Meet the British volunteers trying to get the Marshall Islands into a World Cup March 4, 2025 The Marshall Islands is the last country without a national football team but a clutch of enthusiastic Britons are trying to rectify that – and get them into a Fifa World Cup campaign. Exeter may not seem an obvious nerve centre for a mission to get a tiny Micronesian nation into Fifa, but then this [...]
Six Nations investors CVC bids $1bn for major tennis competitions March 3, 2025 Private equity giant CVC Capital Partners are set to bid for a portfolio of high-profile tennis events worth £790m that includes the Madrid and Miami Opens. It could see the Six Nations investor add to its existing tennis interests, which include a commercial joint venture with the WTA launched in 2023. The portfolio – currently [...]
‘That’s not me’: Blatter denied fraud as £1.6m Platini row returns to court March 3, 2025 Former Fifa kingpin Sepp Blatter reiterated his innocence over a £1.6m payment made to ex-Uefa chief Michel Platini as the fraud case returned to court on Monday. Two of football’s most influential figures of the 21st century are back in the dock after Swiss prosecutors appealed a decision to acquit both men at a previous [...]
Houston Dynamo refund tickets after Messi misses Inter Miami game March 3, 2025 Major League Soccer team Houston Dynamo have offered supporters a refund on the cost of their tickets after opponents Inter Miami left Lionel Messi out of their match on Sunday. Houston Dynamo sold out their 22,000-capacity Shell Energy Stadium for the MLS fixture only for Inter Miami to unexpectedly rest 37-year-old eight-time Ballon d’Or winner [...]
Rugby referees get specialist insurance policy from Howden March 3, 2025 The first specialist insurance package for UK rugby referees has been launched by Howden and athlete wellbeing provider Player Support Services. The scheme costs £10 a month and promises referees policies customised for rugby officiating and swift diagnosis and treatment in the event of an injury. It is the brainchild of former ref Mike Mulroy, [...]
Betting and Gaming Council hails gambling minister after AGM March 2, 2025 The Betting and Gaming Council have heaped support on gambling minister Baroness Twycross after her address at the group’s AGM. “In my short time in post, I have seen the value this sector brings,” the former London Assembly member said last week. “Not just in tax receipts and jobs created, but as a leisure activity, [...]
Brighton and Hove Albion: Seagulls post £73.3m profit February 28, 2025 Brighton and Hove Albion posted a profit of £73.3m for their 2023/24 season after their Europa League appearance kept them in the black. The pre-tax profit follows positive accounts a year prior, where the club made a profit of £130.7m. A significant chunk of the earnings Brighton, whose chairman is Tony Bloom, made came from [...]
Chelsea FC : Abramovich ally Granovskaia at High Court over Alrubie dispute February 28, 2025 Former Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia is at London's High Court today as she seeks to pause a civil claim against her by football agent Saif Alrubie
FA Cup prize money: What non-league clubs would spend £2m on February 28, 2025 This weekend the fifth round of the FA Cup will hand out a good amount of prize money. But for the non-league clubs out of the draw, where would that money have been spent? Just the 16 teams remain in this weekend’s FA Cup fifth round, and there will be no representation from below the [...]
Google ‘profiting from crime’ says Spanish football boss Tebas February 27, 2025 Spanish football league LaLiga says it has taken legal action against Google over the piracy of its media rights, accusing the tech giant of cooperating with and profiting from crime. LaLiga president Javier Tebas said Google housed urls and apps which offer pirated broadcasts of its matches and allowed criminals to make money from the [...]