April 12 – After struggling to find fresh commercial sponsors in the wake of the corruption probe that brought the organisation to its knees, Fifa is set to seal a major partnership with Qatar Airways within weeks, agency reports have quoted unnamed sources as saying.
April 11 – Manchester United broke their own impressive Twitter record this week putting on a massive 95,700 new followers, a weekly record for this season. It was also another good week for Chelsea who continued their weekly twitter dominance of Arsenal with their own season record 67.200 new followers.
April 10 – AC Milan may be struggling to finally get the sale of the club to Chinese investors off the ground, but main sponsor Emirates is having no such problem with its involvement with the club, unveiling an A380 aircraft sporting a special AC Milan livery at Milan Malpensa International Airport.
April 7 – The fast growing United Soccer League, awarded Division 2 status in the US professional league hierarchy this season, has boosted its broadcast coverage for the 2017 season just kicked off.
By Paul Nicholson
April 6 – FIFA’s struggle to sign up commercial partners to its reformed vision and upcoming World Cup in Russia was given some much-needed relief with confirmation that China’s Hisense, a white goods and electronics company based in the east-coast city of Qingdao, has put its name to the 2017 Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup as an official sponsor.
April 6 – UEFA has expanded its video gaming commercial category into three parts, taking account of the growth opportunities in the video gaming and exploding eSports sector.
April 6 – New York City FC has become the second of the City Football Group clubs and the first in the MLS to sign an eSports player top play competitively under the club brand and in club colours.
April 4 – Manchester United added 90,000 new twitter followers last week, a high mark even for their impressive weekly growth statistics.
March 31 – Europe’s professional clubs have moved into the e-sports market with many signing professional e-sport FIFA players to represent the clubs in domestic and international gaming competitions. An analysis by KPMG’s Football Benchmark team maps the clubs that have embraced the fast-growing and trending sector.
March 30 – Spanish telecom giant Telefónica is partnering with Real Madrid as both brands seek to maximise their leading positions at home and abroad.
March 30 – The Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) has brokered a deal between eight of its leagues and three commercial partners – Perform Group, Sportradar and Genius Sports – to collect and supply official data to the betting industry.
March 29 – Vauxhall is to end its sponsorship deals with the four British nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the end of the 2018 World Cup, when its current agreements expire.
March 29 – Premier League Arsenal is expanding its partnership with Chinese firm BNN Technology to support a grassroots public participation programme in the country.
March 28 – In a week of international fixtures that has seen growth in the number of tweets made by Premier League clubs down by more than 50% on the previous week, growth in followers has increased by 11.5%.
March 24 – Spain’s top division will carry on changing kick off times to suit the Asian market in a bid to increase its market share and boost brand awareness, says La Liga president Javier Tebas (pictured).