Financial stability before glory: Why professional sport must grow up December 24, 2025 Professional sport has never looked richer or felt more fragile. Revenues are growing, valuations are rising, and private capital is circling like never before. Yet beneath the surface, financial fragility remains endemic. Too many clubs – across football, rugby, cricket and beyond – are one bad season, one failed owner, or one missed broadcast deal [...]
US investors buy stakes in Liga MX’s Club America and Azteca Stadium in $490m enterprise value deal December 24, 2025 US investors have purchased stakes in Mexican football team Club America and the iconic Azteca Stadium in a $490m enterprise value deal to go into Mexican football just months before the 2026 Fifa World Cup. In a joint statement to the Mexican stock exchange — Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) — a new entity known as [...]
Serie A overseas game cancellation is early Christmas present, say football fans December 23, 2025 Football fans’ groups across the world have celebrated the cancellation of plans to export a Serie A match between AC Milan and Como overseas just weeks before the fixture. Milan and Como had been due to fly halfway around the world to play in Perth, Australia, on 8 February, in what would have been a [...]
Beckham and Neville sell stake in Salford City FC to US giants December 18, 2025 AIG has become the largest shareholder in Salford City FC after the Gary Neville and David Beckham co-owned club sold a stake to the finance and insurance giant. The League Two club has sold a stake to the American firm in a deal that will see AIG become a strategic partner as well as largest [...]
Is the Premier League decoupling from the rest of English football? December 18, 2025 Ed Warner pores over a report on the polarisation of English football and comes up with a solution to the Premier League’s stand-off with the EFL for the new regulator. “I just hope they don’t mess it up.” The Premier League club chairman’s answer to my question about his hopes for the Independent Football Regulator [...]
World Cup: The rise of the armchair fan and why it matters December 16, 2025 The row over the 2026 World Cup ticket prices is as predictable as a plucky, late-stage English exit. But the eyewatering price tags are only part of the story. Without going into the economic principle of supply versus demand (the tickets will still sell out, in my opinion), I thought it was more interesting to [...]
Premier League clubs count £1bn cost of injuries December 16, 2025 Premier League clubs have forked out more than £1bn in wages to injured players across the last five years, a new study has found. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, 5,367 injuries in the English top flight have cost its clubs £1.2bn in salary payments – equivalent to a quarter of their matchday revenue [...]
Kylian Mbappe wins £53m payout from Paris Saint-Germain December 16, 2025 Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain have been ordered to pay Kylian Mbappe €60m (£53m) after he won a legal dispute over unpaid wages and bonuses. Mbappe had been claiming €263m (£231m) from PSG, who counter-sued the France captain for €240m (£211m), following his acrimonious move to Real Madrid in summer 2024. A French labour court [...]
Leyton Orient hire firm behind world’s biggest stadium for new home December 16, 2025 Leyton Orient have appointed Populous, the architects behind Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, to design their new home in East London. The third-tier club announced plans earlier this year to relocate from Brisbane Road to a new ground, which will be the centre of a multi-use development also featuring shops, restaurants and leisure facilities. [...]
World Cup tickets aren’t worth getting into debt for, Scotland fans told December 15, 2025 Scotland manager Steve Clarke has urged fans not to rack up debt following his team at the 2026 World Cup, amid criticism of sky-high ticket prices. The Tartan Army is expected to travel in numbers to the US next summer to see Scotland play in a first men’s World Cup for 28 years, where supporters [...]