The biggest countries in Europe in terms of population are Russia and Turkey which make up about 25% of UEFA.
II am a Wrexham supporter!! Got hooked on the Documentary they started five years ago. It was cool seeing the team get three straight promotions and almost making the Championship Playoffs last season. It's going to be harder this season as West Ham will be overwhelming favorites to get one of the two automatic promotions.
The Big Five leagues (especially EPL) receive more international money than the smaller leagues. When I lived in Malaysia nearly everyone had a favorite EPL team and wore the corresponding kit. When I first got there (1996), there were so many ManU kits but some of those were exchanged for Arsenal kits in 1998 after they won the EPL (= bandwagon fans). I had one student who was an Olympic Marseille fan and he and I would discuss the ManU obsession of the other students. Anyway, my point is that despite having a smaller % of the UEFA population, that league sees more money for the reach that the EPL has in places like Asia and Africa.
The Russian Premier League had the 6th highest revenue before the invasion. But revenue is almost entirely related to Champions League progress. The countries that are "under-performing" based on population besides Russia and Ukraine, are Turkey, Poland, Kazakhstan and Romania. The country that is way over-performing is Scotland (pop 5.5M)
Apparently approximately 90% of self-described Premier League fans are based outside of the UK. Man United's fan base is 80% overseas, 85% for Man City, and ~80% for Liverpool. For clubs like Sunderland and Leeds, 50-60% of support is domestic.
Its a finance thread. The league that is over-performing financially, taking into account population, is the SPL.
I just looked up the league's finances and have to say that it is pretty impressive. I did not know that Scotland has the highest stadium attendance per capita in all of Europe.
Match fixing at the World Cup? https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/kleine-voortekens-van-matchfixing-op-wk-adviesorgaan-licht-fifa-in https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7463768/2026/07/23/world-cup-betting-irregularities-fifa/ Two suspicious games involve the World Champion.
Andrea Pirlo's appointment as Italy national coach postponed due to ties with Russia The expected appointment of Andrea Pirlo as Italy's national coach appears to have become uncertain. According to various media outlets, concerns have arisen within the Italian Football Federation regarding the former international's ties to Russia and a Russian gambling company. https://www.ad.nl/voetbal/aanstelli...gesteld-vanwege-banden-met-rusland~a9fc3e7bc/
Would you rather buy the Whitecaps or Leicester City? I guess you could try and move Leicester to Vegas. Leicester City put up for sale for more than £200m ($270M)
157764 Changing MO in the Saudi Pro League. In recent summers it was a common sight. The clubs from The Saudi Pro League pulled one (aging) world star after another away from Europe, paying ridiculous transfersums from a seemingly bottomless pit of oil money. But this summer, much less will be spent for the time being. What has changed? The Saudi Public Investment Fund with assets of more than 1000 billion, Saudi Arabia's central state savings bank and owner of the four largest clubs, pumped astronomical amounts into footbal. Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar were recruted that way. The figures for this transfer summer show a completely different picture. • Crysencio Summerville: from West Ham United to Al-Hilal (64.5 million) • Francisco Trincão: from Sporting Lisbon to Al-Ahli (39.35 million) • Samú Costa: from Mallorca to Al-Nassr (22.0 million) • Eduard Spertsyan: from FC Krasnodar to Al-Ahli (21.9 million) • Jan-Carlo Simić: from Anderlecht to Al-Ahli (15 million) are the top transfers of this season sofar. The goal of the state fund in 2023 was clear: to create brand awareness for the Saudi Pro League. The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar, helped that mission. The budgets from the PIF have been significantly reduced. Generous salaries are still paid (Sadio Mané, for example, reportedly catches a sloppy 40 million euros net per year), but the time when clubs were allowed to write blank checks for absurd transfer fees is over. Part of that is I think the Iran war, that cut deep in the oil revenues. The money printer stopped printing and when it starts again, Trump has no clue. On top of that the rules of the Saudi Football Association prescribe that a club may have a maximum of ten foreign players in the selection. The four big clubs are almost all 'full'. To get a new top purchase from Europe, a foreigner must first leave. Clubs are now struggling with players like Steven Bergwijn, almost no European club can or wants to take over their salary. The money that was spent this summer is being spent according to a completely different philosophy and from different pockets. Not on aging on the brink of retirement players. The striking transfer of Crysencio Summerville to Al-Hilal was therefore not financed with government money, but with the billions of an individual prince. Investors prefer to invest their assets in players with future prospects. Together with the transfer of FC Utrecht star Souffian El Karouani (25 years old) to Al-Qadsiah, it shows the new trend: the old stars are making way for talents in the prime of their careers.