Chelsea hit 3-year delay on stadium rebuild, Abramovich hunts down £500m infusion
By Paul Nicholson
November 11 – Chelsea’s development of Stamford Bridge into a new-build 60,000 capacity stadium has been pushed back by at least three years.
Finance
Hat-trick of annual profits for Sheikh Mansour’s Man City (just) as revenue hits £473m
By David Owen
November 9 – Manchester City, the Abu Dhabi-owned club whose multi-talented squad under Pep Guardiola already look like waltzing off with this season’s Premier League title, have reported a minuscule pre-tax profit of just £104,000 for 2016-17.
Man City and Spurs have most valuable squads in Europe. Neymar and Kane top player values
November 7 – Manchester City and Spurs have the most valuable squads in Europe, according to research by the CIES Football Observatory. Barca come third in the ranking with Chelsea in fourth spot. All of their squads are valued at over €1 billion.
Moshiri and Usmanov under the money microscope over Everton shareholdings
November 6 – Already in trouble on the pitch despite a come-from-behind victory on Sunday, English Premier League club Everton, who spent around £150 million in the summer to try and break into the top places, are now the subject of a television investigative documentary into who owns them.
Apocalypse now. Report has nothing but bad news for football finance and its governance
October 31 – Professional football clubs are under a growing threat from organised crime. Only 25% of clubs in top leagues worldwide produce publically-available financial reports. And only 40% of national associations are financially viable without the help of FIFA, an organisation whose top officials are being chased down by the US Justice Department under their RICO laws that are used to investigate mafia-style crime rings.
Premier League clubs scrap plans to break parity and give more TV cash to big six
October 25 – Proposals to give a greater share of overseas television revenue to the Premier League’s so-called big six from 2019 has been ditched after no progress was made over the controversial plan.
Bayern post €640m revenue record and €66m profit
October 24 – German champions Bayern Munich have reported a record revenue for the 2016/17 season of €640.5 million. This was despite the club failing at the Champions League quarter final stage and failing to reach the German Cup final – together amounting to an estimated €25 million of lost revenue potential.
Man Utd earn €44.5m for Europa League win, more than twice nearest rival
October 20 – Manchester United pocketed €44.5 million of the more than €423.1 million in payments from UEFA for winning the 2016/17 Europa League. 56 clubs shared in the payments that were increased from the €411.1 million distributed in 2015/16.
Columbus Crew primed to set sail for a new soccer world in Austin, Texas
October 19 – One of the MLS’s founding clubs, Columbus Crew, looks set to leave its Columbus, Ohio, home and relocate to Austin, Texas, and a new purpose-built stadium.
Perform builds performance data powerhouse with Scout7 acquisition
By Paul Nicholson
October 19 – Perform Group has bought sports technology company Scout7 adding a deeper level of sports data to its media and professional services businesses. Scout 7 will work closely with Perform’s OtpaPro, developing new “product set” of performance data and scouting solutions.
Spanish prosecutors add Marcelo to list of foreign stars accused of tax fraud
October 18 – Real Madrid star Marcelo is the latest player to be accused by Spanish authorities of tax fraud, this time totalling €490,000.
Eurostadium builder offers up cash and redesign as UEFA deadline nears
By Samindra Kunti
October 18 – Construction consortium Ghemlanco has proposed a new design and extra funding for the Eurostadium in Brussels in a last-minute effort to push ahead with the controversial project for the 2020 European Championships. UEFA has given a deadline for clarity on the stadium build of November 20.
Tifosy raises £1m to expand its crowdfunding model in Europe, China and the US
October 18 – Tifosy, the sports crowdfunding platform that enables supporters to invest in clubs, has raised £1 million via crowdfunding for its own rights issue.
Ashley confirms Newcastle United is for sale
October 17 – Controversial Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley (pictured) has put the Premier League club up for sale after a decade-long reign in charge of the iconic English team whose 52,000 capacity stadium is close to full most weeks courtesy of a fanatical fan base.
Al-Qadi of the Rovers: Jordanian finds football roots and passion in west of England
By Andrew Warshaw
October 13 – Arab investment in European football has become commonplace in recent years with the likes of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates taking over a number of leading clubs. But further down the pyramid, a Jordanian businessman is reaping the rewards of putting his faith in a lower-league English team.