Good news for Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City: Why clubs can forget about winning the Champions League if they’re not super-rich February 14, 2023 Can you spend your way to the Champions League? Not necessarily, but it certainly improves your chances, based on analysis of the last 10 seasons, which shows a strong correlation between revenue and progress to the latter stages. Tottenham Hotspur face a tricky trip to Italian title holders AC Milan when the Champions League knockout [...]
Manchester City fans boo Premier League over charges ahead of win over Aston Villa February 12, 2023 Manchester City fans booed the Premier League anthem yesterday ahead of a 3-1 win over Aston Villa that laid down the gauntlet to Arsenal. City supporters were responding to top-flight chiefs charging the club with more than 100 alleged breaches of financial rules last week. “The supporters were really good today,” said City manager Pep [...]
Crystal Palace v Brighton: Owner row causing storm clouds over Selhurst Park February 11, 2023 Amid the antipathy there may be the odd trace of envy among Crystal Palace fans when Brighton and Hove Albion visit in the Premier League on Saturday. Palace traditionally have the upper hand in one of English football’s least conventional rivalries but this season there is no denying that Brighton are firmly on top. Riding [...]
European Super League 2.0: Organisers reveal plans for vastly expanded breakaway competition February 9, 2023 European Super League organisers say they are ready to resurrect plans for the breakaway competition in an expanded format featuring as many as 80 teams. The new version of the European Super League would have multiple divisions and, unlike in its initial incarnation, no permanent members. All clubs taking part would have to qualify via [...]
Qatar interested in buying Manchester United – but bidders won’t be PSG owners Qatar Sports Investments February 9, 2023 The Qatar Investment Authority is interested in buying a stake in Manchester United and has not ruled out a full takeover. QIA, which owns Harrods as well as significant shareholdings in Heathrow Airport and Sainsbury’s, has not made an offer for United yet. But it is one of the Qatari parties mulling an offer to [...]
Ed Warner: Rugby union could learn from the NFL model on Super Bowl LVII weekend February 9, 2023 For all the relentless commercial growth of the Premier League, IPL and F1, the NFL remains the sporting brand to beat. Super Bowl LVII will be watched by more than 200m people worldwide on Sunday. The matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles has its stories, but in truth the identity of [...]
Pressure grows over potential £42m deal between South Africa and Tottenham February 8, 2023 The South African government is under increasing pressure to scrap a proposed sponsorship deal worth over £40m with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. The proposed three-year deal is worth 900m South African rand (£42.5m) and has been criticised by the parliament’s tourism committee. Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu told the committee that she had no knowledge [...]
FC Barcelona: Regulators tighten loophole and cut Spanish giants’ spending power February 8, 2023 FC Barcelona are facing a setback to their on-field resurgence in the form of a crackdown on their exploitation of so-called “economic levers”, City A.M. can reveal. The Spanish club, on course to end their four-year wait for another LaLiga title, have attracted the attention of domestic and European regulators with their innovative capital-raising. Last [...]
Manchester City hire £10,000-an-hour Boris Johnson Partygate barrister to fight Premier League charges February 8, 2023 Manchester City have hired the barrister who advised Boris Johnson over Partygate, Lord Pannick KC, to defend them against more than 100 charges brought by the Premier League. Pannick is one of the country’s leading barristers and can command fees of £10,000 an hour – equivalent to City top earner Kevin de Bruyne’s £400,000 salary, [...]
Juventus: Why Italian football’s latest scandal has sent its most successful club tumbling down Serie A – and what it means for Tottenham Hotspur and plans for a European Super League February 7, 2023 While Manchester City are facing claims they systematically broke financial rules, Juventus have already been docked points for their own scandal in Serie A – and it might be about to get worse. Heard the one about the serial domestic champions brought to heel over allegations of systematic abuse of financial regulations? Except this isn’t [...]