REAL MADRID is, arguably, the most famous football club in the world. The queues of people that snake their way around the club’s impressive Bernabéu Stadium, even on days when the team is not in town, makes Real one of the Spanish capital’s major landmarks. Real Madrid is also the most valuable football brand in world football. Valued at €1.65 billion, the club is ahead … Continue reading Football’s top brand – Real Madrid
FOOTBALL, as a business, grew out of the industrial revolution in Britain and certain parts of Europe. Hence, the early winners in the game were mostly from industrial cities and Europe’s infant conurbations. In England, the early growth was in the north and the midlands, two areas that really fuelled the development of the nation’s commercial prowess. As industrial Britain declined in the 70s and … Continue reading Embracing football’s new Industrial Age
THE FOOTBALL industry has grown extraordinarily over the past 20 years. The rise of leagues like the Premier, La Liga and the Bundesliga, along with globalisation and intensive mass media has transformed a sport that, in the 1980s, was ailing. In addition, the game has expanded, with developing football markets such as China, India and the US forming credible leagues that have rising spectator appeal. … Continue reading The Real number one: How the financial industry ranks football clubs
REAL MADRID is, arguably, the most famous football club in the world. The queues of people that snake their way around the club’s impressive Bernabéu Stadium, even on days when the team is not in town, makes Real one of the Spanish capital’s major landmarks. Real Madrid is also the most valuable football brand in world football. Valued at €1.65 billion, the club is ahead … Continue reading Football’s top brand – Real Madrid
IT HAS been an exceptional week for Tottenham Hotspur, despite the comments made by their England defender, Danny Rose, that he cannot wait to see the back of football due to the racism that has emerged over the past few weeks. Spurs opened their excellent new stadium – innovative beer filling mechanism and all – and announced a world record profit for a football club. … Continue reading Spurs move into the bulge bracket
GEORGE HARRISON once sang, “All things must pass”, a reminder that no matter how presumptious the human condition can be, nothing lasts forever. In the context of football, both Liverpool and Manchester United now realise that the regimes they created, supposedly rock solid and built to endure, eventually succumbed to the changing times and new pretenders. We can never assume that success is a given … Continue reading Chelsea may be at the end of the Roman road
ASIA PACIFIC represents one of the key growth markets for global football, with new supporters, business opportunities and emerging powers from the region. Although Europe dominates the world game, market experts are predicting that clubs from Asia will eventually compete alongside more established names from football’s traditional heartlands. The rising importance of Asia is one of the main reasons the World Football Summit is hosting its first … Continue reading World Football Summit Asia: A magnet for the football Industry
AS the two North London giants prepare to meet in another heated derby, the dynamic in that part of the capital is clearly changing. Tottenham, on the brink of moving into a new stadium, are moving up a gear, both on and off the pitch. For the first time in a number of years, Spurs look poised to gain the upper hand over their fierce … Continue reading Why Tottenham are edging the battle of North London
MANCHESTER United’s recent malaise on the pitch has had an impact on the club’s position in football’s financial pecking order, with Real Madrid and Barcelona overtaking them to claim the top two places in Deloitte’s Football Money League for 2019. United slip to third after a second successive year in which the club’s revenues declined. They are hardly in poor street, however, as revenues totalled … Continue reading Same gang, different seats at the table
NOBODY really expected Sheffield United to mount a serious challenge for promotion to the Premier League this season, but the Blades are sitting at the top of the Championship table and have confounded the tipsters’ predictions in the opening months of the season. When the bookmakers’ priced their odds for the 2018-19 campaign, United were 8-1 to win the title, which placed them roughly in … Continue reading Blades running strong
THE recent decision by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to put the club’s stadium redevelopment on hold has raised many questions, not least speculation about the Russian oligarch’s long-term commitment to the United Kingdom, London and the club itself. Could the man who effectively kick-started the wave of inflated investment in football be about to call it a day? Naturally, with the issues over his visa, … Continue reading If Abramovich goes…
OVER the past few years, there’s been a reaction to the increasingly polarised state of top-class football, an industry that continues to grow and detach itself from grassroots. There’s arguably no turning back, the football world now revolves around a dozen or so clubs that are bigger, wealthier, more influential and more interconnected than the rest of the game’s constituents. We might not like it, … Continue reading Commentary Box: Corporate football, footballing corporates
