ECB open to playing Hundred matches overseas after £1bn sale February 13, 2025 The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) says it would be open to staging Hundred matches overseas following the sale of stakes in all eight franchises that values them at close to £1bn. The ECB will retain control of the competition but has pledged to engage with its powerful coterie of new investors, who include [...]
Manchester City’s £20m carrot in Real Madrid Champions League tie February 10, 2025 Manchester City will be playing for a potential £20m in prize money when they take on holders Real Madrid in their Champions League knockout play-off tie on Tuesday. Pep Guardiola’s struggling side will bank an additional €10m (£8m) just for progressing from the two-legged tie against the Spanish giants and reaching the last 16. That [...]
EFL board set to discuss National League promotion demand February 5, 2025 The EFL board will meet on Thursday amid renewed pressure from the entire National League to increase the number of promotion places from two to three. All 72 National League clubs, which represent the fifth and sixth tiers of English football, wrote to the EFL this week demanding the increase with immediate effect. The issue [...]
Leicester City crash ‘accident’ but family say helicopter ‘death trap’ January 28, 2025 The deaths of five people in a helicopter crash, including the former owner of Leicester City, were accidents, according to an inquest jury delivering their conclusion on Tuesday. Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, referred to in court as Khun Vichai, died alongside pilot Eric Swaffer, co-pilot Izabela Lechowicz, Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare when his private helicopter crashed [...]
Owners of London Stadium forced to pay West Ham United £3.6m January 27, 2025 The owners of West Ham United’s London Stadium have been forced to cough up £3.6m after losing a court case against the Premier League club. E20 Stadium, set up by publicly-owned London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), must pay back the multi-million pound sum to the club after West Ham challenged a payment they made to [...]
How immigration rules affect football clubs in the January transfer window January 26, 2025 Immigration lawyer Hateem Ali on how quotas on overseas players affect Premier League teams’ business during the January transfer window. Although we now have a new government, we are unlikely to see any dramatic changes to the Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) rules which were originally implemented in 2021 following a lengthy consultation with the Football [...]
Manchester City’s January transfer window spending is smashing records January 23, 2025 Manchester City’s January transfer window spending has rocketed to record levels with the signing of Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis, as Pep Guardiola attempts to revive their season. The trio have cost the Premier League champions a combined £128m. That is more than Manchester City’s spending in the eight previous January transfer windows [...]
Real Madrid named richest football club after breaking €1bn revenue barrier January 23, 2025 Real Madrid have cemented their status as the richest club in world football after becoming the first to achieve more than €1bn of revenue in a single year, says Deloitte’s Football Money League. The European champions increased their income by 26 per cent to €1.046bn (£884m) for 2023-24 thanks to the full reopening of their [...]
Football regulator: Tory peers right to question changes, says Collins January 20, 2025 Former Culture, Media and Sport select committee chair Damian Collins has defended Conservative peers’ thorough questioning of the Labour government’s beefed-up plans for an independent football regulator. Sport Minister Stephanie Peacock last week accused some Tory peers of submitting amendments “cynically designed to dither, delay and block” the progress of the Football Governance Bill through [...]
English football’s record year for legal spending – can it stay secret? January 19, 2025 Before the Christmas break the Premier League published an article posing the question: what Premier League records for a calendar year can still be broken? While fans watched the glut of fixtures over Christmas, another record had already been set: 2024 was the year that English football was dominated by legal disputes. The Premier League [...]