January 20 – Barcelona are the most popular club online in China, the Premier League is most influential competition and Cristiano Ronaldo is still the player that excites Chinese more than any other, according to the latest Red Card Report from Mailman, published last week, which ranks online performance in the country.
January 17 – Barcelona have signed a four year global partnership with online trading platform FBS that will run through to end June 2024.
January 16 – Sports drink BodyArmor has expanded its partnership within Major League Soccer, announcing it now has ties with 19 of the MLS’s clubs.
January 15 – The new LaLigaTV channel that launched this week on the Sky TV platform in the UK as a standalone service has now added the Virgin Media cable platform to its distribution. The channel now has access to a potential 11.7 million subscription market in the UK.
January 15 – The investor rush to secure positions in technology companies and applications that are changing the football business, and the broadcast business in particular, has seen another investment in a streaming service.
January 14 – Amazon is developing in the football space as more than just a rights buyer for big league football. Germany’s Bundesliga has announced Amazon Web Services (AWS), as its official technology provider.
January 9 – English football authorities have agreed to review their decision to allow broadcast rights for FA Cup games to be sold for streaming by betting companies after critics warned the arrangement could encourage gambling.
By Paul Nicholson
January 9 – It has been a good week so far for Qatar-based broadcaster BeIN Sports who have secured the rights in France to the UEFA 2020 European Championships, while in the US expanding its free service, BeIN Sports Xtra, on to the HC2 Broadcasting platform.
January 9 – The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has ordered Betway to drop a video promotion that it deems to be advertising and in breach of advertising regulations.
January 8 – Premier League Manchester City has unveiled a new global partnership with consumer appliances manufacturer Midea.
January 7 – Liverpool have formally announced that Nike will become the club’s official supplier from the start of the next season when the current New Balance deal ends.
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.