Football's Magic Money Tree

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jun 02, 2019 10:28 am

I mentioned in post #408 that the pressure on Gordon Taylor to quit was reaching levels of no return - subsequent announcements of internal reviews which ultimately led to him agreeing to step down in March (while preventing any of the current PFA executive from replacing him), It seems the review has yet to start and it is now looking lie Taylor will still be in post into next year. - it would be shocking if we were not so inured to these kind of administrators exercising such practises - I am struggling to remember a time when they didn't

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... layed.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jun 02, 2019 10:38 am

It has been mooted for a while, and I suspect it has been suggested by the biggest teams as a way of securing the type of European Club Competitions they want, but could a "luxury tax" really be on it's way in European Football

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... nders.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jun 02, 2019 10:57 am

Simon Chadwick looks at the full depth of revenue potential from Champions League qualification and progression - this goes beyond the now widely known quantity of UEFA payments - not an exact science but reflective of the opportunity that is there.

https://theconversation.com/hard-eviden ... orth-42376" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
should say it is a old article but still highly relevant

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:09 am

BT will be disappointed with the problems they had last night

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/champi ... 37816.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These streaming issues must raise questions for the coming seasons toe-dip into simul-broadcasts of all games in a round by both Amazon and BT -

The saving grace is that Amazon a well structured for large audiences and BT will only be distributing to paying customers not the whole country.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jun 02, 2019 11:47 am

As the money continues to roll in at the top of the game in this country, at the bottom it is dying rapidly

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... ll-pitches" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Do I like this - no yet anyone who has watched Michael Calvin's film State of play on BT this week will note that many of our young stars come from south London (like Sancho) those guys never got much opportunity to play on grass, not unlike Zidane, and it is much more than just a lack of pitches that is killing the grass roots games.

The shocking lack of respect for referees and officials being just one element
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46208857" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jun 02, 2019 12:27 pm

"Uefa's motto should be greed, geopolitics and Gazprom" - just have to share an article with a line like that even if it is a few days old - from Tortoisemedia.com

The carnival of avarice

English teams have dominated European football this season, with Chelsea beating Arsenal in one final last night and Liverpool and Spurs meeting in the Champions League final on Saturday

Many believe the standard in the Champions League is higher even than in the World Cup. But increasingly the biggest tournaments seem to be run for profit, not supporters

These profits are not spread evenly. Cities hosting finals stand to make more money from medical conventions
By Tony Evans

Everyone wins at the Champions League final. Except football fans. European football’s showpiece occasion has grown into a fiesta of greed. Supporters know it, but they are drawn to the game’s avaricious siren call anyway.

As many as 100,000 supporters of the English Premier League clubs Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur will flood Madrid this Saturday. Fewer than a third will have acquired tickets from the clubs they support.

Each finalist was allocated 16,613 match tickets for a stadium that holds 63,500. The rest are shared around the “Uefa family,” a dysfunctional grouping that includes officials and friends of European football’s ruling body, national associations, the local organising committee, broadcasters, commercial partners and corporate hospitality companies.

Even before touts get involved, prices are eye-watering. The cheapest tickets are £60 but only about 20 per cent of the seats are in this range. More than half cost £154, another 20 per cent go for £385, and 5 per cent cost £513. Each. Hardly the People’s Game.

At least Madrid has the capacity to handle an influx of tourists. The Spanish capital has an international airport, more than 70,000 hotel rooms and a substantial AirBnB market. Naturally, prices have been hiked substantially – flights and accommodation are going for a minimum of four times the usual rate – but at least supporters can get there.

The other Uefa signature club game, the Europa League final, took place in Baku last night. The airport in Azerbaijan’s capital could handle only 15,000 passengers over the period needed to service the event. Like the Champions League final, this game featured two clubs from the English Premier League, both from London. Arsenal and Chelsea were granted just 12,000 tickets between them. They returned more than half their paltry allocations. Was this the moment Uefa finally pushed its paying customers too far?

“It might look that way because Arsenal and Chelsea have two of the richest fan bases in football, but it’s a peculiar set of circumstances,” David Bick, a football finance expert from Square One Consulting, said.

“The Europa League is nowhere near as glamorous as the Champions League and Uefa misjudged the [choice of] venue badly. If the Baku final was in a more accessible place, the tickets would sell out immediately. If it was the Champions League, people would find a way of getting to Azerbaijan and the tickets would be snapped up.”

The selection process for this year’s finals was launched in December 2016. Two months later it was announced that Madrid’s then unfinished Wanda Metropolitano and Baku’s Olympic Stadium were the only contenders.

Azerbaijan was implicitly ruled out of the Champions League bidding when the evaluation report was published the following September. “The number of hotel rooms within a 60km radius of the stadium falls short… and would allow the city to accommodate only a very limited number of fans and visitors, including Uefa’s key target groups in standard hotels,” the inspectors said of Baku. “Mitigation measures such as camp sites, university dormitories or guest houses would need to be investigated.”

Madrid got the big game and Azerbaijan’s consolation prize was the Europa League final. At this point, nearly two years ago, the ruling body and the main Champions League sponsors – Expedia, Gazprom, Heineken, Mastercard, Nissan, PepsiCo, Santander and Sony Playstation – began to book prime accommodation in Madrid. Their Europa League counterparts, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, FedEx, Hankook Tire, Kia Motors and Heineken (using its Amstel brand) did likewise in Baku.

Well-meaning pundits who suggest the venue be changed to save supporters from the same city or country travelling thousands of miles should save their breath. The locations are locked in as soon as Uefa makes its decision.

