Manchester City’s £20m carrot in Real Madrid Champions League tie February 10, 2025 Manchester City will be playing for a potential £20m in prize money when they take on holders Real Madrid in their Champions League knockout play-off tie on Tuesday. Pep Guardiola’s struggling side will bank an additional €10m (£8m) just for progressing from the two-legged tie against the Spanish giants and reaching the last 16. That [...]
Why Rennes and Como were the surprise spenders in January transfer window February 8, 2025 Manchester City may have led the way in England but the biggest January transfer window spenders in other major European leagues were not the usual suspects. In France it was Rennes who spent the most, eclipsing mega-rich Paris Saint-Germain despite the champions splashing £58m on Napoli’s twinkle-toed Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Rennes invested £62m on [...]
CMA and ASA probe Chelsea-linked Vivid Seats over ticket touting February 7, 2025 Consumer group FanFair Alliance has reported Vivid Seats, a company part-owned by Chelsea chair Todd Boehly, to watchdogs for alleged illegal ticket touting. Chelsea fans have described the involvement of Boehly, the highest-profile member of the club’s US ownership group, as a “breach of trust” after it emerged this week. Vivid Seats offers tickets to [...]
Nandy rejects football regulator pay fears: ‘£130k is more than reasonable’ February 7, 2025 Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has dismissed concerns that the incoming football regulator’s effectiveness will be inhibited by more modest public sector pay. Recruitment for the regulator’s first chair is under way but fears have been raised that the calibre of candidate could be restricted by the salary of £130,000 for the part-time role. While still [...]
Chelsea Women’s rivals face a stark choice: spend – or be left behind February 6, 2025 During the January transfer window Chelsea Women made headlines with their spending, although that is nothing new for the club. Their male counterparts hold the record for the most spent in one winter window, having splashed out £275m in 2023. Chelsea Women broke the $1m transfer fee glass ceiling in the women’s game when they [...]
Meta fact-checking U-turn probed over Ronaldo Facebook deepfake scam February 6, 2025 Meta’s decision to scrap fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram is under review after Brazilian football legend Ronaldo Nazario was caught up in a deepfake scam. The company’s oversight board has launched an investigation after Meta initially rejected calls to remove a post that used an AI-manipulated video of Ronaldo to promote a gambling app. Meta [...]
Brady-backed advisory firm Knighthead spends £100m in Birmingham February 5, 2025 The UK government has welcomed Birmingham City owners Knighthead Capital’s £100m investment into Britain’s second city, which is centred around a 60,000-seat stadium. The American advisory firm, in which NFL great Tom Brady owns a small stake, has spent the money on a 48-acre site near to Birmingham City’s St Andrew’s home for the mega-project. [...]
EFL board set to discuss National League promotion demand February 5, 2025 The EFL board will meet on Thursday amid renewed pressure from the entire National League to increase the number of promotion places from two to three. All 72 National League clubs, which represent the fifth and sixth tiers of English football, wrote to the EFL this week demanding the increase with immediate effect. The issue [...]
Cristiano Ronaldo wants to own ‘several football clubs’ February 5, 2025 Cristiano Ronaldo wants to take his prolific streak into the boardroom when he retires from playing football by owning a multi-club network. Ronaldo shows no sign of hanging up his boots as he turns 40 today, with the forward still breaking goalscoring records for Portugal and Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. But the [...]
Making it Raine: US bank to earn £10m from Hundred franchise sales February 5, 2025 The Raine Group is on course to bank around £10m in commission from its role in the sale of the eight Hundred franchises. City AM has learned that the New-York based bank will earn fees worth two per cent of the price paid for 49 per cent stakes in the franchises sold by the England [...]