By Paul Nicholson
April 6 – If Chelsea are sold for £3 billion (€3.6bn, $4bn) it would not only be the highest ever sale figure achieved by a football club, but would eclipse the highest number ever paid for a spoirts organisation anywhere in the world.
By David Owen
April 1 – There’s more than one way to skin a cat. FIFA succeeded in meeting its 2021 revenue projections. Indeed, it exceeded them somewhat, securing $766.5 million against a budgeted $742 million. But the route the football body took to arrive at this happy conclusion is far different from that expected – and somewhat mysterious.
April 1 – The European sponsorship market bounced back in 2021 with a 17.8% uplift after a slow 2020, but has not yet returned to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, according to the 2022 ESA Sponsorship Market Overview.
By David Owen
March 30 – Everton, the Merseyside club in danger of losing its English top-flight status for the first time since the 1950s, has posted its third consecutive loss in excess of £100 million.
March 30 – Pacific Media Group (PMG) have acquired a stake of just under 10% in FC Kaiserslautern, the German club have announced.
March 30 – LaLiga has described the proposed UEFA financial fair play rules that will go before UEFA’s executive committee on April 7 as a “major step forward for European football”.
March 29 – French clubs have agreed a deal for the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) to take on board €1.5 billion of venture capital investment in its newly formed commercial company.
March 28 – UEFA look set to scrap Financial Fair Play (FFP) after 10 years and replace it with radical new rules that would ultimately cap spending on wages, transfers and agents’ fees to 70% of revenue, according to reports.
March 28 – Chelsea could have new owners in place by as soon as the end of April, with four bidders left in the frame according to reports.
March 28 – Online gambling business bet365, owner of English Championship club Stoke City, has waived £120 million of debt owed by the club, and converted another £40 million of shareholder loans into equity.
March 25 – City Football Group have acquired Dutch second-tier outfit Nac Breda, which will become the eleventh club owned by the Abu Dhabi group.
March 23 – Injuries cost the Big Five football countries in Europe (England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) a staggering €279.49 million in the first half of this year according to a new study.
March 23 – The race to be on the preferred bidders list for Chelsea, expected to be announced at the end of this week, is hotting up with members of the Chicago-based Ricketts family flying to London to meet key stakeholders.
March 21 – A British-led consortium fronted by Chelsea supporters has confirmed that it has made a bid to buy the club.
March 21 – The French Professional Football League (LFP) has entered exclusive negotiations with private equity firm CVC Capital for a €1.5 billion investment in a new commercial subsidiary that will handle the LFP’s commercial rights.