It would take a natural disaster or violent political upheaval to cause a change of plan. Last year’s final in Kiev went ahead even though conflict between Ukraine and Russian separatists rumbled on less than 400 miles from the fan parks and celebrations.

There are clear benefits for host cities. Madrid Destino, a civic company that manages tourism and local events, estimates that this weekend’s final will generate about £49.5 million for the city. Outlay is involved – December’s Copa Libertadores final (the South American equivalent of the Champions League) between River Plate and Boca Juniors, which was moved from Buenos Aires because of fan violence, cost nearly £574,000 on National Police deployment alone – but Madrid will make a hefty profit.

There is also a knock-on effect. Uefa estimates a global television audience of about 400 million people in more than 200 countries. Coverage before, during and after the game generates free publicity for the city and Madrid Destino believes many first-time visitors among the match-goers will come back to experience the historic plazas when they are not crammed with football fans.

It makes the point, however, that the Champions League final can be trumped by less obtrusive events. The annual gathering of the European Society for Medical Oncology will take place in the city in September next year and is expected to draw 25,000 people. Madrid Destino’s financial models predict that this convention will inject more than £57 million into the economy over four days. Delegates will be less visible than Liverpool and Tottenham supporters but are likely to spend more – and cause less damage.

Azerbaijan’s rationale for wanting to bring big games to Baku was less about football’s economic boost than an attempt to wield “soft power” through sport. The country is rich in oil and gas and has had a Formula 1 grand prix for the past three seasons. But the attempt to gain prestige and good publicity from the Europa League final backfired as it became clear the city’s infrastructure could not support Uefa’s secondary showpiece.
A further blow came when it emerged that Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Arsenal’s Armenian midfielder, did not feel it was safe to travel to Baku. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been involved in a border conflict since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The situation reflects badly on Uefa and the host government, which has refused visas to supporters with Armenian names. Tom Watson, deputy leader of the Labour Party, raised the issue in Parliament last week.

Uefa are keen that this row does not escalate. Some observers wondered why Arsenal, in particular, and Chelsea, did not object to the location of the game and Mkhitaryan’s absence more robustly, but other issues are occurring behind the scenes at European football’s headquarters in the Swiss city of Nyon.

The ruling body charged Manchester City with flouting Financial Fair Play rules this month. Both London clubs are suspicious of City’s spending and dominance on the domestic scene. The Premier League champions are owned by the Abu Dhabi royal family and a Uefa source said: “This is not a dispute with a club but a battle with an Emirate. It’s football against a country.”

It is no time to rock the boat, no matter how unhappy Arsenal and Chelsea were about Baku.

As for the fans who could not get to Baku, Uefa was unrepentant. A number of Europa League finals have failed to capture the public imagination. In 2014, Sevilla and Benfica came nowhere near to filling Juventus Stadium in Turin and the next year the Spanish club returned to the final to play Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in front of a sparse crowd in Warsaw.

Still, it will be a full house in Madrid. Liverpool and Tottenham supporters will descend on the city using a wide assortment of inventive routes. The game’s significance makes it worthwhile.

Saturday will be the second successive Champions League final for Jurgen Klopp’s men, but Spurs have reached the big game for the first time. Events like this do not come along too often. Plenty of supporters are willing to empty their bank accounts to be present, even if it means watching on television in a bar.

Their experience of the Spanish capital will be slightly strange. They will find streets and plazas taken over by corporate areas. They will take selfies in front of a giant inflatable trophy in the Plaza de Oriente. A stage will dominate the Puerta del Sol. PlayStation fans will face down each other by playing Fifa 19 in the Plaza Mayor. Every conceivable item of Champions League tat will be on sale at an impromptu superstore in Plaza del Callao. A great city will become one of the interchangeable annual backdrops to Uefa’s carnival of avarice.

The American rock band Imagine Dragons will perform before the game, courtesy of Pepsi. Last year in Kiev, Liverpool fans bounced and squealed while Dua Lipa belted out ‘One Kiss’. It was nothing like the singing that made the Kop famous. ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and Tottenham’s slow, deep ‘When The Spurs Go Marching In’ chant do not really have a place on Uefa’s stage.

The future of football will be on show in the Wanda stadium on Saturday. Uefa’s motto should be greed, geopolitics and Gazprom.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Sun Jun 02, 2019 7:34 pm

fascinating little video on why Western Europe dominates world football

https://www.ft.com/video/d65c4081-b3c9- ... fa162cd0d6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 11:21 am

Following Saturday's final @SwissRamble gives his final piece on earnings from UEFA for English teams in the Champions League - Man Utd earn more than City, despite City being previous season domestic champions - the power of history (coefficients)

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 3358542849" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 11:26 am

Now the Champions and Europa Leagues are over for another season (start again in 4 weeks) the focus turns to the future. Head of the European Leagues Organisation (ELO has a different meaning to me) Lars-Christer Olsson kicks off the debate.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:05 pm

Marketing week talks about the opportunities for sponsors as t the Women's World Cup in France as the women's game is having a "moment"

https://www.marketingweek.com/2019/05/3 ... onsorship/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

as Simon Chadwick points out -Use of the word 'moment' implies opportunism. Commitment & strategy imply something much longer-term, substantive & fundamental...

