January 7 – Serie A’s Fiorentina have set a blockchain-meets-football first with each of the club’s playing shirts to be inserted with a dedicated chip that can be tracked and will prevent counterfeiting.
January 6 – New Ghana Football Association (GFA) president Kurt Okraku has acted swiftly to crackdown on the illegal betting markets being offered by bookmakers on the country’s Premier League (GPL), threatening legal action.
January 6 – The ink now appears to be drying on the new Puma deal with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven that will begin with the 2020-21 season and sees the German sportswear giant take over from Umbro as the club’s kit supplier.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 20 – In what is a unique drive, in African football, to increase revenue, leading Tanzanian club Simba has launched its own bank payment card. They hope to raise a minimum of $10 million through the deal.
December 20 – Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil who tweeted about China’s detention and persecution of Uighurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang province, has been removed from the Chinese edition of Konami’s PES 2020 video game.
December 20 – Premier league Liverpool has added cyber storage company Acronis to its sponsorship roster in what is described as a multi-year partnership. No value was given for the deal.
December 20 – Adidas have become the latest FIFA sponsor to embrace the controversial Italian Super Cup after earlier this week Coca-Cola announced it would be the match’s title sponsor.
December 20 – Real Madrid have launched a new Facebook subscription service costing $2.77 as the club seeks monetise their giant following of a 110 million on the social media platform.
December 20 – Premier League West Ham United has announced ITD Global as its Official Logistics Partner.
December 19 – Coca-Cola has compounded the controversy of the Italian Super Cup to be played between Juventus and Lazio on December 22 in Saudi Arabia, by becoming the event’s title sponsor.
December 18 – Manchester City has launched a dedicated channel on YouTube Kids, the first football club to do so. The channel will feature City-themed children’s content aimed at an under 12 audience.
December 18 – UEFA has issued tenders covering its club competition licenses in the areas of video games and esports, as well as for the creation of a number of UEFA-branded products.
December 17 – LaLiga is striking at the heart of English Premier League broadcast territory with the country’s first dedicated football channel on the SkyTV platform.
December 16 – Juventus have extended their Official Water deal with Chinese mineral water firm Ganten for another three years, taking them through to 2023.
December 16 – In an unprecedented move that illustrated the country’s sensitivity over human rights issues, China’s state broadcaster pulled Sunday’s Arsenal-Manchester showpiece fixture from its broadcast schedule after Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil criticised Beijing’s brutal crackdown on ethnic Muslims.