Bayern Munich have agreed an early extension of their commercial partnership with Deutsche Telekom, by another five years to 2027.

The new deal, from 2022/23 to 2026/27, has been reported by German media to be worth around €50 million per season, and will see the T-Mobile logo continue to appear on the front of Bayern shirts, and on advertising boards at the Allianz Arena.

The telecommunications company, which has been a sponsor of the German champions since 2002, will also continue to receive exclusive content about Bayern, which it offers its customers via FC Bayern.tv on MagentaTV.

New formats to inspire fans

Bayern’s chief marketing officer Andreas Jung said: "We are happy to have this partner at our side, which gives us important planning security, and as in the past 20 years we will continue to develop new exciting formats together to inspire our fans."

FC Bayern.tv, the first 24-hour TV station for a German football club, is one of several projects Deutsche Telekom have delivered through the partnership, along with 5G coverage at the Allianz Arena, the StadiumVision multimedia experience space, and a range of fan campaigns.

Chelsea still without a sporting director as Michael Edwards rules himself out

Liverpool’s former sporting director Michael Edwards has turned down a potential opportunity to take up the same role at Chelsea, according to The Athletic.

The position at the West London club is currently the responsibility of new owner Todd Boehly, but only in a temporary capacity. The club are expected to focus on making a full-time appointment once the summer transfer window ends on 1st September.

Edwards, who left Anfield in the summer after 11 years with the club, including six as sporting director, had been strongly linked with a move to Chelsea, and was a leading target for the club’s new hierarchy.

Time away from football

However, The Athletic understands he informed the Stamford Bridge club in recent weeks of his intention to take some time out away from football, so stepping into such a role is therefore not on his agenda for now.

With several possible options for the job currently employed elsewhere, and heavily occupied with those clubs’ recruitment activity, it appears unlikely that Chelsea will make an appointment before the end of August.

Real Betis consider selling future media rights and ticket revenue to register new players

Real Betis are considering selling a share of their income from media rights and ticketing so they can comply with LaLiga’s spending controls and register their new signings before the end of the transfer window.

El Confidencial reports that the club’s board may seek a five-year deal for a share of its future income, which it is estimated would bring in around €15 million.

Real Betis president Ángel Haro has said that such a move would only be considered if they cannot meet LaLiga’s spending cap through player trading between now and 31st August, the deadline for registering new players for the 2022/23 season.

New players not registered

However, the pressure is growing on the club by the day after Alex Moreno rejected the chance to join English Premier League side Nottingham Forest. The potential sale of the Spanish defender was expected to help Betis meet the LaLiga requirements.

During the summer the club have signed Italy defender Luiz Felipe, and the Brazilian strikers Luiz Henrique and Willian José. They have also renewed contracts for Claudio Bravo, Andrés Guardado and Joaquín Sánchez.

However, it was still unclear whether coach Manuel Pellegrini could call upon any of those players prior to their first league match of the season on Monday night against Elche. Betis, who won last season’s Copa del Rey and finished fifth in LaLiga, will play in the Europa League this season.

FC Barcelona under fire from Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp over finances

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has heavily criticised FC Barcelona’s spending in the transfer window and other financial actions over recent months.

The Catalan giants have spent around €150 million on new players this summer, including Polish striker Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich, and sold future media rights income and stakes in their Barça Studios production house to help meet LaLiga’s spending limits and register their new signings.

"Don't understand"

In an interview with German outlet Kicker, Klopp was asked whether he could understand how FC Barcelona, who have debts of around €1.3 billion, are operating. "No! Not for various reasons," he said.

"One reason is that I am not a financial expert. The second: if I am told that I have no money, then I do not spend anything anymore. My credit card has already been cut twice, which fortunately was a few years ago. I watch this like a football fan, I don't understand it.”

The German manager, who was in charge at Borussia Dortmund for seven years before taking over at Liverpool, added: “The only club I know that sold the stadium and other rights in advance was Borussia Dortmund. [CEO] Aki Watzke had to come at the last second and save the whole thing. And I don't know if there is an Aki Watzke at Barcelona."