EDIT - The host nation doesn't seem to have taken much notice of Marketing Week

https://twitter.com/RobHarris/status/11 ... 8249131008" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:07 pm

Liverpool will have to play their Club World Cup games in Qatar this December - as QSI find a way to make more use of their New Stadiums ahead of the World Cup

https://apnews.com/10957cf21be24326b96b190ab1f7feaf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:14 pm

First posted in ##1153 about Mohammed bin Zayed the ruler of UAE (and also how many suspect he is the real owner of Man City) this piece gives more insight into the sheer scale of his influence - originally in the NY Times - but found this free version (I have to save those limited read opportunities)

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 623640.cms" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:40 pm

Keeping in mind the last 2 posts - Qatar got its way in restricting World Cup to 32 teams, another country would have had to get involved for the 48 FIFA wanted and with Iran being effectively Qatar's only friend in the region, that was always a non-starter even for FIFA. The region's problems are not going away any time soon it would seem.

https://gulfbusiness.com/uae-saudi-hit- ... ah-summit/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the clock is ticking on finding a resolution. Entirely possible that late stage preparations for 2022 could take place against backdrop of massively tense geopolitical stand off. What price a World cup from multiple cities in multiple countries like the Euro Championship

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:42 pm

@MiguelDelaney argues that Liverpool's 6th big cup takes them back to the top table of Superclubs

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 41331.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 1:11 pm

Posted the first 3 episodes of the Mathew Briggs documentary in post #1243 - Part 4 has been released today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmWDVyObakM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 1:14 pm

Posted about Shaun Harvey's comments re owners being the saviours of clubs in post #1207 - here is a biting repost

https://nickigoeconsultancy.co.uk/blogs ... rs-or-fans" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 2:45 pm

Back to Qatar and their world cup preparations - the Qatari authorities have released their 4th Workers Welfare Report - 11 Deaths - 1 in work and 10 not at work - lot's of issues still for them to address

https://sc.qa/sites/default/files/docs/ ... ort_EN.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 3:04 pm

More Uefa Money up for grabs for both Liverpool and Chelseas as a result of this seasons success- from OffthePitch.com

Champions League winners Liverpool in line for £8 million bonus - by Alex Miller

The Merseyside club will be eligible to play the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
Today FIFA will pick the host of the Club World Cup tournament. (see post #1285)

Liverpool will bank £8 million in additional prize money as Champions League winners - if they also go on to lift the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

The winners of the Champions League final in Madrid will win in the region of £95 million in prize money from UEFA.

However, the winners will also be entered into the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The UEFA Super Cup will take place in Istanbul on 14th August, where Liverpool will take on Europa League winners Chelsea. The winners of the Super Cup will take home £4 million in prize money, while the runners-up will receive £3.1 million.

Seven teams receive prize money
Liverpool last won the Cup in 2005, beating CSKA Moscow.

The FIFA Club World Cup will take place over two weeks during the winter.

All seven teams in the tournament win prize money awarded on a sliding scale. The winners of the World Cup will receive £4 million, while the runners-up will be awarded £3.2 million.

Liverpool were runners-up in 2005.

Today FIFA will select the hosts of the 2019 and 2020 events.

Massive changes
Gonzalo Belloso, the deputy secretary general and development director of CONMEBOL, recently revealed that the 2019 and 2020 tournaments will be held in Japan.

A spokesperson for FIFA confirmed to offthepitch.com that the meeting was scheduled to take place in Paris to confirm the detail's

FIFA said: “The hosts for the FIFA Club World Cups 2019 and 2020 are scheduled to be appointed at the upcoming FIFA Council on Monday 3 June. The tournament regulations will also be published in due course.”

Spokespeople for Liverpool and Tottenham wouldn’t comment on their potential participation.

Massive changes to the FIFA Club World Cup mean that it will become a four-yearly competition from 2021.

The idea for a 24-team tournament was approved in March and is set to first take place in two years’ time.

Given the green light
Liverpool are reportedly one of eight European sides already invited to take part in what has been described as a “£100 million tournament.”

The competition will run from June to July in the slot currently used for the international tournament, the Confederations Cup, which has been scrapped.

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, expressed his delight that the tournament was given the green light and hopes that the Club World Cup will now be taken more seriously by Europe's elite.

"Now the world will see a real Club World Cup where fans will see the best teams in the world compete to be crowned the real world champions," he said.

"We hope that all the best teams will participate and we have had some very positive discussions with UEFA.

"But it was our responsibility to take a decision because we have to deal with the organisational matters - it is only two years away."

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 3:33 pm

A belligerent article on Footbal365.com (it seems to be a home for them - which I can of like as all sides need a voice) about ticket price rises at Man City and the public management of them - from a City ST holder

https://www.football365.com/news/man-ci ... pport-them" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 3:38 pm

More from Football365.com - John Nicholson writes on what we have learned from the 2018/19 season and kicks off with this belter -

"Fulham taught us the modern day all-consuming obsession with money and transfers is a madness and is born out of a culture which only understands personal success through acquisition and materialism rather than nurturing and education."

I did say it was a home for beligerent writers didn't I?

https://www.football365.com/news/427-th ... ft-man-utd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:08 pm

Following Bristol Rovers late release of Accounts and its £65k loss in post #1264 - well the owners have pumped another £10m into the club via equity

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2171016192" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the game is bonkers

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:15 pm

Blackpool appear to tidying their finances in advance of new owners coming in

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/statu ... 2826271749" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

apparently there has been a large number of prospective buyers with very real interest - a lot, lot more than Bolton

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 8:16 pm

This Qatar-Leeds story is just not going away - This from Tariq Panja in the New York Times

Qatar May Buy Into English Team Leeds - By Tariq Panja - June 3, 2019

Qatar, the gas-rich Gulf state that has gained an outsized influence in global soccer, held advanced discussions to buy a stake in the storied English team Leeds United on Monday, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions.

Qatar stunned the sports world when it secured the rights to host soccer’s World Cup in 2022. Since that vote in 2010 it has been among the most consequential nations in soccer, buying and investing huge amounts to turn Paris Saint-Germain into a powerhouse team and also becoming the biggest buyer of soccer rights on the continent through its BeIN Sports network.

