July 6 – The entry of the giant OTT streaming services into the top tier football rights market is gathering pace with Facebook agreeing an estimated £260 million deal for live Premier League matches in south-east Asia.
July 6 – On the eve of their World Cup quarterfinal against the host nation, Croatia have been fined CHF70,000 for violating media and marketing rules at the tournament.
July 6 – Hard on the heels of Betway having announced two new club betting sponsorship in LaLiga, Marathonbet has taken its first Spanish steps becoming the main sponsor of Girona FC.
By Paul Nicholson
July 5 – Spain’s LaLiga is the latest football rights holder to condemn the on-going copyright theft by pirate satellite broadcaster BeoutQ that is transmitting sports content it does not own. Separately world tennis’s various governing bodies and major tournaments have combined to issue the strongest demands yet, calling for the “immediate closure” of the channel.
July 5 – Betway appears to be mopping up shirt sponsor deals in LaLiga. Deportivo Alavés has become the European bookmaker’s third Spanish club in a two-year deal.
July 5 – Football trade show Soccerex has announced it is taking its main winter event, until this year generally held in Manchester, England, to Miami in the US, in partnership with regional confederation Concacaf.
July 4 – Amazon looks set to make another foray into the domestic European TV rights market, being rumoured to in line pick up the remaining rights packages for Spain’s LaLiga.
July 4 – European on-line bookmaker Betway has agreed a second Spanish shirt sponsorship deal adding LaLiga’s Levante U.D. to their roster having agreed a deal with C.D. Leganés earlier this year.
July 3 – Premier League Burnley have swapped main sponsor Dafabet for new launch gaming and betting brand LaBa360 in a record shirt sponsorship deal for the club.
July 3 – Football DataCo has agreed a deal with Genius Sports to be the exclusive agency to supply and sub-license official match data and fixture lists for England and Scotland’s professional leagues to licensed betting operators in South Africa.
July 3 – With many European clubs back in training and looking towards pre-season marketing/training trips to foreign countries, Manchester City have announced that their two trophies – from their Premier League and Carabao Cup wins last season – will also be making a summer tour.
July 2 – Internazionale has unvelied Lvmama.com as the club’s Official China Travel Partner at a signing ceremony in the new Bellagio hotel in Shanghai, which was opened in June and is owned by the Suning Group which also owns the club.
June 29 – Unibet has secured a SEK 1.2 billion (+ €100 million) title sponsorship of Sweden’s top two leagues that will at the start of 2020 and run for six years with the option of Unibet renewing for a further six years.
June 29 – Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) has signed a four-year partnership with streaming platform mycujoo that will see more than 1,500 matches live-streamed between 2018 to 2021.
By David Owen
June 29 – Nike turned the tables on arch-rivals Adidas in the latest round of Insideworldfootball’s World Cup Battle of Brands; but the swoosh brand was unable to overhaul Puma at the top of the increasingly congested cumulative table.