Premier League clubs will receive millions of pounds in advanced payments related to league positioning and television fees in an effort to ease their cash-flow problems.

The 2019-20 Premier League season has been postponed indefinitely

The 20 clubs agreed to the funding to cope with the lack of income because of the coronavirus crisis, with payments expected to be in the region of £20m.

The partial release of “merit payments” is prize money that clubs would have received, while “facility fees” relate to how many matches each club had shown on live TV matches.

Clubs will also receive part of their funding for next season in the summer months.

The arrangement for this season’s advanced payments, which was first reported by The Times, was decided by the clubs at last week’s shareholder meeting.

Premier League football has been postponed indefinitely because of the spread of the coronavirus.

There will need to be adjustments made to these payments at the end of the season based on what the final table looks like.

BBC Sport has been told the amount of money being released has been carefully decided, based on balancing the cash-flow problems clubs are experiencing with the worst-case scenario of broadcasters demanding money back if the remaining fixtures are not played.

Sports streaming provider DAZN has told the Premier League it will be deferring its most recent payments for overseas rights until it receives clarity on when or if the season will resume.

DAZN has the rights to show Premier League action in Japan, Canada, Spain and Brazil.

The Premier League is understood to be facing potential financial losses of £762m in broadcast revenue if the season cannot resume.

Insiders have stressed that the release of merit payments should not be seen as an indication of an idea to end the season where it is now, and that the decision has been made to help clubs through this crisis.

Typically clubs receive some funding at the beginning of a new season.

It is understood the intention is still to pay clubs part of this funding for next season during the summer months, to again help tide clubs over during this period when they have no other money coming in.

Source – BBC News

The La Liga giants must now regroup behind the scenes after a number of high-ranking officials decided to leave.

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Six Barcelona board members have informed club president Josep Maria Bartomeu of their decision to resign from their respective positions.

Vice presidents Emili Rousand and Enrique Tombas will both depart, alongside directors Silvio Elias, Maria Teixidor, Josep Pont and Jordi Clasamiglia.

Their exits were confirmed via a strongly-worded letter sent to Bartomeu, with the group calling for the club’s leadership to be reviewed as soon as possible to ensure Barcelona are able to bounce back from the challenges caused by the coronavirus crisis.

“We hereby want to communicate that the undersigned managers have transferred to President Bartomeu our decision to irrevocably resign from our position as managers of FC Barcelona,” the group’s letter read via La Vanguardia.

“We have reached this point by not being able to reverse the criteria and forms of management of the club in the face of the important challenges of the future and, especially, from the new post-pandemic scenario.

“We must also highlight our disenchantment with the unfortunate episode on social networks, known as ‘Barcagate’, which we learned about through the press.

“We ask here that once the results of the audit entrusted to PWC are presented, that responsibilities be cleared as well as the eventual corresponding compensation.

“As a last service to our club, we recommend that as soon as circumstances allow it to convene new elections that allow, with all the ‘authority’, to manage the club in the best possible way in the face of the important challenges of the immediate future.

“Last but not least, we want to have a very special recognition and thanks to our colleagues on the Board of Directors who have dedicated and dedicate their best energy and efforts for the good of our beloved Barcelona Football Club. Also to thank the executives and employees of the Club for their support and excellent work during this time in which we have had the honour of serving our beloved Barca.”

Bartomeu, who has been in charge of the Spanish giants since July 2015, has found his position under severe pressure this season.

Goal learned earlier this week that Bartomeu was planning an overhaul of his management team. Several members were informed that they will have no part to play in the new-look team of directors, including now-departed Rousaud, who had been tipped as the president’s favoured successor in the post.

Source – Goal.com

Italy’s football federation (FIGC) has begun to draw up medical guidelines for a possible re-start of Serie A, which has been suspended since March 9 because of the coronavirus outbreak.

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The FIGC said that its medical committee held a video conference on Wednesday to “analyse and define a guarantee protocol for football in the event that sporting activities are allowed to resume.”

Serie A was roughly two thirds of the way through the season when it was interrupted and the FIGC wants to complete the campaign to reduce financial damage. It has said it is prepared to continue until September or October if necessary.

Italy has been one of the world’s worst hit countries by the coronavirus outbreak and its death toll rose to 15,362 on Wednesday with a total of 124,632 cases. A number of Serie A footballers are among those who have been infected.

“If and when we should get the green light for a gradual re-start, the world of football must be ready,” said FIGC president Gabriele Gravina.

“Given the role that football plays in Italian society, I am convinced that we can make an important contribution to the whole country.”

It said the protocol would include which tests should be conducted on players who have had the virus with “particular attention to the respiratory and cardiovascular system.”

Source – Eurosport.com

The Frenchman was asked about the possibility of his former club signing the six-time Ballon d’Or winner.

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Former Inter midfielder Benoit Cauet insisted the Nerazzurri can sign Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

Messi has been linked to Inter since ex-president Massimo Moratti said the six-time Ballon d’Or winner joining the Serie A club was not a “forbidden dream”.

Barca captain Messi is contracted to the La Liga champions until 2021 but his future is far from certain at Camp Nou, where he has clashed with board members this season.

“Of course Inter can sign Lionel Messi, there are no doubts that they could,” Cauet, who won the UEFA Super Cup with Inter in 1997-98, said in an Instagram Live interview.

“President Steven Zhang has the financial capabilities and the potential ambition. He is a president who thinks big.”

Messi – who moved to Barca from boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys in 2001 – had scored 24 goals across all competitions before the 2019-20 season was postponed due to coronavirus.