The move for Leeds, which missed out on a return to the Premier League after losing a playoff semifinal to Derby last month, would be Qatar’s first foray into English soccer and most likely will lead to further scrutiny into its affairs at home and abroad. Human rights groups have drawn attention to the treatment of workers building World Cup stadiums, while there have been allegations of wrongdoing over the way in which Qatar convinced FIFA members to choose it to host the World Cup.

The talks with Leeds, which won the last of its three English championships in 1992, are at an advanced stage and stem from a close personal relationship between the club’s majority owner, Andrea Radrizzani, and Nasser al-Khelaifi, the businessman who fronts most of Qatar’s investments in sports. A close friend of Qatar’s emir, al-Khelaifi is president of P.S.G. and chairman of beIN Sports. He once backed Qatar’s joint sports television venture in Asia with Radrizzani, who ran MP Silva, a global sports rights buyer.

The Financial Times first reported talks between Qatar Sports Investments — the vehicle that controls its sports assets — and Leeds on May 25.
Spokesmen for Radrizzani, Q.S.I. and Leeds declined to comment. Last year, the Leeds owner sold a 10 percent stake to 49ers Enterprises, the investment division of the San Francisco 49ers. The initial talks with Qatar involve a stake sale, though there could be a provision for a full buyout later on, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.

An investment in Leeds would be Qatar’s third in club soccer teams. As well as P.S.G., which is now home to soccer’s two most expensive players, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, the Gulf team owns K.A.S. Eupen, a minor Belgium team. That investment is part of a plan to improve the skills of young Qatari nationals, who may form part of its national team in the World Cup, now just three years away.

Should a deal be completed, there are also likely to be other complications. European soccer’s governing body does not allow teams with a single owner to compete against each other in continental competitions. While that seems a long way off, with Leeds not even in the Premier League, Qatari money in Paris has shown how quickly a formidable team can be assembled to compete with Europe’s finest.
--------------------------------------

I have previously postulated that any investment could be business diplomacy and reading that doesn't make me think they want to own the club outright at this stage - in fact you could say they may be looking at another club where Qatari players could be sent to develop further in advance of the 2022 world cup

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 8:50 pm

I said in post #1283 that thigs were going to heat up around the UEFA Club Competitions post 2024 - there Lars-Christer Olsson spoke for the domestic leagues - here Edwin Van der Sar does his bit for the ECA - from yesterday's Times

Wealth gap harms the competitive balance in European club football - Edwin van der Sar

It has been a wonderful season of Champions League football. For me, as chief executive of Ajax, it has been a particularly special season and, if the semi-final had finished a few seconds earlier, perhaps it would have been even more so.

However, I want to look past this season and consider the longer-term trends in European football. A lot of people have watched Ajax’s performances in Europe this year and called us “a fairytale”. But why are we, a club with such a rich history in the Champions League, seen as a fairytale? Why were we the first Champions League semi-finalist from outside England, Spain, Italy, Germany or France since 2006?

It’s simple — we are a big club with a rich history in the Champions League, but from a relatively small country with only €9m domestic broadcasting revenues each season.

There’s a huge and growing financial gap between those rich five leagues and the rest. To give you an idea of the size of that gap, in 2007 the top five domestic leagues earned €2.6bn more than the next 50 leagues in Europe.

A decade later, that figure had grown to €5.8bn. With the wealth increasingly concentrated in the top five, their clubs will increasingly dominate European competitions year after year — hence the all-English finals in the Champions League and Europa League this year.

When you add the fact that clubs from these leagues are guaranteed places in the group stages of the Champions League each season, you end up with what we have now; a locked system where great clubs on the outside such as Benfica, Porto, PSV, Celtic, Galatasaray or Ajax struggle to get in the door.

This is why it is disappointing when people criticise Uefa’s consultation process over the future of European competitions and the European Club Association (ECA), of which I am one of four vice-chairmen, without considering the flaws in the current system. It is a system that sees my club and others from so-called “second tier leagues” competing against clubs from the top five leagues whose incomes dwarf ours — indeed, these are clubs whose player wage bills alone are greater than our total revenues.

This wealth gap is harming the competitive balance in European club football at a time when the Champions League is ever more important to Ajax as the only means, next to transfer income, of bridging the gap with teams in those big leagues.

Furthermore, the current system makes bridging that gap difficult and unpredictable for clubs such as ours even when we perform well on the pitch. This year, we reached the Champions League semi-finals and won the league and cup double in the Netherlands, but we will still have to go through two qualifying rounds to get to next year’s group stages. It leaves me wondering whether I can risk giving my best players new contracts when a slip-up in a qualifier in August can totally disrupt our financial planning for the season.

Meanwhile, clubs finishing fourth in the biggest leagues go straight to the group stages and can plan their budgets in the knowledge that they are guaranteed at least six group games and, most likely, income from knockout rounds too.

This is the “stability” I was referring to when I addressed the meeting organised by the European leagues in Madrid. It’s not about making “special cases” out of any clubs, it’s about recognising that winning things should mean something.

One of the ECA’s fundamental beliefs is that all clubs across Europe who are good enough to develop and play regularly in European competitions should have a fair chance to do so. This means more certainty for more clubs from more associations playing more matches in Europe. So competitions, formats and rules should be looked at with a view to enabling this — across the whole system. Not just the Champions League, which everyone likes to talk about, but the Europa League (a competition increasing in competitiveness and attractiveness for fans and clubs every year) and, from 2021, a third competition that will give more clubs the opportunity to make their names on the European stage.

