March 17 – The Fantasy Sports gaming market is spawning a whole new sector of related digital business with UK-based fantasy Football Hub announcing it has raised $550,000 to build its platform that digital content and analytics to the fantasy football community.
March 17 – Serie A’s Inter Milan have linked leading Milan-based cycling brand Cinelli to create a collection oflimited-edition products which will be released in two different drop phases.
By Paul Nicholson at Soccerex in Miami
March 16 – Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has voiced reservations over a biennial men’s World Cup, saying that it is problematic and questioning where confederation championships, including the fast-growing Concacaf Gold Cup, would fit in.
March 16 – The Camp Nou, one of the most iconic stadiums in world football, is being renamed as Spotify Camp Nou as part of a landmark multi-million Euro naming rights and sponsorship agreement between Barcelona and the global music streaming platform.
March 16 – With North Korea having withdrawn completely from the international football scene during the pandemic, the AFC has moved to replace their national age-group teams that had qualified for the U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022 and U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022.
March 16 – LaLiga says it is building a real business in North America and to say that it is just about getting a regular top tier match played in the US to stimulate revenues “is not a fair assessment” of their activity.
March 16 – The ban on Russian teams playing in UEFA competition has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but a separate and more significant ruling on Russia’s World Cup status is expected later this week.
March 16 – The Vietnamese FA and league body, whose women have qualified for the 2023 World Cup for the first time and whose men have similarly broken new ground by competing in the final rounds of Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Germany’s DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga.
March 16 – Former Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Antero Henrique will head the Qatar Stars League (QSL) in the same role.
March 16 – Star India and the Premier League have extended their broadcast agreement with all 380 fixtures each season to be aired across the Star Sports network as well as on Disney’s OTT platform Disney+ Hostar.
By Paul Nicholson at Sportel in Miami
March 14 – LaLiga’s staging of a regular season game in the US is a question of “when, not if”, according to Boris Gartner, CEO of LaLiga North America.
By Paul Nicholson in Miami
March 15 – With the MLS domestic broadcast rights package currently in market with a new cycle coming up, one of the league’s biggest broadcast partners has said that to compete internationally the MLS needs to “release the leash” and lets its teams grow beyond their local boundaries.
March 15 – Potential buyers of European champions Chelsea are reported to be queuing up to submit their takeover proposals ahead of Friday’s deadline.
March 15 – Another Russian oligarch, closely linked to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, is looking to cash out of his football club ownership.
March 15 – Scotland will play Poland in a friendly on March 24 instead of their postponed World Cup play-off semi-final against Ukraine – with £10 from every ticket sold going towards UNICEF’s Ukraine emergency fund.