Football
New FIFA report maps global competitive balance
As FIFA looks back on the 12 months that have passed since the launch of President Gianni Infantino’s vision to make football truly global, the organisation has published a report analysing the level of competitiveness in every country around the world.
The 2020 Global Competitive Balance Report details the competition structures in each of FIFA’s 211 member associations (MAs), grouped by confederation, and gives a data-driven account of how domestic competitions have developed in recent years. This is reflected in two key indicators: the number of recent champions and the points differences in the final standings. The report also provides the foundation years of clubs and MAs to provide additional context.
Special purpose acquisition companies: are football clubs going (back) to the stock market?
Stock markets this year, most notably in the U.S., have been boosted by the return of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) as a popular means to fundraise public M&A and bring private companies onto the public markets. Having seen an uptick in fundraising by SPACs since 2017, previous records have been shattered in 2020 as more than $36 billion[1] had been raised on Wall Street as of mid-September. This comes at a time when football clubs and leagues are looking for investors and financiers to help steer their balance sheets through the Covid-19 pandemic[2]. It is no longer only high-net-worth individuals and private equity funds[3] looking to invest in football[4].
This article reviews the trend, examining:
What is a SPAC?
Which rules and regulations apply to acquisitions?
How does this apply to football clubs?
Current activity in the market
FootballTech Report 2020
FootballTech Report 2020
A deep dive on FootballTech activities in the global SportsTech scene.
Data driven insights & interviews covering
Startups & Investments
Top Trends Clubs, Leagues & Associations Innovation Initiatives
SPORTS CORRUPTION
HOW ARE ORGANISED CRIME GROUPS INVOLVED IN SPORTS CORRUPTION?
Europol publishes its report, The involvement of organised crime groups in sports corruption. The report highlights the link between sports corruption and organised crime: the characteristics of criminal networks, their structure and their modus operandi. In addition, the report analyses the different types of match-fixing as the most prominent form of sports corruption monitored by Europol.
Sports corruption is a serious crime involving organised crime groups operating transnationally, these gangs are often poly-criminal and can well serve as a platform for organised crime groups to further high-scale money laundering schemes.
The global annual criminal proceeds from betting-related match-fixing are estimated at €120 million.
Online betting is increasingly used by organised crime groups to manipulate sports competitions and criminals usually target lower-level competitions across different sports, with football and tennis the most targeted sports by criminal networks.
Football Fever: Investing in the Beautiful Game
The very mention of football conjures up images of cheering fans from all corners of the world.
The global appeal of the game is undeniable, and it’s the strong support of fans that has propelled its growth into a multi-billion dollar industry.
Today’s infographic from Swissquote tracks how the sport has reached far and wide—even onto the stock exchange.
The Future of Football
Football has the power to stir passions and unite people—and it’s reinventing itself constantly.
The 2019 Women’s World Cup was the most watched in tournament history, with over 1.12 billion tuning in. FIFA plans to invest almost €454 million more into the women’s game between 2019-2022, and grow the number of female players to 600 million by 2026.
Additionally, the annual esports tournament eWorld Cup is taking place in Thailand in 2020—tapping into the esports boom in Asia, which hosts 57% of esports enthusiasts.
Any football fan will tell you that the beautiful game is more than just a sport. And for investors, there are a variety of ways to gain exposure to this market—meaning fans can be both personally and financially invested as it continues to grow.
The Football Finance Times (TFFT)
The Football Finance Times (TFFT) is a blog which focuses on money in football.
The Football Finance Times was founded in 2020 by a partnership of Big Four Chartered Accountants based in London, with the aim to help contribute to increasing the level of financial transparency, understanding and analysis in football.
If you would like to support TFFT, please head over to our Club Store and pick up a set of TFFT Fair Play Cards.
COVID-19: Football Regulatory Issues
Following the unprecedented disruption caused by COVID-19 at all levels of football, FIFA has worked on a series of recommendations and guidelines to address some of the key practical issues arising from the pandemic, especially with regard to player contracts and the transfer system generally. This has been done in consultation with different stakeholders through a task force chaired by the FIFA Vice-President and chairman of the FIFA Football Stakeholders Committee, Vittorio Montagliani, and including representatives of clubs, players, leagues, national associations and confederations.
A set of principles has been unanimously agreed by the task force and was endorsed by the Bureau of the FIFA Council today.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly changed all the factual circumstances around football for this season. So, FIFA, together with the stakeholders, has come up with some practical ideas and proposals to tackle these new circumstances. Whilst this will not solve each and every problem, it should serve to bring a measure of stability and clarity to football for the foreseeable future. We hope that this collaborative effort, under the leadership of FIFA, can provide a positive example of how football can come together and show unity, solidarity and a spirit of compromise in order to face the challenging times ahead. But before these times come, one thing must be clear to everyone, especially now: health comes first, well before football,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Below is a summary of the main guidelines approved, which FIFA both hopes and expects will be followed around the world.
Deloitte Football Money League 2020
Welcome to the 23rd edition of the Deloitte Football Money League (DFML) in which we profile the highest revenue generating clubs in world football. Generating record revenue of €841m, Barcelona reach the top of the Money League for the first time, becoming the first club to break the €800m barrier. Overall, the 20 highest earning […]
European Club Footballing Landscape Report.
Benchmarking report highlights profits and polarisation. UEFA has released the 11th edition of the European Club Footballing Landscape report Thursday 16 January 2020 UEFA has released the 11th edition of the European Club Footballing Landscape report, its annual club licensing benchmarking report on European club football. Please download the report here The latest report details […]
GLOBAL DIGITAL FOOTBALL BENCHMARK 2019
The Global Digital Football Benchmark Study has been released. Twice a year, during the summer break and at the beginning of each year RESULT Sports shares the status quo of Football Clubs around the world and their digital communities on social platforms.
RESULT Sports monitors the community evolution on 28 social platforms, updates this number frequently, as sport organisations evolve their presence. The Global Digital Football Benchmark reviews for the first time ever the status on fifteen social platforms. Never before has such an extensive research been released in a single benchmarking studies.