Regular participation in a system that rewards clubs based on performance in all the competitions will do two things: it will improve financial stability for clubs from the less wealthy leagues, and improve the quality of their teams and the football they play, thus giving them the opportunity to progress further each year on and off the pitch.

This is what increased promotion and relegation in European competitions would do. It’s not about a “closed shop” or removing the risk of failure — it’s about making sure clubs are rewarded for their performance on the European playing field, not for the relative strength of their league.
Such reform can be put in place in consultation with all stakeholders to find a solution that will improve the European club competitions and benefit everyone. Domestic leagues are strong, vibrant, unique competitions that all clubs and players dream of winning. European competitions sit alongside them and allow the very best teams to excel at home and abroad. It should not be all about the money in certain big leagues. It should be about a fair and equitable system across Europe for all clubs, whoever and wherever they are.

Maybe the critics of Uefa’s plans to reform its European club competitions in 2024 think that “might makes right” and only teams from rich leagues should be allowed to dream of European glory. I believe football is about what clubs do on the pitch, not how big their league’s TV deal is, and this is what we at the ECA are fighting for as we work with Uefa and other stakeholders on creating a structure for European club competition that is better and fairer for all. Uefa’s competitions are where the best teams from each association can compete with each other to show the world what they stand for, like Ajax did this season.
_________________________

I have to say that I am still not seeing it - unless there is a cap on the number of teams from a single domestic league - you could foresee a situation where all the PL teams allowed into Europe work their way up to the top competition and lock out other PL teams from European competition. Alternatively if you put a glass ceiling on promotion (with maximum numbers from a single domestic league that isn't fair either

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:00 pm

Meanwhile the Bundesliga continues with it's own efforts to close the gap to the Premier League

https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/bund ... programme/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:21 pm

5 years ago Luton were breaking out of Non League football (having arrived there following a 30 point penalty for financial irregularities) - Next season they kick off in the Championship. Their return has been impressive - their plans going forward are huge - can they actually do it - warning it involves a lot of property development - from this months edition of FCBusiness

https://cloud.3dissue.com/6374/7271/131 ... .html?r=12" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

there is also some extend articles on Spurs and their new home in the issue

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:42 pm

In post #868 I mentioned that FIFA were considering opening a clearing bank to provide clear insight into the transfer process - today in Paris this has moved a step nearer, also the loaning/farming of players to loan as an enterprise (http://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboar ... fa#p879153" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) is closer to be regulated - from offthepitch.com

FIFA backs transfer market reform: Liverpool to play in Qatar - by James Corbett

FIFA Council back transfer reforms. First step to “Bank of FIFA”?
Club World Cup to be hosted in Qatar in 2019 and 2020.

PARIS - FIFA’s ruling council has backed initial reforms of the transfer market that may bring its ultimate control under world football’s governing body.

Meeting in Paris on Monday, its 36 member Council agreed to endorse principles agreed upon by its Football Stakeholders Committee last Autumn that sought to create a “clearing house” to process transfers with the aim of “protecting the integrity of football and avoiding fraudulent conduct.”

Under the proposals FIFA seek to create a system by centralising and simplifying all payments associated with player transfers.

These encompass solidarity, training compensation, agents’ commissions and transfer fees. It has also endorsed the mandatory introduction of an electronic transfer system at national level following the model in place for international transfers – the Transfer Matching System (TMS).

Clearing House
As part of these reforms FIFA has offered all its member associations, free of charge, the domestic transfer system (DTMS) for the online management of their national transfers, and the FIFA Connect platform for the electronic registration of all players at national level.

Last Autumn FIFA’s Football Stakeholders’ Committee laid out the need for ‘”New and stronger regulations for agents to be established with agreement on the principle of introducing compensation and representation restrictions, payment of agents’ commissions through the clearing house and licensing and registration of agents through the Transfer Matching System.”

Although FIFA did not publish more details today, the endorsement of this proposal may ultimately lead to the so-called “Bank of FIFA” – a clearing house for all international transfer business.

In April FIFA’s new director of legal affairs, Emilio García Silvero, said the body was seeking to establish its own bank as it seeks to bring regulation to the international transfer market.

Regulate the loan system
The proposal, Silvera said, was an attempt to ultimately regulate the entire flow of money that moves in a player transfer.

FIFA also gave the green light to the regulation of the regulation of the transfer loan system. This should, FIFA said, benefit “the purpose of youth development as opposed to commercial exploitation.”

“The number of loans per season and between each club shall be limited and bridge transfers and sub-loans shall be prohibited,” it added.

The moves by the world governing body pre-empt the efforts of the UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin to regulate the loan system. Speaking at the weekend Ceferin said that UEFA was considering “Limitation of the squads… forbidding or limiting the loans.”

Club World Cup in Qatar
The FIFA Council also confirmed – in the teeth of widespread misreporting on the matter that it has been cancelled – that the Club World Cup will take place in Qatar in 2019 and 2020, ahead of a test event for an expanded competition in 2021 at an as yet undesignated location – to be decided in October.

The tournament will include newly crowned European champions, Liverpool, CAF Champions ES Tunis, New Caledonia’s Hienghène Sport of Oceania, the Qatar champions Al Sadd, plus the still to be decided Asian, Concacaf and Conmebol champions.

FIFA said in a statement that the “the seven-team competition will serve as valuable test events in the build-up to the FIFA World Cup 2022, even more so since their timing – usually around early December – corresponds with that of the next FIFA World Cup, allowing for testing under similar climatic conditions.”

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 9:52 pm

In post #1297 I said the Qatar-Leeds story was just not going away - now this from the Telegraph

Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani travels to Qatar to talk with PSG owners about buying stake in club
- Jason Burt, Chief Football Correspondent - 3 June 2019 • 4:48pm

Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani is in Doha to discuss Qatar taking a stake in the Championship club which narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League.

Qatar Sports Investments, which controls Paris Saint-Germain, has been looking to invest in an English club with potential and a strong heritage for some time and it is understood talks are taking place with Leeds.

They are not the only club being considered by QSI but Telegraph Sport understands that Radrizzani is meeting with the group’s chairman, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who is also PSG’s president, in the Qatari capital.

The two men have a good relationship going back several years, dating from when Al-Khelaifi, the head of BeIN Sports, and Radrizzani , a co-founder of M&P Silva which he has since sold, negotiated television rights.

Radrizzani bought Leeds in 2017, initially acquiring a 50 per cent stake before fully buying out Massimo Cellino.

QSI has been considering a move into investing in England, not least because of the huge broadcast deals negotiated by the Premier League. Buying into a Championship club, and helping get it promoted, appears to be part of their thinking.

QSI bought PSG in 2011 and has invested heavily in the French giants, signing players such as Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, to make them one of the biggest clubs in the world.

It remains to be seen whether talks progress with Leeds and, significantly, whether QSI wants to take a controlling interest or just a minority stake.
Radrizzani , an Italian entrepreneur, has denied that he is interested in selling the club which reached the Championship play-offs after finishing third in the table before being knocked out by Derby County.

Despite that disappointment, manager Marcelo Bielsa has given Leeds a boost by agreeing to remain in charge for next season, but it remains to be seen what investment there will be in the squad.

Leeds, like many Championship clubs, are under pressure from the Financial Fair Play rules and while they are keeping within the limits it may affect their ability to spend on players. Radrizzani has already said he expects it to be a difficult summer.

Leeds have countered claims that Radrizzani is considering selling the club, or a further stake. He reduced his 100 per cent holding a year ago when 49ers Enterprises, the investment branch of the San Francisco 49ers, bought £11 million worth of shares, thought to be around 25 per cent of the club.

Leeds say Radrizzani will remain as chairman and majority shareholder for next season.

---------------------------------------
I still feel Roma is the currently preferred option if they leave PSG (only because they cannot buy Barcelona)

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:10 pm

today Gianni Infantino was given the presidency of FIFA for another term at the FIFA Congress in Paris - there was supposed to be an election on Wednesday, but given that he was the only candidate they decide not to bother and just give it him - Four years ago many in the game though Michel Platini might replace Sepp Blatter. Instead Blatter and Platini were banned from the game and Platini's deputy was given the role does it sounds like Renaissance Italy to you too).

I have posted a few times about Blatter recently (see post #1022 for instance). Today Michel Platini took the chance to speak to selected journalists from 6 countries who were in Paris for the FIFA Congress.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... no-regrets" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:19 pm

When posting #1282 this morning I completely missed the fact that Liverpool have now earned over £250m in TV monies this season - a first for a PL club apparently - so much for even distribution and competitive balance

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... 0m-TV.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and as also posted today see post #1292 - they stand to earn up to £8m more from the Supercup and Club World Cup

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:29 pm

Call it Schadenfreude, but I have to smile when a European club thinks a quoted price for a player is grossly inflated, Premier League clubs have long been used to having an PL price quoted at them for a player when the rest of Europe is quoted significantly less, but when it comes back to them they don't like it - tell me how this is different to the stories about Jadon Sancho's price tag

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... -Sane.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT - this is the kind of thing I am talking about

https://eightyfivepoints.blogspot.com/2 ... emier.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:01 am

The FA has finally replaced Vauxhall as it's lead sponsor - BT will take their place in a 5yr deal worth around £50m

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48509079" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:15 am

I first posted rumours that Sunderland was for sale in post #951 - In post #1035 it was suggested that they may have had a buyer and in post #1192 the current owners refuted the story saying they were looking for investors inly - well it looks like that new investor will be a majority shareholder

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... harge.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:32 am

The Irish Times looks at the ticketing history of the Champions League final and how it is only going to get worse for fans of the game and especially those of the finalists

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer ... -1.3913593" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT - a useful depiction of the ticketing allocation to this years UEFA finals

https://twitter.com/SBI_Barcelona/statu ... 3396636678" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:38 am

In a well timed (though actually late post) @SwissRamble gives a review of Sunderland's 2017/18 financial results - this gives a picture of the club when Ellis Short sold it to the consortium that now look like they are going to make a profit of over 600% in the space of a year - who said you can't make money out of football club ownership.

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/ ... 2482498561" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:48 am

An informative thread from Simon Chadwick on the Qatar-Leeds thing - it is helpful and unhelpful at the same time, but is clear on the internecine nature of the politics

https://twitter.com/Prof_Chadwick/statu ... 3707140098" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 2:14 pm

Intriguing article on salaries in the PL assessing who and which clubs perform best against the mean in managing costs

http://eightyfivepoints.blogspot.com/20 ... ow-to.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While the base data (especially transfermarket values and the role of bonuses in salaries) may be called into question it is still a very interesting exercise

and here is a breakdown by club

https://eightyfivepoints.blogspot.com/p ... ge_23.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 2:43 pm

The Associated press are running a live news feed update from the FIFA Congress in Paris

https://apnews.com/3bbec0d32a7b403dacef97afcb1d00a3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the 12.30pm update shows that the Gulf crisis is being fought on all fronts - Qatar won the Asian Cup in February this year - it also adds spice to the Leeds link-up though current speculation is that the Qatar group is only buying 10% of the club

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 2:47 pm

Fan-owned football clubs is regarded by many in this country (and on this board) as a kind of nirvana - but is it that easy - a new book investigates

https://footballcollective.org.uk/2019/ ... -politics/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 4:03 pm

While the UEFA Champs League final on Saturday was a turgid affair, the previous evenings African version was somewhat more chaotic - with one finalist walking off and their opponent being awarded the title. The reason a disputed goal that they wanted referring to VAR - which they had been told was set-up for the final, only to be told it wasn't working when they called for it's use.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48491032" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royboyclaret · Post by **Royboyclaret** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 4:43 pm

Chester Perry wrote:Intriguing article on salaries in the PL assessing who and which clubs perform best against the mean in managing costs

http://eightyfivepoints.blogspot.com/20 ... ow-to.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While the base data (especially transfermarket values and the role of bonuses in salaries) may be called into question it is still a very interesting exercise

and here is a breakdown by club

https://eightyfivepoints.blogspot.com/p ... ge_23.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fascinating stuff. Surely the reference to Barnes in the first graph cannot be our Ashley?......More likely to be a younger Harvey-Barnes at Leicester.

The second graph seems to infer that all our players are paid in relation to their perceived market value, something that we already knew.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 5:00 pm

Royboyclaret wrote:Fascinating stuff. Surely the reference to Barnes in the first graph cannot be our Ashley?......More likely to be a younger Harvey-Barnes at Leicester.

The second graph seems to infer that all our players are paid in relation to their perceived market value, something that we already knew.

I also think there are some who are paid higher because of their value to us e.g. Ben Mee whois likly to be amongs our top earners, but unlikely to be amongs our most valuable. Then there is young Dwight who is already close to being our most valuable asset but will not be amongs the highest paid. Of course fees paid will have a baring on the salaries as well.

Royboyclaret · Post by **Royboyclaret** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 5:11 pm

Chester Perry wrote:I also think there are some who are paid higher because of their value to us e.g. Ben Mee whois likly to be amongs our top earners, but unlikely to be amongs our most valuable. Then there is young Dwight who is already close to being our most valuable asset but will not be amongs the highest paid. Of course fees paid will have a baring on the salaries as well.

In the Burnley graph all our players appear to be within the middle white area. It would be interesting to put names to the dots.

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 5:35 pm

Royboyclaret wrote:In the Burnley graph all our players appear to be within the middle white area. It would be interesting to put names to the dots.

That is the let down - though if you had the transfermarket data at the time it was compiled it would be possible to deduce

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 5:50 pm

Article from Forbes.com on the potential own goal of FIFA deciding that the next 2 editions of the Club World Cup be in Qatar

Qatar Club World Cup 2019 Could Be Own Goal By FIFA - by Steve Price

FIFA confirmed on Monday that the 2019 and 2020 Club World Cup tournaments will be played in Qatar. They will be the last two tournaments in their current format before FIFA’s proposed expansion of the tournament.

For Qatar, it is a chance to test out stadiums and infrastructure ahead of the 2022 World Cup, the head of Qatar’s World Cup organizing committee told Al Jazeera the Club World Cup would give them a chance to test out plans for fan zones and the sale of alcohol to fans, and learn from the experience ahead of Qatar 2022.

Liverpool are one of the sides that will be heading there this December. They will be joined by Mexican side Monterrey, possibly Tunisian side Esperance, who were named African champions in controversial circumstances last week, Hienghene Sport from New Caledonia, and the champions of South America, Asia, and the hosts Qatar.

But using the Club World Cup as a dress rehearsal for Qatar 2022 is just about the only positive of choosing the Gulf state as a host for these matches.

The proposed Club World Cup enlargement faces opposition from clubs in Europe, and one of the justifications for the revamp is that the current Club World Cup is “unloved”.

Part of that is because it is played in the middle of the European season when soccer fans have plenty of other games to choose from. Another factor is the location.

Since Liverpool’s last appearance in the Club World Cup final, when Rafa Benitez’s side lost one-nil to Sao Paulo in 2005, the tournament has only been played in Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

FIFA talks about growing the game and taking it to new regions, which is fair enough when it does actually “grow the game”, but at the same time, it is alienating the fans of the clubs that are playing in these games. The 20,000 empty seats in Baku for the Chelsea’s Europa League final win over Arsenal last month should have been a wakeup call, a clear sign that by careless expansion, choosing venues based on geopolitics or chasing the highest bidder, FIFA could kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

The decision to play the Club World Cup in Qatar shows that FIFA hasn’t learned anything from Baku. These decisions are a huge part of what has made the Club World Cup “unloved”. The tournament’s average attendances in Japan and Morocco were around 30,000. They dropped to below 20,000 when the Club World Cup was moved to the United Arab Emirates, with one match having just 4,000 fans in attendance. The attendance figures probably won’t be any higher for the upcoming tournaments in Qatar, and if they are, how many of those fans will actually be traveling from Liverpool or South America to watch their team?

Without the passion of supporters who watch their teams every week, is it any wonder why the Club World Cup feels like a bunch of glorified friendly games? If it were played in Madrid or Rio de Janiero then the tournament would create a buzz that would attract TV viewers and sponsors alike. Creating this kind of atmosphere at the tournament will be the real challenge for Qatar’s organizing committee.

The geopolitics at play also makes Qatar seem a bit of an odd choice, especially as a lot of FIFA members are still unhappy about the country being awarded the 2022 World Cup.

