce a Winter break? So far the idea has been resisted both for commercial and traditional reasons, but now the Premier League has revealed it is looking at ways of going down that road.
Malaysia cracks down on matchfixing with government promising court action
February 6 – Crime-busting police forces in Malaysia have been directed to flush out matchfixing among players, coaches and the management of league teams.
Saudi Sports Authority and FA look to ditch out-of-favour MBC for Saudi Telecom
By Mark Baber
February 6 – The General Sports Authority (GSA), Saudi Football Federation and the Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding by which STC will have the sole rights for transmission of local football matches and the matches of Saudi national team.
Crystal Palace beat their stadium capacity, Watford beat Chelsea but are bottom of table
February 6 – Crystal Palace’s resurgence from bottom of the league to mid-table competitiveness may have slowed in recent weeks, but the clubs’ fans still manage to find more seats to fill at Selhurst Park than the ground’s official capacity. Roy Hodgson is clearly working some kind of magic with fans in south-east London that deserted him in his last job with England.
Brasileirão clubs reject VAR over costs and lack of confidence in system
February 6 – Brazil’s top division has rejected implementing video technology both because of cost and uncertainty over the system’s consistency.
Rogue’s gallery: CAF elects Ngaissona despite allegations of being a terrorist group leader
By Samindra Kunti in Casablanca, Morocco
February 5 – Edouard Ngaissona from the Central African Republic (CAR) has sparked more controversy and suspicion over football governance in Africa after being elected to the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the top table of football decision making in the region.