Sports Groove

European football revenues topped €40 billion for the first time in the 2024/25 season, growing by 6% to €40.2 billion, up from €38 billion in 2023/24. More than half of the revenue was accounted for by the big five European leagues who collectively generated €21.6 billion during 2024/25, a 6% increase on the €20.4 billion in 2023/24. The revenue numbers are the headline findings in the 35th edition of Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance, but come with a health warning from Deloitte who project that the growth of aggregate club revenue across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues will slow in the coming seasons, “with some leagues experiencing a plateau or even reduction in 2025/26 and 2026/27.” Tim Bridge, lead partner in the Deloitte Sports Business Group, said: “The expansion of UEFA and FIFA competitions has delivered financial benefits across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues, but football cannot rely on simply adding more content to deliver sustainable growth. “An increasingly saturated...

AS Monaco have signed second-hand car marketplace Simplicicar as a premium partner for the 2026/27 season, with the French company taking up branding on the back of the club’s shorts for Ligue 1 matches. The deal adds another commercial partner as Monaco prepare for a season that offers both domestic redemption and a realistic shot at European silverware.  After finishing a disappointing seventh in Ligue 1, the Principality club secured a place in the UEFA Conference League, where they will start among the stronger sides in the competition. Simplicicar’s branding, however, will be limited to domestic fixtures and will not appear in UEFA competition. Beyond the shorts sponsorship, Simplicicar will benefit from branding inside the the Stade Louis II – with its 16,000 capacity – alongside some exposure across Monaco’s digital channels and social media platforms. Monaco’s squad is in the spotlight at the moment for reasons beyond club football. USA striker Folarin Balogun, who also lea...

BeIN Sports has taken the gloves off with LFP Media, filing a €29 million legal claim that once again throws French football’s TV rights into the spotlight. At the heart of the row are restrictions on which Ligue 1 games BeIN can show. The Qatari broadcaster insists these rules were dropped in after it had already submitted its bid, dramatically reducing the value of the deal. As a result, BeIN held back part of its payment. LFP Media isn’t budging. It says BeIN is in breach of its contract and must stump up the full fee. The league argues the restrictions are essential to how rights packages are designed and sold. BeIN, however, has come armed with numbers. It points to the fact that LFP Media itself once valued some of these restrictions at €20 million – a figure the broadcaster now uses as the foundation of its claim. It’s a messy dispute and one that cuts right to the core of football’s media landscape. Broadcasters want flexibility and value for money. Leagues want to ...

   When handbags descend into an all-out brawl, the fallout is predictable, especially when it occurs amongst teammates. Who can’t forget the sight of Newcastle teammates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer squaring up to each other during a match against Aston Villa. But according to Marseille president Pablo Longoria, what happened between Adrien Rabiot (left) and Jonathan Rowe (right) in their dressing room makes the Bowyer-Dyer incident look like a middle school playground spat. “What happened was extremely serious and extremely violent, something I’ve never encountered before,” Longoria told AFP. “Even in the worst punch-ups, there are rules. Not in this case.” While the Bowyer/Dyer donnybrook lasted mere seconds, the Rabiot-Rowe confrontation crossed lines that seasoned football professionals had never seen before in the dressing room. Things came to a boil after Marseille’s frustrating loss to Rennes, where they played with a man advantage for an hour yet still contr...

     Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has unveiled a new three-year global partnership with WeTrade, a CFD and Forex online trading platform, in an agreement that will run through 2028.  Activation of the sponsorship will be primarily based around PSG’s social media influence, with the club now club saying it now reaches 230 million followers across all platforms. The deal with one of the industry’s leading financial technology players follows the most successful season in the club’s history, highlighted by lifting the UEFA Champions League in May but extended with the dramatic pickup of the Super Cup last week. George Miltiadou, EU CEO of WeTrade, said: “As a global brand ourselves, we understand the value of investing in excellence, innovation, and empowerment. The WeTrade name is synonymous with outstanding service and innovative products that empower traders around the world. “This will no doubt be enhanced further by the partnership. We are impressed with P...