Arsenal 3, Tottenham 1: Gunners find feet as Spurs slip September 26, 2021 Form is supposed to go out of the window when it comes to a derby, but apparently no one told Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. Both teams came into this match on very different trajectories – Arsenal improving after a woeful start to the Premier League, Spurs regressing after a good one – and their paths [...]
Premier League NFTs: Sorare aiming to launch digital fantasy football trading cards collection following similar deal with Spain’s LaLiga September 21, 2021 French technology start-up Sorare is hoping to launch a range of NFTs comprising digital fantasy football trading cards with the Premier League. The company, which has raised £500m from investors including SoftBank, has emerged as a major player in sport’s growing blockchain economy and recently struck a deal with Spain’s LaLiga. “We have had conversations, [...]
Legal Q&A: How referees’ pay could be hit by a tax dispute with HMRC and why this could have wide-reaching effects on the gig economy September 21, 2021 Lawyer Kevin Barrow explores the implications of an ongoing case between referees and HMRC. What’s this case about? It’s about whether PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) needs to deduct income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from payments it makes to referees whom it has engaged on a self-employed “gig worker” basis to officiate at [...]
Opinion: Why Derby County’s financial woes show that football is broken and needs fundamental change September 20, 2021 The unfolding disaster at Derby County should never have been allowed to happen, but sadly this is just the latest example of a game that has increasingly allowed itself to lose touch with reality. We have seen the collapse of FA Cup winners Bury and the demise of Macclesfield, while others, such as Wigan and [...]
Tottenham Hotspur 0, Chelsea 3: Blues cruise in London derby underlines their Premier League title credentials September 19, 2021 Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have produced some memorable ding-dong battles in recent history. This wasn’t one of them, however, such was Chelsea’s overwhelming superiority. The visitors won 3-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but it would not have flattered them unduly had they triumphed by a greater margin. With four wins from five Premier League [...]
Jimmy Greaves: Football mourns Tottenham and Chelsea icon, England World Cup winner and ‘possibly the greatest striker this country produced’ September 19, 2021 Football has united to pay tribute to Jimmy Greaves after the World Cup-winning former England striker and London football legend died, aged 81. Greaves set several goalscoring records that remain unsurpassed, including his 357 goals in the English top division, 266 for Tottenham Hotspur, and 41 in a league season for Chelsea. The east Londoner, [...]
Survey shows that most football fans want World Cup every two years, says Fifa September 16, 2021 Fifa has stepped up its push for biennial World Cups by reporting that most football fans support the controversial proposals. The world governing body cited a survey of 23,000 people in 23 countries undertaken in July as part of a wider feasibility study. Fifa did not reveal any further figures but said it had drawn [...]
Scottish Premiership clubs Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee and Dundee United task Deloitte with finding ways to increase league revenues September 15, 2021 Scottish Premiership football clubs have commissioned Deloitte to conduct a review of the league with a view to unlocking new revenue. Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian say they would like to see annual distributions increase from £27m to at least £50m a year by 2026. The five clubs say they will [...]
Champions League 2021-22: Which are the easiest and hardest groups? September 14, 2021 The Champions League returns in earnest this evening when the group stage gets under way, with holders Chelsea mong those in action. Despite the use of a seeding system to make the draw fairer, some groups appear to pack a lot more pedigree than others. So which is the hardest Champions League group and which [...]
Barcelona suffer another financial blow with Rakuten set to pull plug on €30m-a-year shirt sponsorship September 9, 2021 Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten is to end its €30m-a-year sponsorship of Barcelona at the end of the season, according to reports. The development is another blow for the beleaguered titans of Spanish football, who are more than £1bn in debt and lost star player Lionel Messi this summer. Rakuten has been the main shirt sponsor [...]