FC Barcelona have sold another 24.5 per cent stake of Barça Studios, this time to the company Orpheus Media, for €100 million.

It follows the announcement of a similar deal last month with the fan token company, Socios. Barca have had trouble meeting LaLiga's salary cap to register new signings, but with the new investment deals the club got approval from the league.

Just a few hours after the annonucement of another asset sale, Barca registered all their new signings (Andreas Christensen, Kessie, Lewandowski and Raphinha) with LaLiga bar one, just 24 hours ahead of their first match of the season at home to Rayo Vallecano.

Defender Jules Kounde, who snubbed Chelsea to join Barça from Sevilla, is still not registered and the club will need to free up more of its wage bill in order to register the French defender before the end of the month.

Digital, NFT and Web.3 strategy

Orpheus are an audiovisual company, who own brands such as Cirque du Soleil. It is run by the Catalan media mogul, Jaume Roures.

The club said in a statement that the deal “will help to accelerate the growth of the club's digital, NFT and Web.3 strategy.”

They added: “With this investment the strategic partners in Barça Studios show confidence in the value of the project and the future of digital content in the world of sport.”

Barnsley cancel crypto sponsorship after homophobic tweets and bizarre T&C controversy

League One club Barnsley are seeking to end a front of shirt sponsorship, after allegedly homophobic and abusive social media posts from accounts linked to their sponsors.

The Yorkshire club announced its deal with HEX.com last week, but after their supporters’ trust, other fans and members of the media raised concerns over online posts from individuals who claimed to have partaken in the deal it announced an investigation.

Serious concerns about Hex.com were also raised by the journalist Martin Calladine, who pointed out that questions transcended online abuse. Calladine referred to what he claimed was “the most remarkable T&C clause of all time”, which read:

“If you’ve read down this far, congratulations. You will notice the theme of all of the above text is that you should have absolutely no expectations of any sort, regarding anything, and if anything goes wrong, you shouldn’t look for redress anywhere, and you should receive none.”

An investigation

On Friday morning the club released a short statement which read: “Barnsley Football Club value our fans and our core beliefs above everything else. Following recent events and a subsequent investigation, the club has assessed its relationship with its front of shirt sponsor and has taken steps to end that relationship with immediate effect.

“The HEX.com logo will not appear on the team’s kits going forward. Further comment will be issued in due course.”

SPFL seek to extend Sky deal

The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is close to extending its broadcast deal with Sky Sports until 2029, report the Guardian. The deal would see Sky pay £29.5 million for 60 games per season.

Sky’s current deal with the SPFL for 48 games a season, is due to expire in 2025. However, the broadcaster has in recent years not shown its full complement of contracted matches. Under the revised terms, Sky will show a contracted minimum of 42 matches per season. The new terms see a modest increase (4 per cent) on the £26.7 million to be paid for the 2023/24 season.

However, the relationship between Sky and the SPFL has been the source of fan criticism, with Sky accused of underinvesting in production values and not promoting their Scottish football coverage properly.

There has also been a preponderance to show Old Firm games. Last season a survey by The Scotsman showed just seven of the matches shown did not feature either Rangers or Celtic, with five of those coming in August and September.

Greater responsibility

Last year, Stewart Robertson, the Ibrox club’s Managing Director, told Rangers TV that Sky were “fantastic partners”, but that he believed Old Firm games remain undervalued and that he considered them comparable to EPL matches, which Sky paid £7.5 million for.

He said that the Scottish football establishment needed to take greater responsibility in selling its product properly.

“The Old Firm games are at the same level as some of the top [EPL] games,” he said. “It is recognised as being one of the world’s top derbies. If you take the four Old Firm games alone, that is the equivalent of £30million of value based on the Premier League payment terms. But the SPFL as a league is only getting £25million for 48 league games? How can we say we have sold that well?”

Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn has said that the German giants are seeking to increase its global fanbase in an attempt to close the gap on its high-spending EPL rivals.

