By Paul Nicholson
June 13 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has secured a huge uplift in revenue for its commercial rights, landing a potentially $4 billion-plus deal with specially formed DDMC Fortis after an 15-month tender process.
By Mark Baber
June 13 – The dispute between authorities in Egypt and FIFA over the latter’s sale of exclusive World Cup broadcast rights in Egypt to Qatar-owned beIN sports has intensified with Egypt’s Competition Authority (ECA) saying it will oblige FIFA to allow the state broadcaster to broadcast 22 matches, including those of the Egyptian national team.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 13 – Gianni Infantino claimed personal credit today for turning round FIFA’s fortunes since becoming its president just over two years ago – both from a financial and transparency standpoint.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 13 – He stayed away in 2010 when Russia won the vote as a sign of respect for FIFA, flying into Zurich only after the result became public.
By Samindra Kunti in Moscow
June 13 – On the eve of the World Cup, tickets remain for 19 of the 48 group matches, including England’s opening match against Tunisia. Last week FIFA announced 2.4 million tickets had been sold for the tournament.
June 13 – The trend for federations, leagues and clubs to sign regional sponsorships is extending to major events with FIFA announcing, two days before the kick-off of the 2018 World Cup in Moscow its first regional sponsorship for Africa.
June 13 – LaLiga champions Barcelona have ended a 16-year merchandising rights deal with Nike to form a new company which will manage the club’s retail, licensing and merchandising activity.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 12 – Whether it should be this way is a matter of debate. But in the modern world, commercial clout and the promise of safe, sophistated infrastructure invariably carry more weight than passion and legacy – as Morocco seem likely to find to their cost when the race to stage the 2026 World Cup reaches its denouement tomorrow.
By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) has confirmed Barbados FA president Randy Harris as its new leader to finish off the two years remaining on the presidential term after former president Gordon Derrick was banned from football by FIFA at the end of last year.
By Andrew Warshaw in Moscow
June 12 – The vote for the 2026 World Cup may take centre stage at Wednesday’s FIFA Congress in Moscow but not for the first time the crisis in Middle East football is giving the FIFA hierarchy one gigantic head-ache.
By Mark Baber
June 12 – The victory of Ukraine’s Karpatalya over Northern Cyprus in the 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup in London on Saturday was a far from a cause for celebration for Ukrainian Sports Minister Igor Zhdanov who called for the players to be interrogated by security services for “sporting separatism” and ties to separatist and terrorist groups.
June 12 – Tottenham Hotspur have signed a new long-term agreement with hotels booking website Hotels.com that will include preferential discounts for Spurs signed up to the website’s loyalty programme.
June 12 – Portuguese technology company Primetag has launched a social media ranking tool ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup that provides up-to-the-minute aggregated data from the Instagram accounts of players, coaches and teams with the purpose of measuring influence.
June 12 – Manchester United are turning pre-season team-building into a money making art form, confirming they will play Bayern Munich as the sixth and final match of the team’s pre-season preparations for the 2018-19 campaign. Man Utd will also face AC Milan, Liverpool and Real Madrid in the US in July.
June 12 – On-line trading broker AvaTrade has expanded its regional sponsorship partnership with Manchester City into a global partnership in a new multi-year deal.