Inside World Football - For the Business of Football

PSG’s youth start as favourites to beat Inter’s old guard in UEFA’s showpiece final

May 30 – Paris Saint-Germain will be the slight favourites to win their first Champions League, but a resilient, battle-tested Inter Milan will provide obdurate opposition in the final in Munich, Saturday.

Without the presence of Real Madrid or an English Premier League club, the final may have the appearance of being low wattage, but PSG, the nouveau riches of European football, and Inter Milan, the old aristocracy, are deserved finalists after eliminating Arsenal and FC Barcelona,

Finance

Real Madrid top ranking of world’s most valuable clubs. Man City and Man Utd follow but €1bn behind

May 30 – Real Madrid may have played a season without significant silverware but they have retained their title of being the world’s most valuable football club, according to the 10th Football Benchmark Football Clubs’ Valuation: The European Elite report, with an Enterprise Value (EV) of €6.3 billion.

EA Sports

eChampions League on the button as eSports head to global entertainment’s top table

By Harry Ewing in Munich

May 30 – When EA Sports unveiled the new-look UEFA eChampions League, the ambition was clear: to align competitive virtual football with the structure, emotion, and drama of the real thing.

esports

Gullit champions the rhythm and focus of esports parallel football culture

May 30 – Ruud Gullit is not one to draw lazy comparisons. Ask the AC Milan legend whether traditional football has something to learn from the booming esports industry and his answer is refreshingly honest.

Finance

Kansas City Current owners Ballard Capital buy Denmark’s HB Køge Women

May 30 – U.S. ownership of English Premier League clubs has become commonplace, and now women’s football is emerging as the next frontier. Ballard Capital, led by Angie and Chris Long (pictured) – owners of the Kansas City Current in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – has acquired Danish club HB Køge Women.

Euro 2025

Lionesses given £1.7m bonus boost ahead of Euro 2025

May 30 – The Lionesses are just weeks away from defending their UEFA Women’s European Championship crown, and this time they’ll be doing so with significantly more financial incentive after the Football Association announced record bonus payments that dwarf previous tournaments.

Performance

Liverpool players dominate CIES positional rankings for 2024/25 season

May 30 – Liverpool’s current stars and incoming talents dominate the latest player performance rankings published by the CIES Football Observatory, underlining the club’s strong footing heading into the next phase of its evolution.

Valvoline greases FIFA palms with 2026 World Cup sponsorship

May 30 – US engine oil Valvoline has announced its sponsorship of the 2026 World Cup that will be co-hosted in its core domestic markets of Canada, Mexico and the United States next year.

Club World Cup 2025

Lenovo extends its FIFA sponsorship with Club World Cup deal for Motorola brand

May 30 – Coming just in time for kick-off, FIFA has announced a sponsorship with tech giants Lenovo and its Motorola Mobility smartphone brand for the Club World Cup.

Man Utd’s Amad Diallo unrepentant over giving the finger to abusive Asian fans

May 30 – Just when Manchester United’s dismal campaign seemed unable to sink any lower, they suffered a humiliating defeat to a Southeast Asian XI in Kuala Lumpur – and watched their brightest talent make headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Football Marketing

MLS partners with Corpay as Forex provider

May 30 – Major League Soccer (MLS) has signed a multi-year agreement with Corpay, a global financial technology firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange, to serve as the league’s Official Foreign Exchange (FX) Provider.

Football Asia

Saudi Pro League signs Maaden as official platinum partner

May 30: The Saudi Pro League (SPL) has agreed a “a long-term strategic partnership” with Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) who will be named the Official Platinum Partner of the SPL until July 2030.

Football Marketing

Betting on Brazil. Bet365 secures betting rights to Palmeiras stadium

May 30 – Global betting behemoth bet365 has secured all betting rights to Allianz Parque – the gleaming 43,000-capacity fortress that houses Brazilian giants Palmeiras in Sao Paulo and stands as one of South America’s most prestigious sporting cathedrals.

Football Marketing

Sevilla announce Viagogo as official resale platform

May 29 – Sevilla FC have announced a global ticketing partnership with Viagogo, positioning the international resale platform as an official distributor for matches at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium. The agreement strengthens Sevilla’s international commercial strategy by offering verified matchday access to fans around the world.

Asia

Man Utd’s troubled season prolonged by ASEAN All-Stars friendly loss

May 29 – Manchester United’s troubled season continued across the globe this week, as the club opened its commercially motivated post-season tour of Asia with a 1-0 defeat to the ASEAN All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur – a result that quickly drew ridicule from fans and even a jab from the Malaysian Prime Minister.