“For us it’s very important to attract new fans all over the world and grow our fan base outside Germany. The US is a very, very interesting market where we have a lot of fans and where we as Bayern Munich see a lot of growth in the future,” Kahn told the Financial Times.

The club have recently returned from a successful tour of the US, with sell out games in Washington DC and Wisconsin. Kahn has said that if Bayern and other German clubs can grow their fanbase on the other side of the Atlantic, it will increase the value of TV broadcast rights there.

The Bundesliga’s six year North American TV deal with ESPN is currently worth less than one tenth of the EPL’s $2.7 billion contract with NBC.

Need for better commercialisation

“We need better commercialisation of the Bundesliga TV rights in the US — I think this is the most important point,” said Kahn. “If you look at the valuation of the MLS [Major League Soccer] clubs, they have a very high valuation. That shows that football in the US is growing.”

The former goalkeeper highlighted a recent deal with tech company Adobe as a way of giving Bayern a better understanding of how its fans interact digitally.

“It’s very important that we can create individual content for different sorts of fans all over the world — that’s the key for everything.”

CAF announce Super League launch

African football’s governing body, CAF, has announced a new 24-club super league that aims to revolutionize football on the continent, as reported by Sportsnet.

The project was launched by CAF president Patrice Motsepe at its General Assembly in Tanzania on Wednesday, shortly after the organisation reported a loss of nearly $50 million for last year.

Motsepe said the Super League, which kicks off next year, would offer total prize money of $100 million – more than five times more than Africa's current Champions League. The winning club will receive $11.5 million.

“It is a project that will make African club football shine … beyond Africa as well,” FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, said of the proposed competition, which he has strongly supported.

However the project has been riven with controversy and Motsepe was short on details, including which clubs would be involved or who its sponsors will be.

Concern for domestic football

Within Africa there are also widespread concerns about the impact on domestic football.

The well-known Kenyan journalist, Francis Gaitho, tweeted: “Remove dominant clubs from domestic leagues into the CAF super league. Death of local football.” Logistical issues – with a lack of commercial flights between African cities, forcing some journeys to be routed via Paris or the Gulf – have also not been addressed, say critics. The South African Players Union (SAFPU) issued a lengthy statement following the announcement, denouncing the plan as a “destructive idea”.

Arsenal receive crypto censure

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a ruling against promotion carried out by Arsenal of their fan token, saying that social media adverts last summer were “misleading” and “irresponsible”.

Fan tokens are promoted as engagement tools, but are often underpinned by cryptocurrencies, which are hugely volatile and largely unregulated. The value of Cryptocurrencies have plummeted over recent months.

Last year the ASA said that the club “trivialised investment in cryptoassets and took advantage of consumers’ inexperience or credulity” in the advertisement.

The Gunners challenged the ruling, but this week’s review upheld all aspects of it.

“We are disappointed"

Arsenal said in a statement: “We are disappointed by the ASA’s decision to uphold their ruling following our appeal.

“We have complied with the ASA’s guidance since the original ruling, and we will continue to comply in our future communications in this fast-moving area.

“We have been clear throughout that we take our responsibilities with regard to marketing to our supporters very seriously. In this situation we carefully considered the communications to supporters regarding our promotions and provided information regarding financial risks.”

Barca claim credit rating boost

Days after being downgraded and delisted by Fitch, Barcelona have announced that rating agency DBRS Morningstar has granted it a BBB rating with a stable outlook.

Last week Fitch downgraded its outlook from stable to negative, while simultaneously withdrawing its rating for unspecified “commercial reasons”.

“The rating highlights the positive actions taken by the Board of Directors to improve the Entity's financial situation, sporting competitiveness and agreements with strategic partners, as well as the expectation that FC Barcelona will achieve positive results in the 2022/23 financial year,” the club said on its website.

Refinancing deals and economic levers

The club added that the new rating took into account recent refinancing deals and the sale of parts of its technology company to external investors.

The club added: “The DBRS rating of the financial perspective of FC Barcelona shows the confidence of the financial markets regarding the decisions of the Club, the improvement of the financial indicators and makes it possible to continue with the development of the strategic plan approved by the Board of Directors.”

