Exclusive: Middle East and United States bid to host Champions Cup final September 3, 2023 European rugby chiefs are considering bids which would see the Champions Cup final staged in the Middle East or the United States, City A.M. can reveal. The finals weekend of the world’s premier club rugby competition, the Champions Cup, and its sister competition the Challenge Cup have traditionally housed themselves in core rugby regions. But [...]
Mohamed Al Fayed: Tributes paid to former owner of Harrods and Fulham FC September 2, 2023 Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed has been described as “an extraordinary tour de force” after his death at the age of 94. Mr Al Fayed, who was owner and chairman of Fulham Football Club for 16 years, died on Wednesday. His family announced on Friday he had “passed away peacefully of old age”. Paying [...]
Boehly’s billion: Cole Palmer signing sees Chelsea hit spending landmark on transfer deadline day September 1, 2023 Cole Palmer’s £40m move from Manchester City takes Chelsea’s lavish spending under Todd Boehly’s ownership group past £1billion in three transfer windows. Chelsea became used to unprecedented transfer outlay under former chairman Roman Abramovich but, if anything, Boehly and Behdad Eghbali’s Clearlake consortium have taken it to new levels. Raheem Sterling was the first signing [...]
Revealed: The biggest overpayments and best deals of the football transfer window September 1, 2023 Chelsea overpaid by £34m when they made Moises Caicedo the most expensive transfer in Premier League football history, according to independent research. The Blues agreed to pay an initial £100m, rising to a possible £115m, for Caicedo after winning a bidding war with Liverpool for the Brighton midfielder this summer. But Football Benchmark, an industry [...]
Investec hand rugby vote of confidence with Champions Cup sponsorship August 31, 2023 Investec has handed rugby a much-needed vote of confidence by striking a five-year deal to replace Heineken as sponsor of the Champions Cup. Europe and South Africa’s premier club competition has been without a sponsor since the Dutch beer brand, involved since 1995, stepped away from the title association in June. It represents a huge [...]
Champions League referees told to reject Premier League approach to stoppage time August 31, 2023 The Champions League will not adopt the same stoppage time policy as the Premier League and Fifa World Cups, says European governing body Uefa. Premier League games now routinely exceed 100 minutes after it followed the same guidelines implemented by global chiefs Fifa at the last men’s and women’s World Cups. But Uefa says it [...]
Champions League draw: Best and worst case scenarios for Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal and Newcastle August 30, 2023 On the face of it, Thursday’s Champions League draw will be just like any other: a gathering of club suits for a glossy and unnecessarily long ceremony peppered with former stars of European football and stilted banter. But there will be something unique about this year’s draw: it will be the last to follow the [...]
Chelsea accused of penalising disabled fans with ‘appalling’ coach subsidy decision August 29, 2023 Chelsea supporters have accused the club of penalising disabled and vulnerable fans by taking the “appalling decision” to remove subsidised coach travel to domestic away games. Blues chiefs said this week that it was “not financially sustainable” to maintain the subsidy, which the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust believes costs £250,000 a year – less than some [...]
Premier League summer spending tops £2bn for first time – and more records set to fall August 28, 2023 Premier League spending has passed the £2bn mark for the first time in a single transfer window as England’s leading clubs have flexed their financial muscle. With several days left before the transfer deadline on Friday at 11pm, top-flight teams have already exceeded the record £1.92bn lavished last summer. And they could yet surpass £3bn [...]
Ed Warner: Why sport shouldn’t waste its time courting royals and politicians August 24, 2023 Politicians and royals rarely mix well with sport, so the fuss about the Prime Minister and Duke of Cambridge missing the Women’s World Cup final was classic British nonsense. In my experience, the less time spent trying to sprinkle dubious stardust on sporting events, the better. Civil servants and UK Sport spent ridiculous time that [...]