Stephen Pagliuca: Boston Celtics owner breaks silence, vowing to make ‘substantial’ Chelsea bid April 12, 2022 Potential Chelsea FC buyer Stephen Pagliuca says he will submit a “substantial and credible” bid for the European champions, while hinting at reducing his stake in Italian club Atalanta. In a statement reported first by Sky News, the co-owner of the Boston Celtics basketball team also pledged to support both the men’s and women’s teams [...]
Crystal Palace defender named in top five most valuable European breakthrough prospects April 11, 2022 Crystal Palace and England defender Marc Guehi has placed fifth in a list of the most valuable young footballers. The CIES Football Observatory listed the top 50 players to have made their debut this season in one of Europe’s top five leagues before turning 23. Ex-Chelsea centre back Guehi has an estimated transfer value of [...]
Multiple US investors signal interest in £350m deal with Farhad Moshiri for Everton April 11, 2022 Everton are the latest Premier League club to attract interest from US investors, according to reports. The Merseyside club have made huge losses under owner Farhad Moshiri, who has spent heavily on players in a failed attempt to restore the Toffees to former glories. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also hit Everton, who have been [...]
European football confirms new ‘financial sustainability regulations’ to replace FFP April 7, 2022 European football’s governing body Uefa has confirmed the adoption of new “financial sustainability regulations” to replace its controversial financial fair play rules (FFP). The biggest change under the new system will see clubs’ spending on wages, transfers and agents capped at 70 per cent of revenue. The financial sustainability regulations will apply to all teams [...]
Liverpool FC NFT sale: Reds raise £1.1m but 95 per cent of digital artwork left unsold April 4, 2022 Liverpool have closed their controversial NFT sale after selling just over five per cent of the available digital artworks of players such as Mohamed Salah. In the biggest project of its kind from a Premier League football club, Liverpool partnered with Sotheby’s to sell up to 171,072 NFTs for $75 (£57) each – $12.8m (£9.8m) [...]
Manchester United named top of the league for digital value generated by sports teams March 31, 2022 Manchester United generated the most digital value of any sports team in the world last year, according to a new report published today. The Digital Value of Fans 2022 report is based on social media performance and was created by audience platform Horizm, which works with leading teams in several sports. Despite a fourth consecutive [...]
Everton FC registers £120m loss after pandemic impact and suspension of Usmanov support March 29, 2022 Everton Football Club registered a £120.9m loss in 2021, meaning it’s almost £400m down over the last four years. The beleaguered Merseyside club attributed its loss to the pandemic as it published annual accounts this week, against the backdrop of severed sponsorship with a sanctioned Russian oligarch. It said there were £170m losses despite a [...]
Opinion: Crypto brands’ sporting land-grab is only just beginning March 29, 2022 As Lionel Messi and Fifa become the latest to do huge deals with cryptocurrency and blockchain-related brands, sports sponsorship expert Henry Nash of Octagon assesses the major new player in the market. I suspect I wasn’t alone in thinking the Nielsen 2022 Global Sports Marketing Report would be a story of Covid’s brutal impact on [...]
Spanish football’s LaLiga backs financial fair play shake-up as “major step forwards” March 29, 2022 Spanish football chiefs LaLiga have welcomed the proposed overhaul of European football’s financial fair play rules. New regulations set to be phased in from next year will see clubs’ spending on wages, transfers and agents’ fees capped at 70 per cent of their income but a greater tolerance for loss-making clubs. LaLiga, which represents the [...]
European football club chiefs defend controversial changes to Champions League qualification March 29, 2022 European football club chiefs have defended proposals to give more Champions League places to historically successful teams, saying they are “fair, add value and make sense”. The changes are set to take effect from 2024, when the competition’s group stage expands from 32 to a single 36-team league. Under plans approved by leading clubs, two [...]