Paris Saint-Germain’s new sponsorship deal with betting website 1XBET has sparked concern, with L’Équipe reporting that the site is banned in France and a number of other countries due to controversial practices.

The Russian-owned firm, which was founded in Cyprus in 2007 and claims to operate directly or via franchises in more than 20 countries, has agreed a regional sponsorship deal with PSG for Africa and Asia, announced by the club on 1st August.

1XBET also has agreements with LaLiga, Serie A and the CAF, but back in 2019 three English Premier League clubs – Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea – cancelled their contracts with the firm after its UK website was closed down.

The termination of those deals followed revelations in the UK media of various practices including advertising illegal streams and showing cockfights in the Philippines. The company’s Kenyan website was also shut down after allowing illegal bets on minor leagues, in particular U16 basketball.

Site is blocked in theory

France’s gambling authority, the ANJ, deems the website illegal and says the site is in theory blocked in the country. The French website links to another company which 1XBET claims to be legal in France, although L’Équipe’s investigations have indicated that the latter website does not hold a licence either.

The ANJ has indicated that PSG do not need to inform it of the partnership given that it does not cover France. Neither PSG nor 1XBET replied to L’Équipe’s requests for comment.

Ex-Manchester United director to launch ‘hostile bid’ to buy club from Glazers

Former Manchester United director Michael Knighton has said he is planning a “hostile takeover” of the club in an attempt to end the Glazer family’s controversial ownership.

“We are a club in crisis and we all know the reason why,” Knighton told YouTube channel Man Utd the Religion. “We have an inept and frankly useless ownership who know little about this game of football.”

He added: “Everyone knows that we need new ownership of this football club and that is my aim and those are my objectives. I am making good progress, continuing to talk to the people. I have got some good pledges and good finance. We are now working on the offer document.

“Remember, it is a hostile bid – that simply means that the club isn’t officially for sale. But my intention is to present these owners with a legitimate, potent and commercial offer to say: ‘You have run out of road, it’s time go, because your time is up’.”

Close to buying club in 1989

There were protests against the Glazer family’s ownership at Old Trafford last weekend ahead of United’s opening match of the season, and Erik ten Hag’s first competitive game as manager, which they lost 2-1 to Brighton.

Knighton came close to buying United in 1989 for £10 million before a deal fell through, but spent several years on the Old Trafford board.

Qatar World Cup 2022 to start a day earlier so hosts can play first

FIFA is set to move the start date of the 2022 World Cup one day earlier so that host nation Qatar can play the first match, The Athletic has reported.

The tournament was originally scheduled to begin on Monday 21st November, with Senegal playing the Netherlands. However, it is understood that Qatar want to play first, as has become customary for the host nation.

Their game against Ecuador is now due to move forward to Sunday 20th November and will kick off at 7pm local time (4pm GMT). It is believed the change was discussed with Ecuador and CONMEBOL.

Needs to be approved

The decision still needs to be approved by the Bureau of the FIFA Council, made up of president Gianni Infantino and the leaders of each continental confederation (UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, CAF, AFC and OFC).

An agreement is expected, which would mean the World Cup will now take place from 20th November to 18th December.

Bordeaux hit back at criticism over FFF’s decision to keep club in Ligue 2

Bordeaux have responded to heavy criticism of the French Football Federation (FFF)’s decision to permit the club to play in Ligue 2, one day on from a stinging attack by France’s football players union the UNFP against the ruling.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the UNFP said that “by allowing the Girondins to compete in Ligue 2, [the FFF] has called into question the credibility of an independent commission, which never takes its decisions lightly.”

The DNCG, French football’s financial watchdog, had relegated Bordeaux to the third tier in June due to their financial situation, but on 27th July FFF followed the recommendations of the National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) and voted for the reinstatement of Bordeaux back into Ligue 2.

In a statement published on the club website on Wednesday, Bordeaux said it “regrets to note that, for several days, a number of interventions, in particular from leaders of competing clubs or professional unions, aim to question the legitimacy of the club to evolve in Ligue 2.”

