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tariq panja

29 Mar, 10 tweets, 2 min read

NYT Graphic: The Champions League Is Changing. Here’s How It Will Work. - The New York Times nytimes.com/interactive/20…

For better or worse, the Champions League is finally about to become, er, a league ...

nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Uefa’s exco is meeting on Wednesday when most of the future plans discussed here will be confirmed. Some important outstanding issues won’t be. They include:
Cash distribution and potential of a final four to played in one location as a Champions League week.

The UEFA exco will now not decide on new Champions League as planned at their meeting tomorrow but on April 19. The delay has been caused by a small group of big clubs - you can guess - making a demand for majority say over the Champions League's commercial operation

UEFA was willing to go as far as a 50/50 share in a joint venture that would control the commercial rights of the Champions League, but that is not enough for some of the super rich clubs. They believe it is their right to have control over decision making.

Not all clubs are aligned on this. In fact some are actively getting annoyed by the postering of some of the biggest teams. They want this sorted. Under current circumstances, wonder how long ECA can survive in current form.

Meanwhile the backers of the Super League, notably the Spanish and the teams with US owners, are rattling their sabres again and suggesting if they don't get what they want, they will press the button. Good luck with that.

As ever, there's an enormous level of greed and self interest at play here. Some of these super duper clubs believe they need to have even more money and control than what is currently on the table. Some, notably the Germans and PSG, though, remain onboard with UEFA plans

These owners believe it is their right to have more than the other teams, and more guarantees that they will always have more. They want to secure the value of their franchises for the future. Isn't football fun?

Whatever happens, the European Club Association really is no longer fit for purpose now the super clubs have shown their hand. Hard to see how their interests align with the scores of other top flight teams

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@tariqpanja

28 Mar

Real mess after last night’s Portugal- Serbia VAR fiasco. Portugal denied last minute winner, points shared. Could count massively come final table. Have been trying to understand whether FIFA or UEFA responsible for there not being VAR. Fingers being pointed in both directions.

Turns out Uefa decided to postpone introduction of VAR into qualifiers because of the pandemic. But folks there suggest FIFA as tournament operator could have made its use mandatory in tournament regulations

Uefa had said in December 2019, months before the pandemic changed the game, that VAR would be included in these qualifiers. The decision not to use VAR wasn’t made public in the same way.

Read 4 tweets

tariq panja

@tariqpanja

18 Dec 20

Lille in a mess, but Gerard Lopez, the man who created the crisis, probably made a few bucks along the way by building a model that worked for him but not the club. 💰

Lille aren’t struggling financially because of a structural issue in French football. They are struggling because the owner found a way to profit from player trading while keeping debt loaded onto the team. The profit on players didn’t go to pay down debt. Where did it go?

Really, a lot of this is due to a local of regulatory oversight of football club operations. Many clubs seem now seem to be little more than commodity trading operations.

Read 5 tweets

tariq panja

@tariqpanja

17 Dec 20

NYT 🚨-- Russia’s Doping Ban Is Halved by Court of Arbitration for Sport, But Remain Banned From Next 2 Olympics and Soccer World Cup in 2022

nytimes.com/2020/12/17/spo…

Russian teams and athletes cleared to participate will only be able to as neutrals, while flag, anthem and other insignia will also be barred

Ban covers Vladimir Putin, too. According to the CAS ruling, the Russian president and other senior Russian government officials will be barred from the Olympics and other top sports events for two years.

Read 12 tweets

tariq panja

@tariqpanja

9 Nov 20

Another round of anti corruption raids on Benfica and president Luis Felipe Vieira once again allegedly a direct focus of police investigation. Despite numerous allegations against him he was recently reflected president by the club’s members. tvi24.iol.pt/amp/geral/30-1…

Not a headline any football club needs.

Benfica confirms the raid in a statement, but did not interestingly use the statement to deny the allegations of “sporting fraud”, which include claims a bunch of smaller league rivals were paid off.

slbenfica.pt/pt-pt/agora/no…

Read 6 tweets

tariq panja

@tariqpanja

28 Jul 20

Reasoned decision in Manchester City's FFP appeal against UEFA has now been published by CAS. It runs to 93 pages.

tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user…

Interesting that details of some sponsorship deals (Etisalat) are redacted, others (Etihad) are not. Also says Etihad paid City 221m GPB for 3 seasons through 2016. Per season that's more than Chevy's deal for Man Utd (but City's includes stadium, campus, etc)

As per the CAS rules, both sides picked a panelist each to sit on three-member group that would decide on City's appeal. City also recommended the chairman, a Portuguese jurist, which UEFA agreed with. City secured its appeal by majority verdict, so 2-1

Read 10 tweets

tariq panja

@tariqpanja

10 Jun 20

Amanda Staveley's business partner in PCP, Craig Eadie, being cross examined by Barclays lawyer today. He's having a tough time. Calls into question what exactly PCP is. Hard to think of it as anything more than a broker/middleman at this point.

What's happening in the High Court calls into question claims about Staveley and her company that are routinely made and regularly appear in articles like this: thetimes.co.uk/article/amanda…

Among the interesting aspects from the court hearing have been details of the fight from PCP to get paid anything at all from Abu Dhabi following the deal. Initial amount offered was 5m GBP, eventually an agreement struck at 30m GBP. Reminder Staveley/PCP suing for 1.5bn GBP

Read 84 tweets

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