Category: Sports & Recreation

The right to televise soccer is a multi-billion dollar business, for both FIFA and the broadcaster in each country. FIFA negotiates rights deal with the various countries individually or with regions, with the broadcasters signing agreements with smaller countries. Although FIFA makes billions from selling the media rights, the biggest priority is to reach as many people as possible. This is why FIFA has extended the deal with Chinese broadcaster CCTV, giving them the media rights in China for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The deal covers more than just the two World Cups. CCTV has the media rights for all major international soccer competitions until 2022, which includes the Women’s World Cup next year. This is an extension of an existing deal between FIFA and CCTV which began in 1978.

“China has an important role to play in FIFA’s global development strategy,” FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said.

“Our close partnership with CCTV, reinforced by this new two-cycle deal, will make the FIFA World Cup even more accessible to the Chinese audience, increase further the popularity of the game in the country, and support the development of Chinese football.”

The Chinese team failed to qualify for 2018). Soccer rights are lucrative enough that even if the national team fails to qualify, there is still enough revenue to justify the cost of the rights. FIFA and CCTV did not disclose the commercial terms of the agreement.

If there is one thing that soccer has shown time and again is that spending big sums on transfers is not a guarantee of success. Manchester United, Chelsea, and PSG are examples of clubs that spent heavily without immediate results. In fact, it took Manchester City years of spending and tweaking before they could find the right balance for the side. Here are some examples of how clubs tried and failed to spend their way to success:

Tottenham Hotspur 2013/14

If there was ever a cautionary tale for overspending, Tottenham Hotspur in 2013 is the one. The Spurs spent over a 100 million pounds trying to build a top-level squad. The takeaway for them and any other club is how difficult and almost impossible it is to build a squad in a single season. The club brought in seven new players, all from outside the Premier League that needed more than a single season to settle in.

Liverpool 2014/15

At the of the 2014/15 season, Liverpool finished 6^th after spending 117 million pounds on new players. The reds came close to the title in the previous season but lost Suarez, their key player. Unfortunately, the club signed seven new players in an attempt to balance out the squad and replace Suarez. It was telling that Liverpool lost the final game of the season 6-1 to Stoke City.

It takes more than just transfers and money to build a balanced squad. Like in other team sports, it takes years to build and mold a successful outfit that wins championships.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes that the Premier League title race is already over, thanks to the electric start to the season by Manchester City.

Manchester City has dominated all but one of their nine games so far with only one draw and 29 goals from the first eight games. City beat Burnley 3-0 and are five points ahead of local rivals Manchester United. Liverpool has a game in hand over City but is 12 points adrift of the leaders.

“If you ask, ‘Is the race already done?’ City are so strong, flying along at the top of the table,” he said. “Maybe this race is decided already. I haven’t a clue.

“But there is still a lot to get in this league and to play for, especially for us. We have improved as well since last year, that is how it is.

“Perhaps not too much in the results, but in creating moments, chances. A lot of better things than last year, but so far we have not taken the results.

“If we stay convinced about our way and bring in consistency from what we’ve had performance-wise so far, then we can have our best season. That is the next step. We can build on this base.”

Liverpool’s form has left a lot to be desired of late, winning only one of their last five games. Only a win for the Spurs will take within five points of City, making them the most likely challengers in the short-term, especially after the shock defeat of Manchester United at Huddersfield Town.

If United and Spurs can take the fight to City, it will be the only challenge they have faced so far this year.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez does not believe that a failure to qualify for the World Cup by Argentina would be a black mark on Lionel Messi’s career. Oscar goes on to add that you cannot expect the five-time Ballon d’Or winner do it all for the team.

Messi led the Argentina side to runners-up in the 2014 World Cup. However, this time around, they are in danger of failing to qualify for the finals. To qualify for the finals, Argentina must make the inter-confederation qualifying position. They are currently lying sixth in the CONMEBOL standings. With a goalless draw against Peru at home and one only game left against Ecuador, the odds are not in their favor.

“I don’t see it as a stain and it shouldn’t be like that,” Tabarez said when asked if missing out on the World Cup would be a stain on Messi’s career.

“There are a lot of great players in football’s history that weren’t world champions and they’re not stained by that, at least for me.

“Besides that, Messi is still playing, you can’t tell what will happen.

“Argentina are having problems to qualify but if they do, they’ll be favourites to win the World Cup.

“He’s a huge player but he can’t do it all, this is a team sport.”

Messi hit the post once against Peru in Buenos Aire and created several chances for his team-mates. Dario Benedetto, Emiliano Rigoni, and Marcus Acuna all failed to score from Messi’s assists. Argentina will need all their players to contribute if they are to qualify for the World Cup.

When Brazilian striker Neymar made his shock transfer to Paris St Germaine from Barcelona for the record transfer fee of 222 million euros, fans of the French club cheered. The boost to the club, both in performance and standing would be immense. As it turns out, the tax windfall for the state will be significant.

The initial boost will come from taxes for the player’s salary. Neymar will end up paying close to 37 million Euros per year to the state in taxes and social security payments. Also, the massive transfer will also net the state some 100 million Euros in social security payments from the club.