"Succeeded in a major restructuring"

The club added: “These attacks, purely gratuitous, are more than surprising because they call into question court decisions, a decision of the CNOSF and that of the executive committee of the FFF.

“They also seem to regret that FC Girondins de Bordeaux has remained at the professional level and has succeeded in a major restructuring.”

FC Barcelona have agreed to sell a 24.5 per cent stake in their Barça Studios production house to American investment fund GDA Luma for €100 million, The Athletic reports.

The deal, if confirmed, would be the fourth economic lever activated by the club as they attempt to fall in line with LaLiga’s spending controls and register players for the new season.

If follows the sale of a 24.5 per cent stake in Barça Studios to the crypto fan token firm Socios, also for €100 million, and two deals with US investment firm Sixth Street resulting in the sale of 25 per cent of the club’s TV rights income over the next 25 years, which according to Barcelona president Joan Laporta have brought €667.5 million into the club.

Up to €40 million short

LaLiga are expected to update Barça in the next two days over whether this fourth lever helps them drop below the salary limit.

However, the website understands there is an expectation at Barcelona that they might still be between €30 million and €40 million short of the required figure and are planning to achieve that through salary reductions.

Premier League clubs set to agree to new funding deal for EFL

Premier League clubs are moving closer to an agreement on a major overhaul of the competition’s support systems for lower league sides, according to The Daily Mail.

The newspaper reports that a new funding package for EFL clubs worth hundreds of millions of pounds was due to be discussed at a hastily convened shareholders meeting this week.

It is understanded that there is widespread support among top-flight clubs for increasing their funding of the lower leagues on the condition it is distributed on merit according to finishing position.

Parachute payments could also be lowered in an attempt to reduce the huge financial gap between the Premier League and the Championship.

Put to a vote this week

The net result of such reforms would be more EFL clubs receiving a greater sum each year, although those relegated to the Championship would lose out.

While the proposed reforms could be put to a vote at this week’s meeting, if a consensus emerges the decision may be put off to a later date to allow consultation with the EFL, FA and UK Government.

FC Barcelona contract renewals could cost club €311 million

FC Barcelona may have to pay an additional €311 million in wages to four players as a result of deals signed in October 2020, according to Spanish media.

The daily newspaper Sport has reported that the contract renewals for Gerrard Pique, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Clement Lenglet and Frenkie de Jong gave the players lower wages that would be recovered later and were designed to save the club money in the short term.

Former Barça president Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned shortly after the deals were completed.

According to the previous board of directors, the four renewals provided salary savings of between €16 and €18 million, in addition to a saving of €15 million from the amortization of each of the contracts.

Legal action against Bartomeu

Sport understands that the short-term saving strategy could now cost the Catalan giants €311 million in extra wages, and that the club is now trying to persuade the four players to renounce the wage increases they agreed to in 2020.

Media in Spain have also reported that the current Barcelona board may take legal action against Bartomeu over the contract renewals, with the board led by president Joan Laporta considering suing Bartomeu for unfair administration.

French players union attacks FFF over decision to keep Bordeaux in Ligue 2

France’s football players union the UNFP has heavily criticised the French Football Federation (FFF) over its decision to permit Bordeaux to play in Ligue 2.

In June, the DNCG, French football’s financial watchdog, relegated the club to the third tier due to their financial situation, including debts of around €40 million with creditors King Street and Fortress.

That decision was confirmed on appeal on 5th July. However, on 27th July FFF followed the recommendations of the National Olympic and Sports Committee and voted for the reinstatement of Bordeaux back into Ligue 2.

In a statement, the UNFP said “the lightness with which the FFF will disavow the DNCG – whose work is usually constantly praised and praised – raises questions.”

It added: “By allowing the Girondins to compete in Ligue 2, it has called into question the credibility of an independent commission, which never takes its decisions lightly.”

Salary cut of up to 20 per cent

Bordeaux president Gérard Lopez also came in for criticism from the UNFP.

The union accused him of “shifting responsibilities to the players” by asking some of the squad to agree to a salary cut of up to 20 per cent.

