Sports business in 2019: Industry insiders pick the trends that defined the year December 15, 2019 Izzy Wray, consultant in Deloitte’s Sport Business Group Women’s football The growing popularity of women’s football has been one of the defining sports trends of 2019. The Women’s World Cup smashed TV audience records, with a reported 1bn people watching it worldwide and over 28m people tuning in to the tournament on the BBC. Numerous [...]
Premier League appoints Richard Masters as chief executive after embarrassing saga December 12, 2019 The Premier League today approved the appointment of interim chief executive Richard Masters to the role on a permanent basis. Masters’ appointment follows an embarrassing saga for the football body, which gave the job to two previous candidates, neither of whom took up the role. Read more: The Premier League’s incoming CEO has quit before [...]
Manchester United’s attack looks reinvigorated with Anthony Martial allowing Marcus Rashford to flourish December 12, 2019 A lot can change in a week. Just eight days ago Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s position as Manchester United manager looked under serious threat: the club had won just six league games in the last 22 ahead of difficult ties against Tottenham and Manchester City, while Mauricio Pochettino appeared to be waiting in the wings. Today, [...]
Chelsea 2-1 Lille: Blues avoid banana skin to qualify for the Champions League last 16 December 10, 2019 Frank Lampard was clear in his view on Chelsea’s crunch match with Lille tonight. The Blues needed a result from their final Champions League group game to reach the last 16 and their manager was ready to embrace the occasion. “I like the pressure of this game being a knockout,” he said in his pre-match [...]
Manuel Pellegrini must wake up and take West Ham back to basics to avoid the sack December 10, 2019 Manuel Pellegrini says he not worried about West Ham being relegated from the Premier League, but he needs to wake up because right now that is a possibility. Monday’s 3-1 home defeat by Arsenal means the Hammers have taken just four points from their last eight games – a run that leaves them one point [...]
Bayern Munich dead-rubber is a chance for Mourinho to show his changing attitude to youth players December 10, 2019 On one hand, Tottenham’s match with Bayern Munich on Wednesday night represents an opportunity for them to enact revenge on the 7-2 thrashing suffered at the hands of the German side earlier this season. On the other, with both sides already guaranteed to progress to the round of 16 and Tottenham unable to move above [...]
SailGP is aiming to make a splash in its second year after the arrival of Sir Ben Ainslie December 10, 2019 If the first season of SailGP was about making a splash and proving that there is an audience for the sport, then the second is about expansion. The worldwide sailing series, the brainchild of American software billionaire Larry Ellison and former world champion yachtsman Sir Russell Coutts, enjoyed a successful first season this year. Teams [...]
Amazon nets Champions League rights with German streaming deal December 10, 2019 Amazon has made its first move into European football streaming after snapping up the rights to show a package of Champions League games in Germany. The US retail giant today said it has secured exclusive rights to broadcast Tuesday night fixtures in the country for the 2021-2022 season. Read more: Amazon steps into Premier League [...]
Leicester’s solid defence has been the foundation of their rise up the Premier League table December 10, 2019 Leicester have proven a serious attacking threat this season with the re-emergence of Jamie Vardy as one of the deadliest strikers in the Premier League and a record-equalling 9-0 victory away to Southampton. But under Brendan Rodgers they have also rediscovered the defensive resilience that was so crucial to their logic-defying title triumph of four [...]
West Ham 1-3 Arsenal: Gunners’ nine-minute burst enough to give Ljungberg a first victory and end nine-game winless run December 9, 2019 In the end all it took was one morsel of confidence to build on. For successful teams winning becomes a habit; over the last nine games Arsenal had forgotten how to do it. Booed off after 45 minutes in the London Stadium tonight it looked like the Gunners were set for another dispiriting night on [...]