Lilian Thuram: Gareth Southgate sets a good example of what white people can do November 20, 2021 A bespectacled Lilian Thuram reaches for a map of the world and turns it upside down to illustrate his point. France’s most capped footballer is sitting at the desk of his office for this video interview, his studious appearance and the shelf full of books behind him indicating the direction he has taken since retiring [...]
Chelsea Digital Ventures: The tech business spun out of a football club November 17, 2021 Look closely next time Romelu Lukaku or Pernille Harder takes a mid-match drink and you may notice something that marks Chelsea out from other football clubs. Because instead of taking a swig from a bottle of Lucozade, or another well known sports hydration brand, players at the west London club have their own in-house product. [...]
PSG midfielder in custody over team-mate attack investigation November 10, 2021 Paris Saint-Germain Feminine’s Aminata Diallo has been taken into police custody following an alleged attack on a her team-mate Kheira Hamraoui . The PSG midfielder is accused of hiring masked men to injure Hamraoui to reduce competition for playing time. According to French media, Hamraoui was dragged out of her car by two men and [...]
Smart shin guards: the latest weapon in football’s wearable tech arms race November 2, 2021 Football is no stranger to wearables, as evidenced by the ubiquity of GPS vests, but it is about to get a new weapon in the technology arms race: smart shin guards. Italian sports tech and analytics company Soccerment will today launch their pioneering protective gear, which captures data on every run, pass, shot and change [...]
Legal Q&A: How referees’ pay could be hit by a tax dispute with HMRC and why this could have wide-reaching effects on the gig economy September 21, 2021 Lawyer Kevin Barrow explores the implications of an ongoing case between referees and HMRC. What’s this case about? It’s about whether PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) needs to deduct income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from payments it makes to referees whom it has engaged on a self-employed “gig worker” basis to officiate at [...]
Survey shows that most football fans want World Cup every two years, says Fifa September 16, 2021 Fifa has stepped up its push for biennial World Cups by reporting that most football fans support the controversial proposals. The world governing body cited a survey of 23,000 people in 23 countries undertaken in July as part of a wider feasibility study. Fifa did not reveal any further figures but said it had drawn [...]
Women’s Super League 2021-22: Why you should believe the hype about the biggest and best season yet of women’s football September 3, 2021 The most eagerly anticipated and loudly trumpeted Women’s Super League (WSL) season kicks off this evening when Manchester United host Reading. Ten years on from the first WSL campaign, the expectation is that this season will be the most-watched and potentially the most compelling yet. That is thanks in large part to a landmark TV [...]
Football clubs, players and agents increasingly on HMRC’s radar August 16, 2021 HMRC tax investigators are targeting football clubs for £45m in tax they have underpaid, City A.M. can reveal today. According to data provided by HMRC to accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young and shared with this newspaper today, HMRC has uncovered £5.8m in tax owed by players and £4.8m owed by agents in the last year. [...]
Team GB start Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a win as women’s footballers beat Chile – but favourites USA suffer shock defeat July 21, 2021 Team GB have made a winning start to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after their women’s football team beat Chile 2-0. In a major shock elsewhere in the competition, world champions the USA lost their opening match 3-0 to Sweden. While the Games officially get underway on Friday, some events in Japan started today. Ellen White [...]
Burnley Women agree groundbreaking deal with TikTok to live-stream all home matches on the social media platform July 3, 2021 Burnley FC Women are to become the first UK football team to live-stream all of their home matches on TikTok. The groundbreaking arrangement is part of a wider deal with the social media platform which also sees TikTok become the team’s sleeve sponsor. It is the latest innovation adopted by Burnley FC’s American owners ALK [...]