January 15 – Nike is the most influential sports brand in China, followed by the Chinese Basketball league and football’s Chinese Super league in third position. Sports leisure brands Adidas and New Balance occupy fourth and fifth positions.
January 12 – Pro-Tibetan sympathisers are planning to stage a protest ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Manchester City on Sunday against a sponsorship deal struck last year.
January 12 – While betting company sponsorship of clubs and gambling advertising targeted at football fans on mainstream media in England has come under increasing regulatory focus in England, in Scotland there appear to be fewer concerns.
January 12 – Brazilian superstar Neymar has announced the launch of his own app – Neymar Experience – in partnership with mobile technology company Digible.
January 10 – FIFA’s video game partner EA Sports has launched a vote for its own FIFA Team of The Year, with voters using social media to post their votes and promote their selections.
January 10 – Global eLeagues are launching their inaugural ‘eFootball League’ January 11 with teams attached to clubs from 11 countries playing FIFA 18 (Ultimate Team format) for a $10,000 prize pool.
January 10 – FC Bayern Munich has unveiled North American-based OXiGEN as the club’s Official Functional Water & Recovery Tool Partner in a three-year deal.
January 10 – The Chinese Super League (CSL) has renewed its deal with international courier service DHL for a further three years.
January 10 – AC Milan who have been under scrutiny by UEFA over financial fair play issues following their acquisition by Chinese-led consortium Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux, which is controlled by Chinese investor Yonghong, has released better news with the announcement of a sponsorship deal with online betting platform VWin.
January 5 – LaLiga has released details of its broadcast income and its club distribution. TV income rose year-on-year to in €1.247 billion from 1.237 billion, with Barcelona being the top club earner with €146.2 million.
January 3 – SportPesa are withdrawing from all Kenyan football sponsorships after failing to win a legal case that would have halted the Kenyan government’s move to increase the tax rate on gross profit on all gambling activities to 35%.
January 3 – Chinese beer brand Yanjing has renewed its title sponsorship of the Chinese Football Association Cup (CFA Cup) for another four years from 2018 to 2021.
January 2 – Barcelona kit manufacturers Nike appear to have jumped the gun somewhat with an advert on their official online store urging fans to purchase Coutinho jerseys for the remainder of this campaign even though the Liverpool playmaker has not yet signed.
January 2 – Local broadcast deals in Russia for the 2018 world cup have been agreed with FIFA after a fraught negotiation process that saw the Russians unwilling to pay the asking price for their home world cup.
December 22 – Manchester City has signed a second professional esports player, Marcus ‘ExpectSporting’ Jorgensen, who will play for City in FIFA esports tournaments ]on the PlayStation 4 (PS4) console.