Academics find fairer format for penalty shootouts, but will football accept it? December 2, 2021 Football took a chance on the ABBA format in the hope of minimising the inherent unfairness of penalty shootouts, but that experiment swiftly met its Waterloo. Now, though, economists at Durham University have devised a new way of ordering penalty kicks that they believe could change the name of the game. They tested a score-dependent [...]
The Women’s FA Cup final marks dark of past and possibilities of future December 1, 2021 On Sunday, tens of thousands will head into the home of English football for the Women’s FA Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea in what could be the best attended domestic match for 101 years, when 53,000 packed into Goodison Park. This weekend, however, will also offer a reminder of a darker era for women’s [...]
Historic night for Ellen White: England’s Lionesses 20 (yes, twenty) – Latvia 0 December 1, 2021 The Lionesses crushed Latvia 20-0 at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium last night as Ellen White broke England Women’s all-time scoring record and the team recorded their biggest ever competitive victory. White scored twice early on in the World Cup qualifier to take her level with and then past Kelly Smith’s mark of 46 goals, before completing [...]
Record £3.2bn in private equity deals for sports teams as funds target football, rugby and F1 November 22, 2021 The last twelve months saw a record £3.2bn of sports team acquisitions by private equity funds, almost treble last year’s total, as they targeted football, rugby and Formula 1 teams, according to new data shared with Morning Wire this afternoon. Last year saw an all-time high of 11 PE purchases of stakes in sports teams [...]
Lilian Thuram: Gareth Southgate sets a good example of what white people can do November 20, 2021 A bespectacled Lilian Thuram reaches for a map of the world and turns it upside down to illustrate his point. France’s most capped footballer is sitting at the desk of his office for this video interview, his studious appearance and the shelf full of books behind him indicating the direction he has taken since retiring [...]
Chelsea Digital Ventures: The tech business spun out of a football club November 17, 2021 Look closely next time Romelu Lukaku or Pernille Harder takes a mid-match drink and you may notice something that marks Chelsea out from other football clubs. Because instead of taking a swig from a bottle of Lucozade, or another well known sports hydration brand, players at the west London club have their own in-house product. [...]
PSG midfielder in custody over team-mate attack investigation November 10, 2021 Paris Saint-Germain Feminine’s Aminata Diallo has been taken into police custody following an alleged attack on a her team-mate Kheira Hamraoui . The PSG midfielder is accused of hiring masked men to injure Hamraoui to reduce competition for playing time. According to French media, Hamraoui was dragged out of her car by two men and [...]
Smart shin guards: the latest weapon in football’s wearable tech arms race November 2, 2021 Football is no stranger to wearables, as evidenced by the ubiquity of GPS vests, but it is about to get a new weapon in the technology arms race: smart shin guards. Italian sports tech and analytics company Soccerment will today launch their pioneering protective gear, which captures data on every run, pass, shot and change [...]
Legal Q&A: How referees’ pay could be hit by a tax dispute with HMRC and why this could have wide-reaching effects on the gig economy September 21, 2021 Lawyer Kevin Barrow explores the implications of an ongoing case between referees and HMRC. What’s this case about? It’s about whether PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) needs to deduct income tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from payments it makes to referees whom it has engaged on a self-employed “gig worker” basis to officiate at [...]
Survey shows that most football fans want World Cup every two years, says Fifa September 16, 2021 Fifa has stepped up its push for biennial World Cups by reporting that most football fans support the controversial proposals. The world governing body cited a survey of 23,000 people in 23 countries undertaken in July as part of a wider feasibility study. Fifa did not reveal any further figures but said it had drawn [...]