EUFA gain more control of TV rights

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EUFA gain more control of TV rights President of the Union of European Football Associations Michel Platini has announced that all 53 EUFA members have signed an agreement to centralize the television rights for European Championship and World Cup qualifiers.  Platini said in a statement on Tuesday that the new system will benefit all parties, and make financial planning much easier.

Under the present system, each UEFA member negotiates its own television rights for home games, but with the new approach the sale of rights will supposedly guarantee revenue for all the individual Federations.  It is also expected to generate around £100 million for the FA over the next four years.

General Secretary for FA Alex Horne told the UEFA Congress in Paris that the FA had considered the move very carefully and he believes it to be a good deal for England.  He said that with the centralized sale England will get more for its international rights than under the current set-up.  The FA is still in debt from the construction of Wembley, and they are counting on television revenue to help balance the books.

As of 2014, the EUFA will begin marketing the collective rights to qualifiers in four-year cycles.   England currently has four-year contracts with ITV and ESPN, but they are not for the same four years.  Therefore the FA will try to synchronize them by selling a two-year deal to either ITV or BBC so they can market FA Cup rights concurrently with EUFA’s sale of international rights.

According to Michel Platini, the change in marketing approach will lessen the dependence of the smaller national associations on the luck of the draw.  Under the current system they have to hope they draw a big name that will boost revenues.  Hopefully the change will level the playing field.

No one seems to know who owns Leeds United

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No one seems to know who owns Leeds United Sleeping football giant, Leeds United Football Club, may be at the centre of a storm, after it was revealed that no-one seems to know the identities of the people who actually own the club. A similar affliction recently affected Notts County Football Club. Leeds are currently in the Championship, although they sank as low as League 1, having previously been a UEFA Champions League semi-finalist in 2001. They imploded after running into financial difficulties.

During the recent Government inquiry regarding the governance of football, the Chief Executive of the club, Shaun Harvey told the club that neither he nor chairman Ken Bates knew who the beneficiaries of FSF, the trust that owns the club, were. FSF is a holding company, registered in the West Indies, obviously for tax reasons, and FSF is, in itself, owned by three separate trusts.

Shaun Harvey did not believe that the ownership of the club was an issue, adding that this type of set-up was common in a lot of industries and not just football. There was no indication that the trust was prepared to walk away from the club, however, the recent events at Notts County should provide a warning note. During the inquiry, Member of Parliament Damien Collins expressed a different view, that lack of transparency with the ownership was a legitimate concern.

The ownership of English football clubs, in particular, has come under the spotlight, after the increasing number of high-profile takeovers of top and even not-so-top clubs by foreign owners. UEFA is also currently trying to clamp down on clubs that spend beyond their means, as the footballing body feels that this gives clubs an unfair advantage.

Mohammed al-Fayed still has cash for football

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Mohammed al-Fayed still has cash for football Mohammed al-Fayed, the Chairman of Fulham Football Club, will continue to fund the Premier League side although he has suffered £16.9m loss for the past financial year.

Revenues of £12.5m were earned by the London based side after reaching the European League final last season, however losses increased by £10m due to new contracts and higher wages.

Mr al-Fayed has said that his priority is the continued success of the Club and its eventual financial self reliance.  He will continue to make funds available to achieve these goals. Fulham has had Mr al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrods, at the helm since 1997 and has steered the club through most of its successful times.

An amount of £160m in funding is thought to have been provided by Mr al-Fayed to the West London club. He has made it clear that he is totally committed to Fulham Football Club by providing investment funds available to them.

Japan pushing forward with international friendly matches

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Japan pushing forward with international friendly matches Despite an earthquake and a Tsunami severely damaging many parts of the country, Japan is still hoping to stage two soccer international friendly matches in March even though many thousands are feared dead after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake last Friday.

Kozo Tashima, Japan Football Association, General Secretary, has stated that more than ever it would mean a lot and send a message to the world if the country could stage the games which are still more than two weeks away, when Japan plays Montenegro on the 25th March at Shizuoka Stadium near Tokyo and New Zealand on the 29th March.

He has said that that we need to let people know that, regardless of the images that we see on CNN, Tokyo is okay and functional and order is being restored in the City.  The world probably does not have an accurate view of the situation at present and the Japanese football community, as well as the entire Japanese sports world, can assist in returning the country to normality.

On Monday, however, an announcement was made, postponing all domestic matches set down for March.  The football season will continue into July.

The Chairman of the J.League, Kazumi Ohigashi, has said that the situation is serious at present, with aftershocks still continuing. As they are unable to guarantee complete safety at the stadiums the J.League has decided to cancel all J1, J2 and NABISCO Cup matches for March.

Fixtures for J.League, NABISCO Cup are stretched and games will need to be played in July. These arrangements could affect Japanese plans to compete in the Copa America tournament as a guest in South America later this year.

Thomas Müller to receive “Hyundai Best Young Player Award”

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Germany’s talented midfielder Thomas Muller has been named as the winner of the prestigious FIFA/Hyundai best young player of the year award. Muller had an outstanding World Cup, with his 5 goals and 3 assists helping the Germans to claim 3rd place in the competition. He really came of age in South Africa, mesmerising football fans across the globe with his vision, pace and overall ability. The young players who finished behind Muller were Giovani dos Santos from Mexico and Andre Ayew from Ghana.

“As a committed supporter of football, we are delighted to join FIFA to support this special prize which has been a feature of the FIFA World Cups since 1958,” Werner H. Frey, Managing Director of Hyundai Motor Deutschland GmbH, said today at the handover ceremony. “We feel that the young and dynamic nature of this award fits perfectly with our brand,” he added.

Oliver Takahashi, FIFA head of Marketing Alliances and Event Management, presented the Hyundai BYPA trophy and the Hyundai ix35 compact sport utility vehicle (known as Tucson in some markets) to Thomas Müller. Müller is the third German national football player to receive the award since Franz Beckenbauer received it in 1966 and Lukas Podolski in 2006.

“It is a great pleasure for FIFA and our partner Hyundai Motor Company to officially recognize Thomas Müller as the brightest young star of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. His five goals and outstanding displays for Germany make him a very worthy recipient of this award. We would like to thank Hyundai for their support of the Best Young Player Award which continues the proud tradition of recognizing exciting talent at the FIFA World Cup™,” Takahashi said.

The Hyundai BYPA is one of FIFA’s official awards recognizing the most outstanding FIFA World Cup™ performances by footballers aged under 21 and is selected by the Technical Study Group, a FIFA-appointed group of top football coaches and analysts.

Judges look for certain technical qualities such as skill, style and charisma but also other important factors such as a sense of fair play and a genuine enthusiasm for the game.

Hyundai is extremely proud of its twelve-year strong association with FIFA, during which the company has demonstrated itself to be a reliable and effective partner by serving as the official automotive supplier to all FIFA-sanctioned events around the world.

Hyundai is currently esteemed as one of FIFA’s top partners and has extended its strategic sponsorship agreement with FIFA to cover 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil, 2018 FIFA World Cup™ in Russia and 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar.