July 11 – Being a convicted tax fraud with a custodial sentence hanging over your head is bad for business, just ask Lionel Messi and his father Jorge. The FIFA, Argentina, and Barcelona golden boy – winner of five Ballon d’Or world player of the year awards – has been dropped from the cover of the upcoming FIFA 17 video game packaging.
July 11 – In the battle of the appareil brands US firm Nike is claiming major summer success over its European rival adidas at both the Copa America Centenario and the European Championships.
July 8 – Car manufacturer Nissan has expanded its football media sponsorship as the weekend sponsor of Sky Sports’ Premier League action in a three-year partnership.
By David Owen
July 8 – We will have to wait and see whether hosts France or Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal lift the European Championship trophy at the Stade de France on Sunday. But we can already say with absolute clarity that the US mark Nike has won Euro 2016’s Battle of the Brands.
July 8 – Manchester City have signed a new player. Kieran ‘Kez’ Brown will represent Manchester City in football gaming tournaments and fan events.
July 7 – Manchester City, hard on the heels of its Cityzens weekend and the launch of various digital initiatives has now turned its attention back to China where it has extended its relationship with specialist business development company, Zhong An Holdings.
July 5 – How much is a player worth and will he do the job required are the perennial questions facing club owners and managers. There is no exact calculation that answers either of these questions for buyers, and no guarantee of value for money. A new player ratings tool might go some of the way to providing at least peace of mind to those splashing the cash.
July 5 – Manchester City have relaunched their website with a number of new features and at a new url, mancity.com. The new site is the result of a long consultancy process involving multiple rounds of focus groups, surveys, prototype designs, and user.
July 4 – There are still some tickets left for the World Football Forum later this week (July 7-8) in Paris. The two-day meeting opens Thursday with an iSportconnect Directors’ Club and WFF Cocktail Reception. Conference sessions are on Friday at the Hotel du Collectionneur.
July 4 – BetVictor have signed a new three-year deal to become a principal partner of Premier League club Liverpool. No figure was announced for the sponsorship.
By Paul Nicholson
July 1 – Spain’s LaLiga has officially rebranded itself for the 2016/17 season with the ending of the BBVA title sponsorship deal. LaLiga and LaLiga2 are now the official names for the top two tiers of the league.
July 1 – This weekend Premier League Manchester City are throwing their doors open to fans in what is called a ‘Cityzens Weekend’ to celebrate the arrival of Pep Guardiola and the launch of club’s new badge, website and home kit.
June 30 – EA Sports has launched an investigation following reports of a “chemistry inconsistency” in FIFA’s 2016 Ultimate Team (FUT) game that has prompted scores of complaints from players demanding a boycott of the game over fears they’re being cheated.
June 30 – Manchester City have kept up the pace with their football leading social media output with the launch of a Facebook Messenger account, the first football club to open one.
By David Owen
June 28 – Just when it looked like Euro 2016’s Battle of the Brands was about to come down to a straight shoot-out between Nike and Adidas, along came the tournament’s Manic Monday to make sure that four kit suppliers are still in with a chance of glory at the quarter-final stage.