Championship Play-Off Final: £170m prize at stake for Brentford and Swansea in football’s most lucrative match May 29, 2021 Saturday’s Championship Play-Off Final is worth £170m to the winning team, making it football’s most lucrative match, according to Deloitte. The Wembley fixture, to decide which team gets the remaining place in next season’s Premier League, is this year between Brentford and Swansea City. “Promotion to the Premier League remains the most valuable prize in [...]
Leicester City title hero Christian Fuchs explains why he is auctioning his viral video of the team’s Premier League celebrations as an NFT May 28, 2021 Former Leicester City player Christian Fuchs is auctioning his viral video clip of the team celebrating the Premier League title as part of an NFT (non-fungible token). Fuchs shot the clip of the moment Leicester became champions on his mobile phone and shared it on Twitter, where it has received 12m views. The defender is [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Castore eyes Chinese market with Wolves kit deal; Rosberg signs up IG Prime to Extreme E team; Koepka does rival DeChambeau a favour May 27, 2021 Change is in the air at Wolves, and not only because manager Nuno Espirito Santo departed this week. The Black Country’s finest have also signed a new kit deal with fast-growing premium British sportswear brand Castore. Castore has been canny in its choice of sportspeople and teams to get behind, from Andy Murray to Owen [...]
Zinedine Zidane to leave Real Madrid after season without a trophy May 27, 2021 Zinedine Zidane has left Real Madrid for a second time as a manager after the Spanish powerhouse finished the 2020-21 season without a trophy. Real said they respected the decision of their former player Zidane, who returned to the Santiago Bernabeu dugout in 2019. They said his “professionalism, dedication and passion” over the years would [...]
Trevor Steven: Thomas Tuchel must be brave if Chelsea are to deny Manchester City their Champipons League moment May 27, 2021 Football is about moments and Saturday’s Champions League final against Chelsea feels like it is Manchester City’s. When City hired Pep Guardiola five years ago it was in order to win this competition and they have never had a better chance than this. Saturday’s clash in Porto is their opportunity to make the step up [...]
Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In is a personal tale of greatness May 26, 2021 In the world of football, few men have dominated quite like Sir Alex Ferguson. Even if you are a supporter of one of the teams his Manchester United side made miserable, the numbers speak for themselves. Thirteen Premier League Titles, 2 Champions Leagues, 5 FA Cups, and a lifetime of memories for those whom he [...]
Europa League final: Why stakes are high for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Manchester United against Villarreal May 25, 2021 By reaching the Europa League final and finishing second in the Premier League, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has delivered the necessary progress to keep his job. But that doesn’t mean that the stakes aren’t high for both Solskjaer and Manchester United when they meet Villarreal in Gdansk on Wednesday night. Like a lot of people, I [...]
Ben White, Ben Godfrey and Trent Alexander-Arnold in provisional England Euro 2020 squad but no place for Eric Dier, James Maddison or Patrick Bamford May 25, 2021 Gareth Southgate has named uncapped defenders Ben White and Ben Godfrey in his provisional 33-man England squad for Euro 2020. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jack Grealish, Jesse Lingard, Mason Greenwood, Bukayo Saka, Ollie Watkins, Jude Bellingham, Conor Coady and Aaron Ramsdale are also in the expanded party. Eric Dier, James Maddison and Patrick Bamford miss out but [...]
Leicester City’s Champions League deja vu casts Brendan Rodgers as the nearly man yet again May 24, 2021 This has, on the whole, been another outstanding season for Leicester and their manager, Brendan Rodgers. Although the pain of having a Champions League place wrenched from their grasp on the last day of the season will still be acute, any Leicester fan would surely have taken fifth place in the Premier League and a [...]
Sunday Times Rich List: Marcus Rashford tops the UK’s biggest givers May 21, 2021 Manchester United football player Marcus Rashford has become the youngest person to top The Sunday Times Giving List this year, which measures philanthropy among the ultra-wealthy. The list highlighted today that the UK saw more new billionaire’s during the pandemic than any other time over the list’s 33-year history. However, this year also saw a record amount of donations, exceeding £4bn [...]