By Paul Nicholson
January 5 – Premier League Southampton have a new majority owner with Sport Republic acquiring the 80% shareholding held by Chinese investor Jisheng Gao.
By David Owen
December 31 – European champions Chelsea have reported a massive loss for the covid-impacted 2020-21 season. The West London side posted pre-tax losses of £155.9 million, compared with a £35.7 million profit the previous year, when figures were buoyed by the sale of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid.
December 30 – Italian Serie A champions Inter Milan are reportedly close to signing off a sale to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) as the country expands its football portfolio and its push into the football economy.
December 30 – Belgian club Anderlecht have announced a loss of €29 million, but the club claims that with last week’s capital injection bankruptcy has been averted.
December 21 – Barcelona can’t afford players to keep their playing squad competitive in European competition, but that hasn’t stopped the association’s members mandating the board to raise up to €1.5 billion to pay for the Espai Barça project.
December 20 – Brazilian legend and Real Sociedad owner Ronaldo has obtained a controlling stake in his old club Cruzeiro, which has been struggling in the second division of the Brazilian game.
December 17 – The on-going saga of the sale of Derby County is throwing up a number of potential takeover names but one bidding group in particular is starting to catch the eye, at least from a good governance perspective.
December 15 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) players in the US will be getting a wage boost in the form of cryptocurrency following the announcement of a multi-year sponsorship with Voyager Digital.
By Paul Nicholson
December 14 – The newly formed Australian Professional Leagues (APL), operators of the men’s A-League and women’s W-League, has sold a 33% stake to US investor Silver Lake for an estimated $100 million.
December 10 – There is still big money in youth development despite an overall stagnation in the transfer market. A new transfer value analysis of the Big 5 leagues says there are 15 players under the age of 23 who could command a transfer fee of €100 million or more.
By Paul Nicholson
December 9 – Two days before LaLiga’s clubs are scheduled to vote on the Impulso Project which will see CVC inject almost €2 billion into the league, the Spanish FA (RFEF) and its president Luis Rubiales have issued a statement against the fund raising and questioning its legality under Spanish law.
December 9 – Real Madrid has agreed a €225 million loan extension to complete the Santiago Bernabéu remodelling. The club said the loan was required work “not forseen” in the initial plans.
By Paul Nicholson
December 7 – Player values that have dropped on aggregate by 20% over the period of the coronavirus crisis have remained stagnant with few players having regained their pre-pandemic market values, according to an analysis of player market values by KPMG Football Benchmark.
December 7 – The San Francisco 49ers American Football team reportedly have “a deal in place” to buy English Premier League club Leeds United.
December 3 – At the last minute, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao have presented an alternative solution to LaLiga’s planned $2.3 billion investment from CVC.