May 10 – At last, a FIFA World Cup story that is not about corruption. Sweden’s football fans are being given the opportunity to help national team manager Janne Andersson with his tactics for Russia 2018.
May 9 – Manchester City Women have become the first team in the Women’s Super League to sign a sleeve sponsor with Asian firm QNET taking the branding position and becoming the official direct selling partner of the women’s team.
May 9 – Barcelona sponsor Rakuten have taken a leaf from the Where’s Wally books (Where’s Waldo in the US) and launched a digital #WheresBarça series on their Rakuten Arena Facebook channel.
May 8 – Japanese sports equipment manufacturer Molten Corporation has expanded its rights portfolio in football becoming the Official Match Ball supplier for the Asian Football Confederation’s national and club events, starting with the confederation’s AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019.
May 4 – Music legend and multi-media entrepreneur Dave Stewart is releasing a version of his BeMyBand multi-media global format into the football market. The format technology and app is for federations, leagues and clubs who want to engage with fans in a positive and active environment, potentially identifying untapped talent but also generating interaction and loyalty.
May 4 – The Belgian FA (KBVB) has become the second national federation to announce they will have a national eSports team – the Belgian eDevils – to play on the EA Sports FIFA game platform.
May 4 – Research by Brighton-based Brandwatch into the visibility of company logos on Twitter and Instagram provides a fascinating insight into the success of football-related visual marketing on the social web.
May 4 – Digital technology acceleration platform SPARK, and sports data and technology giant, Sportradar, have joined up to boost innovation in sports data.
May 3 – LaLiga is moving from Pay TV to OTT (over the top) in the UK after the Spanish league refused to accept an offer from Sky less than the £18 million a year deal paid in the previous cycle.
May 3 – It will likely go down as a landmark moment in the continuing development of the women’s game, at least in the UK. Subbuteo is launching its first all-female team sets to co-incide with the SSE Women’s FA Cup Final this weekend.
May 2 – Genius Sports have signed a new partnership with the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) to manage and commercialise their official match data in real-time.
May 1 – Chivas’ victory over Toronto FC to win the club’s first Concacaf title and qualify for their Club World Cup later in the year, was the 13th consecutive title for Mexican teams in the confederation’s premier club competition.
By Samindra Kunti
April 30 – Liverpool and Egypt star Mohamed Salah has been angered over the unauthorised use of his image, blaming the Egyptian Football Association in a dispute that comes less than two months before the World Cup in Russia.
April 30 – China’s football expansion beyond the 11-a-side game has a new commercial supporter with electric bike company Yadea announcing that they have become the title sponsor of the country’s elite futsal league – Sina Elite 5X5 Football League 2018.
April 27 – Premier League Liverpool have announced a youth coaching project in Kunming, the capital city of SW China’s Yunnan province, that will initially provide coaching to a selection of schools.