By David Owen
April 28 – The value of long-term bank loans on Liverpool’s balance-sheet almost quadrupled in size in 2019-20 to stand at just under £197 million on May 31. But year-end cash was up by a similar proportion at £149.3 million.
April 29 – Just when you thought the administration of German football had cleaned up its act after a series of scandals in recent years, it is back in the news for all the wrong reasons with the president of the DFB Fritz Keller publicly apologising for making a Nazi reference.
April 29 – Swedish billionaire and Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek has reasserted his commitment to takeover Arsenal from the Kroenke family, declaring he has the funds in place for a bid and wants to bring the club “back to its glory”.
April 29 – Two goalkeepers are in the top three of a ranking of Big 5 league players who have played the most domestic matches for their club in the past 10 years. Leicester City’s Kasper Schmeichel (372 games) and Manchester United’s David de Gea (337), sandwich Barcelona’s hardy perennial Lionel Messi (340).
April 29 – Fresh from seeing his European Super League dreams crushed by fan power and political intervention, Andrea Agnelli, the under-pressure president of Juventus, is already back in the spotlight – this time apparently telling an Italian prosecutor that he was not responsible for rigging an Italian language exam taken by Luis Suárez last year.
April 28 – UEFA will allow national teams to expand their squads from 23 to 26 players at this summer’s Euro 2020 in a bid to lessen the load on players amid a congested calendar due to the global health crisis.
April 28 – The Premier League’s underpinning £1.5 billion domestic TV rights deals could be rolled over for at least another two years if government agrees to waive any competition law concerns.
April 28 – Algeria and Egypt’s pairing in Group D on Wednesday headlined the draw for the FIFA Arab Cup, a tournament that will serve as the official dress rehearsal in December for 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar.
April 28 – Following in the footsteps of the Danish and Swedish football federations, the Norwegian FA (NFF) has become the third national football governing body to demand answers from FIFA over working conditions of migrant workers in Qatar, the host for the 2022 World Cup.
April 28 – Arsenal’s American owners, the Kroenke family, have been quick to quash any speculation that they will sell the club following reported interest from Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek.
April 28 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Technical Committee has proposed a series of several enhancements to its coaching activities and certification following the AFC Coaching Convention, which completed today.
April 28 – The preference for longer term broadcast deals is increasing with Germany’s Bundesliga agreeing a deal with Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT) that will run through to 2029.
April 28 – SIGA will hold the first in a new series of webinars today (April 28) focussed on the issues around the fallout of the failure of European Super League.
April 28 – Broadcaster Premier Sports has added the title sponsorship of the Scottish League Cup to its exclusive broadcast rights deal in an agreement that will run for at least two years and see the knockout competition renamed the Premier Sports Cup.
April 28 – The recent launch of the Premier League Hall of Fame with Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry as the first inaugural inductees, has been followed up by a fan vote for the next six legends to be inducted.