Prof Simon Chadwick
@Prof_Chadwick

If true, a very interesting development. Suggests Infantino & FIFA are still playing Middle East politics. Awarding tournaments to Qatar without consideration for KSA, UAE etc. would be a dangerous strategy, suggesting other things are happening behind the scenes.
Rob Harris
✔
@RobHarris
Replying to @RobHarris
Following on from those false reports of no Club World Cup this year - in fact sources say Qatar to host the FIFA event and in 2020
https://apnews.com/10957cf21be24326b96b190ab1f7feaf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
…
1:04 PM - Jun 3, 2019

Gianni Infantino spent a lot of time over the past few years making overtures about Qatar sharing the World Cup with regional rivals like the UAE, so while there is no way the UAE deserved this tournament, especially given the poor attendances at the 2019 Asian Cup and at the previous Club World Cup, giving it to their biggest regional rivals is hardly going to get the UAE or Saudi Arabia onside for the 2022 World Cup, which could cause further problems down the line, both logistical and political.

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been using soccer as PR, to present their countries in a positive light. At the same time, this had drawn more attention to the darker side of those two countries, such as the conditions of migrant workers at the World Cup stadiums in Qatar.
There have been calls for a boycott of the 2022 World Cup, but when it comes to soccer’s biggest tournament, many fans will watch the World Cup no matter what.

The Club World Cup on the other hand, well, fans aren’t overly keen on watching it or traveling to Doha to watch the games anyway. The World Cup may be “too big to fail”, but the Club World Cup certainly is not.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The thing that struck me was - why Qatar? given the gulf issue when FIFA's new tournaments are to be funded to the tune of £25bn by Saudi Arabia via Softbank

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 6:53 pm

I said things were hotting up re the reforms of UEFA's club competitions post 2024 - today Reinhard Rauball, president of the DFB and Borussia Dortmund had his turn, interesting stuff from am ECA member - From the Telegraph

Germany and England launch joint assault on Champions League reform plans - Tom Morgan, Sports News Correspondent, in Paris
4 June 2019 • 5:40pm

Proposals to abandon the current Champions League qualification criteria could "destroy" the European football pyramid, the head of the German leagues said as he vowed to torpedo the plans with the help of England.

Reinhard Rauball, president of the DFB and Borussia Dortmund, suggested the campaign for reforms led by the European Clubs' Association (ECA) threatened great footballing traditions.

"Our league comes first and we have to take care that a successful league is not destroyed," he told reporters, after a Uefa meeting in Paris. The ECA's plan, to be discussed further at a summit on Friday, would mean 14 group matches instead of six, and a promotion/relegation system to replace all clubs qualifying directly from domestic competition.

Rauball is heartened that a host of senior football figures in the English game have also voiced opposition to changes which could see the competition become a "closed shop".

The former Manchester United CEO David Gill, who is the deputy chairman of Uefa's club competitions committee, has also expressed serious concerns to colleagues, pointing out the success of Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax as evidence the competition is healthy.

Rauball said the changes have little hope, however, without widespread support in the Premier League and Bundesliga. “Our league, the Bundesliga, decided 100 per cent that we don’t go this way with the ECA," he said. “David Gill thinks in the same way. The German and British leagues are opposing it and I don’t think it is possible we will find a solution without Germany and without England. It’s a special situation for Bayern and Borussia Dortmund which is my club [as they are in ECA], but our league comes first and we have to take care that a successful league is not destroyed."

He said the relegation reforms were "a typical American kind of competition, a kind of closed shop". "In Europe we have a traditional football pyramid, and in Germany we have the league with the highest attendances, more than 42,000 average, and that has been developed step by step," he said. "So we don’t want to destroy it with one decision. We have to make clear that the national league is most important. If you make a pyramid like the ECA we would destroy all the clubs and that is what is dangerous. We are traditionalists and we want that this is the future of football as well.”

Aleksander Čeferin, the Uefa president, has responded carutiously to the potential reforms, which would need to take place with governing body agreement from 2024. He pointed out that 900,000 tickets had been requested on official channels for the Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham, one of the most in-demand matches in footballing history.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, also waded into the debate by criticising the reforms after a meeting with Fifa president Gianni Infantino. Speaking to media, Macron said: "We must defend our model, our clubs, and I think it's not a good idea to sacrifice the viability of our model for the benefit of some at the European level."
__________________________________

The ECA themselves, who like to project a unified image are having another special General Assembly in Malta this Thursday and Friday to "discuss, share and exchange views amongst ECA members on the development of UEFA Club Competitions post 2024."

https://www.ecaeurope.com/news/eca-spec ... -6-7-june/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Tue Jun 04, 2019 7:00 pm

As reported in the article above the French President has been outspoken in his desire to stop the ECA proposals

https://apnews.com/f8cf4a4edc2146adb871e697ecb65a41" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jun 05, 2019 12:57 am

The Daily Mail thinks it knows why FIFA had to back down on a 48team World Cup in 2022

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sport ... teams.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:17 am

I posted on Monday (see post #1303) about Gianni Infantino's re-election by default - and the way is ascent to power it felt like some Italian Renaissance story (see post #624 for a truly disturbing read about his back story) - Ahead of his re-election confirmation as FIFA president, Gianni Infantino says he's banished scandals and corruption despite losing members of his council for misconduct during his first term (The victors write the history - as they say).

https://apnews.com/edb8f6208e0441ec94600605db6f642a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the Associated Press live feed from the congress continues here

https://apnews.com/68af4ccea93142988cec7d182b595b58" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

@RobHarris tells us all we need to know about how Infantino manages things
https://twitter.com/RobHarris/status/11 ... 8869514240" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and this was the agreed way to elect Infantino - and I am being perfectly serious - this was the election vote

https://twitter.com/martynziegler/statu ... 3247265793" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The official version is "elected by acclamation"

Chester Perry · Post by **Chester Perry** » Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:50 am

While the season across the big European leagues may have ended - football itself carries - to many opportunities for someone somewhere to shake the Magic Money tree - The players could do with a rest though

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/ ... mer-soccer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;