A new report has found that English Football League clubs are increasingly concerned about the state of their finances and more reliant on owners for cash.

In the latest annual survey of football club finance directors from the global accounting firm BDO, all Premier League clubs it spoke to said their financial position was either “very healthy” (71 per cent) or “could be better but not bad” (29 per cent).

However, the biggest change from previous years was among EFL Championship teams, who perceive their position to have worsened, with 55 per cent saying it is “in need of attention”, up from 27 per cent in 2021.

The report found that Championship clubs are seeing an increased reliance on owners to finance operating losses, with this now reaching 100 per cent of the data sample (up from 71 per cent last year).

In his introduction to the report, Ian Clayden, head of professional sports at BDO, warned that EFL clubs face numerous challenges in attracting new investment as they aim to recover from the financial impact of the Covid-19 impact.

“Below the EPL, and indeed at the lower end of the EPL, clubs looking up at the largest clubs, pulling away from the pack somewhat, may miss out on investment and consumer demand due to the greater growth opportunities presented by women’s football and other emerging sports,” he wrote.
 

 
2. FC Barcelona threaten legal action over Frenkie de Jong contract

The saga involving FC Barcelona and their Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong has taken another dramatic turn, with the club threatening legal action over his contract.

According to The Athletic, Barça have told the player they want to annul his existing deal and return to the contract he was on before, and allege that the terms given to De Jong by the club’s previous board involved criminality and provide grounds for legal action against those involved.

As part of efforts to improve their finances, the Catalan giants have been trying to sell De Jong or reach an agreement with him over deferred wages he is owed.

The Athletic revealed that according to sources in Spain Barcelona wrote to De Jong on 15th July claiming to have found evidence of criminal actions on behalf of the parties who signed his renewal on 20th October, 2020.

That was for a two-year extension until 2026 which is reported to have reduced the player’s salary for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, leaving €18 million to be spread across the subsequent four campaigns.

The Athletic understands the previous board are confident in the legality of the contract De Jong signed in 2020 and insist the deal was agreed after approval from legal parties and LaLiga.

3. Richard Masters: Premier League may consider single bid for future overseas TV rights

Premier League CEO Richard Masters has refused to rule out selling all the league’s international TV rights to a single broadcaster in the future.

He told The Times that a “global bid” similar to the MLS’ new deal with Apple may be considered.

“Hypothetically it’s possible, a global bid, you wouldn’t rule anything out in the future,” he said. “We have multiple deals going until the end of 2028 so it would be a long way off.”

Masters also revealed that the league has the rights to trial its own streaming platform in an overseas country. A deal with one territory, believed to be Singapore, gives it the option of trialling a direct-to-consumer streaming platform between now and 2028 that would operate alongside the local broadcaster.

The previous Singapore TV deal had a similar option but a trial wasn’t explored due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We have sold all of our international rights to third parties,” Masters said. “We have licensed them, we have not gone ‘direct to consumer’ anywhere”. However, he added: “There are options in some of those agreements to go ‘direct to consumer’ in the name of the Premier League ultimately.”

 

4. Bosman lawyer says clubs from smaller European nations could benefit from new legal challenge to UEFA

Jean-Louis Dupont, the legal brain behind the Bosman ruling, has told The Daily Mail he believes teams from smaller footballing nations across Europe stand to benefit from a new legal challenge made by a Luxembourg club to UEFA's stance on cross-border leagues.

FC Swift Hesperange have filed a lawsuit against Europe's governing body and the Luxembourg Football Federation. The club claims that UEFA's opposition to cross-border leagues has hampered their ability to join a proposed Benelux League with teams from Holland and Belgium.

Dupont – a key figure in the fight between UEFA and the clubs pushing for a European Super League – is to ask a Luxembourg judge to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) at a preliminary hearing this autumn.

He believes that if successful it could open the door for clubs such as Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers to boost their earning power by taking part in transnational leagues with bigger television markets.

Dupont said he was convinced clubs in Scotland, as well as Holland, Belgium, Ireland and Scandinavia, need to pool resources to become more competitive, “but in an organised and clever manner, once the ECJ has decided all legal issues.”

