Here are some of last week’s top stories from around the global soccer industry…
Europe’s soccer chief Platini fails to have FIFA ban lifted (Reuters)
European soccer chief Michel Platini failed on Friday in his bid to have a 90-day provisional suspension from world soccer lifted, further denting his hopes of running for the presidency of the game’s scandal-hit global governing body FIFA.
The decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the top body for settling sports-related disputes, means Platini will not be able to attend Saturday’s draw for the Euro 2016 Championship.
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Leak at Secretive Soccer Fund Triggers FIFA Scrutiny (Bloomberg)
Soccer’s governing body is looking into a series of deals signed by a sports investment fund, after leaked financial documents revealed details of the fund’s involvement in the player-transfer market.
FIFA has no jurisdiction over Malta-based Doyen Sports, which the leaked documents suggest has a complex ownership structure that ultimately leads to investors in Turkey and Kazakhstan. Clubs, however, are subject to FIFA sanctions if it deems they have breached regulations related to the now outlawed practice of third-party-ownership, or TPO.
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Greg Clarke To Step Down As Football League Chairman (FC Business)
Greg Clarke has announced his intention to stand down from his post as Chairman of the Football League at the end of the year. Clarke will continue in post until the League’s AGM on 10th June, was appointed in March 2010. Speaking of his decision, Clarke, said: “It has been a tremendous privilege to serve Football League clubs over the last six years, they are very much the heart and soul of football in this country.”
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MLS TAM increase ‘restrictive’ and ‘counterproductive’ – union chief (ESPN FC)
The head of the MLS Players Union indicated he has mixed emotions about the league’s introduction of more Targeted Allocation Money, or TAM.
TAM is basically a mechanism for reducing a player’s hit on the salary cap. MLS announced earlier this week that it was giving each team an additional $800,000 of TAM to apply to player salaries during the 2016 season, and another $800,000 in 2017. This is on top of the $500,000 the league gave to teams last year.
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MLS Is Expanding To 28 Teams, Will Diluting The Talent Help Its TV Ratings? (USA Today)
MLS had a big week. Portland defeated Columbus 2-1 in the MLS Cup Final. The league announced plans to expand to 28 teams. Those developments highlight two very different league narratives.
Expansion has gone well. Average MLS attendance is up 12 percent over last year. Five of the top six drawing teams were added since 2009. Overall, 13/20 teams averaged more than 19,000 fans per match. The league ranks behind only the NFL and MLB in average professional sports attendance.
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Premier League extends Nike deal to 2019 (Soccerex)
The Premier League has extended its sponsorship and supply deal with global sportswear giant Nike for a further three years.
Nike becomes the second Premier League sponsor – after goal-line technology partner EA – to sign on with the league until 2019.
The league is currently restructuring its sponsorship offering after taking the decision not to sign a title sponsor after current title partner Barclays steps away at the end of the current season.
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Real Madrid to contest Copa del Rey ban in Spanish courts (the guardian)
Real Madrid will go to the Spanish courts and continue to fight the decision to throw them out of the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player after their appeal against the ban was rejected by the Spanish Football Federation.
The club confirmed that they had lodged an appeal with the Spanish court for arbitration in sport.
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Sunil Gulati: USWNT cancelled match “black eye for this organization” (Sports Illustrated)
U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati issued an apology Tuesday to the women’s national team and its fans after being forced to cancel an international match against Trinidad & Tobago in Honolulu on Sunday due to unsafe turf conditions, reports Sam Borden of the New York Times.
Gulati said that the federation failed to inspect the artificial turf field inside Aloha Stadium ahead of time as per its usual protocol because it expected the field to be in suitable condition with the NFL’s Pro Bowl just a few months away.
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Minnesota United picks Mortenson to build St. Paul soccer stadium (Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal)
Minnesota United FC has picked local firm M.A. Mortenson Co. to built its new St. Paul soccer stadium.
The team announced its choice Wednesday, a few weeks after it picked Kansas City-based Populous to design the 20,000-seat stadium at Snelling and University avenues for the Major League Soccer expansion team.
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Soccer League For Homeless Gets Boost From Republic FC (CBS Sacramento)
A new sense of excitement brewing in the streets of Sacramento and it has to do with soccer. A local program that brings the game of soccer to the homeless community is getting a boost.
We dug deeper into a newly announced partnership that will help elevate this program to new heights.
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