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.
By David Owen
January 14 – Barcelona have supplanted bitter rivals Real Madrid at the top of this year’s Deloitte Football Money League, heading the ranking of the 20 highest revenue-generating world football clubs for the first time.
January 14 – The richest man in Africa has made the sensational claim that he plans to buy Arsenal some time next year.
January 8 – Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich poured £247 million into the club last season as the club recorded an overall loss of £96.6 million according to latest accounts.
January 8 – A player valuation ranking by the CIES Football Observatory makes Kylian Mbappé (France and Paris St-Germain) the world’s most valuable player at €265.2 million, with Man City and England’s Raheem Sterling at €223.7 million.
January 8 – Sunderland owner Stewart Donald (pictured) has confirmed via a statement on the club website that he will sell the League One club after mounting pressure from supporters over the holiday period demanding he leave. Donald has been in ownership charge for 18-months.
By David Owen
January 2 – Chelsea, the West London club whose new young team has surprised many this season with the spirit and consistency of their play under former talisman Frank Lampard, has reported a hefty loss for the year to end-June 2019.
January 3 – Serie A’s Roma looks set to change hands between American owners with James Pallotta (pictured) reportedly having agreed a €780 million deal with the Texas-based Friedkin Group run by billionaire Dan Freidkin.
January 3 – Belgian Roland Duchatelet’s foray into English club ownership is over with the sale of English Championship side Charlton Athletic to Abu Dhabi-based consortium East Street Investments (ESI) for an undisclosed amount.
December 30 – US investors buying European clubs has become commonplace but European investors moving into the US to acquire a stake in club soccer is not.
December 16 – The loss of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) contract has knocked between €210-€240 million off the sales price of the Lagardère Sports.
December 12 – The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in its new budget for 2020 is predicting a 41% growth in revenues to €316 million, primarily fuelled by the new money from the estimated €120 million deal with Saudi Arabia to stage its revamped Super Cup competition.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
December 11 – Suketu Patel, a former leading official of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), who was at the centre of negotiations for the 12-year $1 billion marketing deal with French company Lagardere Sports (LS), is predicting that the contract’s recent cancellation will lead to “a very difficult period” for CAF.
December 11 – With the winter transfer window looming, KPMG Football Benchmark has updated its players’ value estimates and ranked players by most increased value since the start of the season.
By David Owen
December 8 – Struggling Arsenal have slumped into the red after the bumper profits on player sales that substantially boosted the bottom line in 2017-18 were not replicated in the most recent season.