Football

The $200m pact between OTT operator Perform Group and the J.League is the largest deal in the history of Japanese sports. John Duerden looks at how it might help to transform the country’s football infrastructure and help the sport connect with millennials.

The formation of the Premier League in 1992 caused an identity crisis at the world’s oldest football league. However, as Kevin Roberts found out, rebranding as the English Football League and a new visual ID are intended to focus and reinvigorate the business.

English Premier League football clubs spent a total of £1.165bn (€1.386bn/$1.543bn) in the summer transfer window, according to figures released by financial services company Deloitte.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) has given its formal backing to a proposed bid from the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) to host the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.

The South Asian Football Federation has awarded hosting rights for the 2017 edition of its SAFF Championship to Bangladesh, while the country is also set to stage a new club competition.

Frank McCourt, the former owner of Major League Baseball franchise the Los Angeles Dodgers, has struck an outline agreement to acquire French Ligue 1 football club Olympique de Marseille.

European football’s governing body Uefa has today (Friday) unveiled reform measures for the Champions League and Europa League that will see the continent’s top four leagues granted automatic qualification for four teams each to its elite competition.

Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, has warned investors in the country that investment in the global football market could leave them out of pocket.

Disgraced former Fifa president Sepp Blatter today (Thursday) expressed his confidence that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will rule in his favour over an appeal against his ban from the sport, as world football’s governing body made an appointment that is set to result in pay deals being formed for his successor Gianni Infantino and other senior executives.

Greg Clarke has been formally appointed as the new chairman of the Football Association, the sport’s national governing body in England.

Reinhard Rauball has been elected to a fourth term in office as president of the German Football League (DFL), while the organisation has ratified the opening of a new revenue stream for its clubs.

German Bundesliga football club Borussia Dortmund generated its highest ever turnover during the past financial year.

Minnesota United has been confirmed as Major League Soccer’s 22nd franchise for the 2017 season of the North American league, with the team set to call the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium its temporary home.

Liverpool has moved to deny reports that a consortium led by a Chinese investment company is set to acquire a substantial stake in the English Premier League football club.

The investigatory chamber of Fifa’s Ethics Committee has today (Wednesday) recommended a ban of no less than six years for former South African Football Association (SAFA) president Kirsten Nematandani, along with life bans for two other African football officials, in the latest development concerning the match-fixing scandal surrounding national team friendly games staged ahead of the country’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup.

Joao Havelange, the divisive former president of world football’s governing body Fifa, has died today (Tuesday) at the age of 100.