By Mark Baber
March 4 – US sportswear giant Nike is reportedly prepared to offer Barcelona €85 million a year, plus bonuses bringing the total up to €100 million to extend the current sponsorship contract which expires in 2018.
By Paul Nicholson
March 4 – The five-year long New York court case following the sale of Liverpool Football Club to Fenway Sports Group revealed this week former owner George Gillett Jr is still paying £125,000 a month in debt repayments for a loan secured against the club, and that the new owners felt that due to the aging playing squad the £295 million price was in fact an overpayment for the asset.
By Paul Nicholson
March 4 – The team line-up for one of the most prestigious U17 club tournaments in the world is almost complete with the addition of Atletico Madrid and Club Brugge to the 2016 Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament that takes place March 14-21.
March 4 – US soccer icon Brandi Chastain, whose penalty won the women’s World Cup against China in 1999, has agreed to donate her brain for research into concussion.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 4 – Greek football has been plunged into yet more disgrace after the government cancelled the domestic cup competition when the first leg of the semi-final between PAOK Salonika and Olympiakos Piraeus was abandoned due to crowd trouble.
By Ben Nicholson
March 4 – En route to becoming a leading world soccer league, the MLS is innovating by placing microphones on coaches during nationally televised TV games so that viewers can hear the words coming from the horse’s mouth.
By Paul Nicholson
March 3 – While international interest in China has generally been inward looking with big name players from Europe making big money transfers to Chinese clubs, the Chinese Super League (CSL) itself is also looking outward and has appointed IMG as the exclusive sales agent for its global TV rights outside of China.
By Samindra Kunti
March 3 – This summer’s centennial Copa America tournament in the US, the first time CONMEBOL has held the tournament outside South America and which will feature six teams from CONCACAF, has signed three high profile sponsor partners in Coca-Cola, Sprint and State Farm.
March 3 – The former president of the Guatemalan FA, Brayan Jimenez, pleaded not guilty and was released on $1.5 million bail Wednesday 24 hours after being extradited to the United States to faces charges for his alleged role in football’s global corruption scandal.
By Mark Baber
March 3 – UK broadcaster ITV is banking on the Euro 2016 Tournament in France to boost its ad revenues after a flat performance in the first quarter.
By Samindra Kunti
March 3 – A Belgian top-flight match between KV Oostende vs Waasland-Beveren has been identified in a German TV documentary as showing signs of betting related match-fixing. The new revelations cast what is becoming a growing shadow over Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 3 – Michel Platini should throw in the towel and step down as UEFA president as soon as possible in order to avoid a leadership vacuum, according to the boss of the German FA.
By Paul Nicholson
March 3 – The legacy effect of Luis Suarez at Liverpool lives on with the club reporting a record a profit of £60 million for the year to end May 2015. Suarez, sold for an estimated £75 million to Barcelona in June 2014, gave the numbers a huge boost but the club insists that money has been reinvested in buying new players.
March 3 – In a firm statement of intent, UEFA have thrown Galatasaray out of European competition for a year for breaching financial fair play rules.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 3 – The spectre of a breakaway European super league has been rekindled after reports that secret talks had taken place on a new closed-shop competition featuring the Continent’s biggest clubs.