December 15 – Football Benchmark, the sports analysis and data arm of the accountancy and consultancy specialists KPMG, has expanded its database of club financial information to more than 150 clubs with the addition of the English Football League (EFL) Championship.
December 15 – The Premier League pre-Christmas rush of matches – three games in eight days – has had very little impact on attendance levels, with eight clubs reporting over 93% of their stadiums full.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 15 – Potentially vital concessions have been made by UEFA aimed at pacifying Europe’s leagues over their fierce opposition to proposed changes to the Champions League.
By Samindra Kunti and Paul Nicholson
December 15 – The news that New York Cosmos owner Seamus O’Brien has cut playing and coaching staff and trimmed operational overhead at the club just days after winning the North American Soccer League (NASL) is a hammer blow to the league that is desperately scrambling to sign up new clubs for the 2017 season.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 15 – Any suggestion that Gianni Infantino will get an easy ride over his plans to expand the World Cup has been called into question with Europe’s clubs issuing a hard-hitting statement warning of the consequences.
December 15 – Football history was made Wednesday during the Club World Cup semifinal in Japan as the semi-final became the first official fixture to make use of video technology to award a penalty.
By Samindra Kunti
December 15 – US sportswear brand Nike has strengthened their European foothold extending their partnership with the French Football Federation until 2026. Nike this week also confirmed a £400 million 12 year renewal of their deal with England.
December 15 – Barcelona have disclosed that proceedings brought against the club regarding the signing of Neymar from Santos in 2013 have now been closed.
December 15 – The International Champions Cup (ICC) – the growing pre-season tournament that sees many of Europe’s elite clubs compete in a semi-formal club competition around the world in showcase matches – has signed tourism marketing body Visit Orlando in a multi-year partnership.
By Paul Nicholson
December 12 – Barcelona were sanctioned for the ‘irregular’ movement of players under the age of 18 and questions have been raised over the Real Madrid academy system as regards transfer of minors. But England is by far the most active in the international recruitment of minors.
December 14 – Premier League Twitter activity was up this week across all clubs, to a total of 4,760 tweets compared to 4,290 last week. With three games to market in eight days and the clubs keen to move their Christmas merchandise. the increased level of activity is not surprising.
By Paul Nicholson
December 14 – The timing is interesting, if not ironically amusing. In the week that three former chairman of the English Football Association and two former chief executives wrote to parliament saying the governing body was not fit to govern, Nike confirmed it has extended its partnership with the FA for an additional 12 years through to 2030.
December 14 – The US-led probe into widespread football corruption has been marked by another significant development with an Argentine sports media company caught up the scandal agreeing to pay about $112.8 million as part of a deal to resolve charges stemming from the investigation, according to court documents.
December 14 – The completion of the sale of AC Milan to an investment group led by Chinese investors Haixa Capital and Yonghong Li, has been put back until March 2017. Originally due to complete yesterday (December 13), the new date reflects the difficulty the Chinese have had receiving Chinese government approvals to release the money.
December 14 – UEFA is preparing to impose another Champions League ban on Albanian club Skenderbeu because of an ongoing match-fixing investigation.