“The minister of public accounts is delighted by the extra tax income Neymar will pay in France if he joins a French club,” the minister in question, Gerald Darmanin, told France Inter radio station.

“It’s better that this footballer pays his tax here instead of elsewhere.”

Neymar is under investigation in Brazil for tax fraud. When asked if Neymar will attempt any subversive methods of avoiding taxes:

“Don’t worry, the country’s interests, and its financial interests, in particular, will be well taken care of.”

According to rumors, all tax payments will come from the club. Neymar does not want to deal with taxes and other potential legal issues. His salary demands are after tax. In that situation, Neymar will get his salary, and the club will foot the bill for his taxes.

Paris Saint-Germain won 3-0 away at Guingamp on Sunday, as Neymar scored once and set up another for Edinson Cavani. The third goal was an own goal by Jordan Ikoko.

The good

Brazilian superstar Neymar made his debut for PSG and did not disappoint. His maiden performance for the club lit up the crowd as he set up the first goal, and contributed with the second. Captain Thiago Silva was solid in the back and ensure that there were no surprises. The French capital team did not underestimate their opponents, and despite a slow, goalless opening half, found gaps in their defense with a methodical and calm approach.

The bad

Three players let down the Parisians: Angel Di Maria, Thiago Motta, Layvin Kurzawa. All three players were far from their best. Their contribution to the game did not reflect the final score. They will need to up their game or swap out for replacement if PSG wants a shot at the title.

The manager

As far as the manager goes, he did a good enough job to secure the victory. Although Emery’s starting XI was good, it was a lack of changes as the match went on that is a concern. Especially, the lack of any changes in the midfield where Angel and Thiago underperformed.

The rest of the team played well, with Neymar the star of the game, with a dream debut for his new club. The future looks good for PSG with Neymar and Cavani developing a good understanding.

Ever wondered what the day in the life of a professional soccer player is like? Here is the full day schedule of former Manchester United and Everton player Phil Neville:

Morning

6:00 am – Phil gets up in the morning and performs some light Yoga. An example is a three-minute flow of sun salutations.

6:30am – Breakfast of porridge and some fruit like strawberries or pineapple. Phil washes down the breakfast with a glass of orange juice and some tea.

8.30am – Hydration is important and he drinks a bottle of water on the way to practice and on the way back.

9.00am – Neville does Yoga again as soon as he gets to practice: “The first thing I do when I’m at the training ground is a 30-minute yoga session with a couple of the other players. Yoga has 26 poses, and our teacher will concentrate on five or six tailored for the movements of football. I pay particular attention to my hips and my groin.”

9.30am – Warm before training consists of 10-25 minutes of cycling at about 80rpm followed by small speed hurdles for 20 minutes.

10.00am – 1.00pm – Soccer specific training for the next two hours followed by a protein shake and relaxation at lunch time. At 1.00pm all the players eat a health lunch of lean protein and vegetables and a salad.

2.00pm – He returns home at 2pm and sleeps for an hour and a half. This afternoon nap is essential for recovery.

The rest of the day is spent with family and continued feeding and protein shakes.

According to a report by KPMG, the combined enterprise value of the most popular soccer clubs in Europe exceeds $33 billion. The report “Football Clubs’ Valuation: The European Elite 2017” states that the 32 clubs on the list grew by more than 14% in the last year.

English football giants Manchester United lead the list with an enterprise value of more than 3 billion Euros. Second and third on the list fall to Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona. Amazingly, ten clubs are worth more than a billion euros.

The sport is reaping the benefits of its commercial and television deals:

“While this is partially explained by football’s broadcasting boom, the internationalization of the clubs’ commercial operations, their investment into privately-owned and modern facilities, and overall more sustainable management practices are also key reasons for this growth,” said Andrea Sartori, global head of sports at KPMG

Teams are making smarter choices when it comes to signing commercial sponsorship. It also helps that the English Premier League is a global sport, shown live across the world. This explains why six of the top ten clubs on the list are from the UK. The most recent TV deal awarded in the UK to Sky and BT was worth $6.6 billion.

There are no American clubs on the list, however, with the rapid growth in popularity of the sport, it is only a matter of time before we see an American in the top 10.

In the same way that strength training for soccer involves more than just lifting weights, improving endurance is more than just building an aerobic base. The typical soccer player has very specific endurance needs. According to soccer apparel vendor Umbro, soccer players spend on average 30% of a game walking, 30-40% jogging and at least 25% of the time running. These require very different modes of training to optimize each. Here are the primary principles of endurance training for soccer:

Specific

The training should be sport specific and tailored to each type of movement. For example, soccer players will run, and swimmers will swim. Above that, for each phase of the game, soccer players should optimize for walking, jogging, and running.

Overload

The training sessions should be intense enough to create training effort. Unless the player pushes beyond existing levels, they will not see any benefit from the training. Also, even when they do, they need to keep pushing until they reach a target performance level.

Progression

As per the above, when a player keeps pushing, they will eventually reach a point where it will be their new comfort zone. This is why a training program with a progression built-in. There must be targets, along with new targets for when they pass previous milestones.

Recovery

This is the most important of all. Take enough time to recover from training. The above training programs are tough both physically and mentally. The central nervous system can only take so much of a strain.