LaLiga are still refusing to allow FC Barcelona to register new players ahead of the 2022/23 season, with the club’s first league game less than a week away.

According to the daily newspaper Sport, LaLiga have informed Barça of the development, which follows the club’s €150 million spending spree on new players this summer, including Polish striker Robert Lewandowski for €45 million.

The newspaper understands that Barcelona are prepared to sell a further 24.5 per cent stake in the club’s Barça Studios production house for an additional €100 million to help fall in line with LaLiga’s requirements.

Last week an identical deal was struck with the crypto fan token firm Socios. It followed the club’s agreement with American investment firm Sixth Street for 25 per cent of their TV rights income over the next 25 years, which according to Barcelona president Joan Laporta has brought €667.5 million into the club.

Barça begin their LaLiga campaign at home to Rayo Vallecano on 13th August but have until 31st August to register their new signings.

2. Fitch revises FC Barcelona's outlook to negative and withdraws rating

Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook for FC Barcelona's bond rating from stable to negative due to the club’s recent activity in the transfer market and outstanding debt.

The rating applies to Barça’s €470 million private placement (PP) notes, which Fitch has graded at BBB-. The agency has also withdrawn the rating for commercial reasons and will no longer provide a rating or analytical coverage of the club’s PP notes.

Fitch said the negative outlook reflects Barcelona's financial under-performance in 2021/22 versus its expectations, as well as slower-than-expected deleveraging compared with the Fitch rating case (FRC) last year.

The ratings firm noted that the Catalan giants had, as at 3rd August, committed to a net investment in new players of €130 million, despite the club’s debts of more than €1.3 billion.

Fitch noted that while the club has raised around €600 million from the sale of 25 per cent of its future media rights income, “a fraction of the proceeds – €125 million – were used for partial prepayment of the PP notes, in agreement with lenders.”

3. Man Utd shirt sponsor confirms it will not renew five-year deal

Manchester United’s primary shirt sponsor TeamViewer has confirmed it will not renew its partnership with the club, just 12 months into the five-year deal.

The German company’s share price has lost four-fifths of its value since the global technology company replaced Chevrolet on the United shirt.

The Daily Mail reports that the cost of the £47 million-a-year agreement with United has been blamed as one of the main reasons for the company's struggles.

The deal was met with scepticism on the German stock market when it was announced 18 months ago. Other factors include the war in Ukraine and a downturn in the tech sector following the Covid pandemic.

In a statement, TeamViewer said it will not extend the sponsorship when it runs out in 2026. “The company has decided to review its long-term marketing strategy in light of the current macro-economic environment,” it said.

4. Inter Milan remove DigitalBits logo from women’s shirts

Inter Milan have removed the DigitalBits logo from the shirts of their women’s team, according to Italian media, in a further sign of frustration with the club’s new primary shirt sponsor after it reportedly missed a series of payments.

Inter had already removed the cryptocurrency firm’s logo from the advertising boards at both the men’s team’s pre-season games played over the past week and at the club’s training ground, as well as from their website.

Last year DigitalBits agreed a four-year partnership with Inter worth $85 million, and was the club’s sleeve sponsor for the 2021/22 season, before replacing Socios as the main shirt sponsor for the upcoming 2022/23 campaign.

However, Inter are said to be unhappy with the blockchain company due to a series of late payments over the last few months, and have been discussing the matter with the American firm.

5. Premier League clubs secure record amount from shirt and sleeve sponsorship deals

Premier League clubs have banked a record £462.5 million from shirt and sleeve sponsorship deals this season.

According to the Mail on Sunday, the 20 top-flight clubs have negotiated front of shirt deals worth a combined £360 million, with a further £102.5 million generated from sleeve deals.

The newspaper reports that Manchester City for the first time have leapfrogged Manchester United with the biggest front of shirt deal.

The champions’ deal with Etihad Airways is worth £50 million this season after an incremental increase — £3 million more than United’s arrangement with TeamViewer.