Surf’s up: Man City expand into US with youth partnership
February 26 – English Premier League champions Manchester City have signed a five-year development partnership with the Surf Soccer youth club in San Diego, California.
Football Marketing
Social network Hinch.as debuts as ‘Facebook’ for players and fans
February 26 – A new football on-line social platform is being trumpeted by its founders as a revolutionary way of interaction between fans and players.
Opel continues Bundesliga drive renewing FSV Mainz, SC Freiburg
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 25 – Opel has renewed its sponsorship deals with 1. FSV Mainz 05 and SC Freiburg. Since 2013, the German car maker has served as the official automotive and premium partner of four 1. Bundesliga clubs, which also include Borussia Dortmund and Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Spurs innovate as they tune up their global digital Cup Final package
February 25 – Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur will become the first club to produce and broadcast on their own platforms their own Cup Final show this Sunday. The matchday show will be streamed by Spurs TV on Facebook and tottenhamshotspur.com before the kick-off of the League Cup Final against Chelsea.
CSKA and Levski threaten to pull out in bid for more TV money
By Alexander Krassimirov
February 23 – A serious row is brewing in the Bulgarian A group over the distribution of TV rights money with two of the country’s biggest clubs – CSKA Sofia and Levski – threatening to boycott the league unless they receive the lion’s share of the TV cash.
Man Utd top weekly Twitter table as they play catch up with Londoners
By Paul Nicholson
February 20 – Manchester United are chasing down London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea in the Insideworldfootball Premier League Twitter rankings chart, topping the table of weekly gains in followers, but still lieing some distance behind in third place in the overall Twitter Followers table.
ESPN and Univision anger at 2026 World Cup rights staying with Fox and Telemundo
By Mark Baber
February 19 – The award of the US broadcasting rights for the 2026 World Cup to Fox and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo – they also hold rights to 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar – has raised a storm in US media circles.
Juventus fans put their best face forward with 45,000 entering selfie contest
February 19 – Juventus scored another social media success this month with its Social Selfie contest which generated a huge response with more than 15,000 selfies a week being sent into the club from around the world.
After 20 years, PSV swaps Nike for Umbro in new 5-year deal
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 19 – PSV Eindhoven has decided to swap Nike for Umbro as its kit supplier starting in the 2015/2016 Eredivisie season.
Legia Warsaw enlist fans in Poland’s first military-themed affinity programme
February 19 – Football fans are often described as tribal. Polish club Legia Warsaw have taken it a step further with the club, and Poland’s, first affinity programme with fans given a military rank depending on the number of affinity points they accumulate.
Barca ditch Mediapro for TV powerplay with Telefónica
By Mark Baber
February 18 – The FC Barcelona board has agreed to sell their audiovisual rights for 2015/16 to Madrid-based multinational Telefónica, ditching long-standing partner Mediapro, in a strategic move ahead of legislation in the Spanish parliament expected to impose collective bargaining for television income on Spanish clubs.
Man Utd puts on pokerface and deals in fans for KamaGames launch
February 18 – The first on-line casino game resulting from Manchester United’s new partnership with KamaGames has been unveiled. Launched as a social game, United fans will be able to play poker against other supporters anywhere in the world.
NOS switches on to Portuguese league title sponsorship
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
February 13 – The top tier of Portugal’s football league has been renamed the Liga NOS for the next 3.5 years under a new sponsorship signed between the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP) and local media company NOS.
NIVEA MEN debuts in Premier League with Liverpool deal
February 13 – Liverpool have added to their sponsorship roster with the announcement of NIVEA MEN as the Club’s Official Men’s Grooming Partner, the club’s first sponsor in this category.
FIFA sells 2026 World Cup TV rights for US and Canada
By David Owen
February 12 – FIFA has completed deals selling media rights for the 2026 World Cup in the key United States and Canadian markets. The deals give exclusive broadcast rights to FIFA competitions between 2023 and 2026 in the US to Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo, and in Canada to CTV/TSN.