The 32-year-old attacker tops the La Liga scoring charts with 19 goals through 27 rounds.

La Liga chief executive Javier Tebas believes the potential loss of Messi to his competition “would not be a drama”.

He says La Liga will always be strong, pointing to Cristiano Ronaldo’s switch from Real Madrid to Juventus as proof, while he claimed Italian football would not be fixed purely by Messi’s arrival.

“I do not think that the arrival of Messi can solve the problems of Serie A, which are linked to the bad relationship between debts, high and insufficient collections,” Tebas said.

“Serie A’s figures are stressed, and these economic problems certainly are not solved by Leo Messi. I would like Messi to stay here, but if he leaves it would not be a drama.

“It was said that without Cristiano Ronaldo the league would have lost money, and instead we would have earned it, even in Portugal. Players help but are not essential to a championship.”

Former Inter supremo Moratti started the Messi rumours during an interview with Radio Rai, when revealing he felt it was possible for the Nerazzurri to sign the Argentine legend.

“I don’t think it’s a forbidden dream at all. Maybe it wasn’t even before this misfortune [the coronavirus lockdown],” Moratti said.

“Messi is at the end of his contract and it would certainly be attempted to bring him home. I don’t know if this situation will change anything, but I think we will see strange things at the end of the year.”

Source – Goal.com

Ronaldinho will be released from jail into house arrest in Paraguay after he and his brother paid $1.6 m in bail.

Former Barcelona midfielder Ronaldinho won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002

The former Barcelona midfielder, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002, was arrested on March 6 with his brother and business manager Roberto Assis.

They were accused of possessing adulterated Paraguayan passports with a lawyer for the pair claiming their detention was “arbitrary, abusive and illegal”.

The judge said he would permit the pair to move into the Palmaroga hotel in Asuncion while they awaited their trial and will be allowed to receive visits.

Photograph of a Paraguayan ID document shared by the Paraguayan authorities on Facebook bearing the name ‘Ronaldo’ (Pic: Fiscalia Paraguay)

The two men deposited $800,000 each into a local bank account on Tuesday.

“It’s a significant bail in cash to guarantee they will not flee,” judge Gustavo Amarilla said.

The former Gremio, Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain forward last played professionally in 2015 and was the best player in the world at his peak in the early part of this century.

The 39-year-old was named FIFA World Player of the year in 2004 and 2005 and won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and the Champions League with Barcelona in 2006.

Source – Sky Sports

Belgium is set to cancel the rest of their season and crown a champion and the Premier League may do likewise.

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The Premier League will follow Belgium‘s top flight and cancel the rest of its season, according to Udinese sporting director Pierpaolo Marino.

With Liverpool 25 points clear atop the table, the Premier League was suspended last month due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, the league announced that its suspension would continue indefinitely.

Many leagues around the world have been brought to a standstill, with Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League having cancelled the rest of its campaign and awarded the title to leaders Club Brugge.

Marino, whose club are owned by Giampaolo Pozzo – the father of Watford owner Gino, believes England will do likewise.

“The Belgian Federation has already sanctioned the end of their league, despite the threats of sanctions from UEFA,” Marino told Sportitalia.

“In England, the Premier League is about to release a similar statement, because the situation there is becoming very, very serious. I frankly just hope we can enjoy football again after the coronavirus.

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes, we need to get out of this danger zone. I am worried for the next seasons, not the old one.”

Marino could eventually be proven correct, as FA chairman Greg Clarke admitted on Tuesday that it may not be possible to complete the 2019-20 campaign.

“We are committed to finishing the professional football season as this resolves the issues of promotion and relegation together with title winners on merit,” Clarke told the FA’s official website.

“However, we may not be able to finish the season as football is not our priority, human life is, and we will do as the government directs as the pandemic unfolds.”

Should the Premier League season be ended prematurely there will be questions as to whether Liverpool will be declared champions, with Jurgen Klopp’s side currently holding a near-unassailable lead.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin offered some good news for Reds fans on Tuesday, saying he can see “no way” Liverpool will be denied the title whether the season is completed or not.

“I see no way for Liverpool to stay untitled. If the championship resumes, they will almost certainly win it – theoretically, it has not yet reached the guaranteed level, but it is practically close,” the UEFA chief told Slovenian publication Ekipa.

“However, if it could not be played, it would also be necessary to announce the results in some way and find some key on how the champions should be determined. And, of course, again I do not see a scenario in which that would not be Liverpool,” Ceferin added.

Source – Goal.com

Liverpool have reversed their decision to place some non-playing staff on temporary leave and apologised to fans.

The Premier League has been suspended indefinitely with Liverpool 25 points clear at the top

On Saturday, the club said they were going to apply to the government’s taxpayer-funded job retention scheme, sparking a fierce backlash.

But in a letter to their fans, chief executive Peter Moore said: “We believe we came to the wrong conclusion last week and are truly sorry for that.”

He added that the Reds have “opted to find alternative means” to pay staff.

The U-turn came after mounting criticism had led to talks between the club’s US owners Fenway Sports Group, executives and key stakeholders.

Liverpool had become the fifth Premier League team to furlough non-playing staff with the season suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Staff affected were to receive 80% of their salary through the scheme and the club would make up the difference, despite making a profit of £42m last year. Liverpool are the world’s seventh-richest football club.

The decision was criticised by former Liverpool players Jamie Carragher and Stan Collymore.

Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth and Norwich City had already announced they will furlough some non-playing staff.

“Despite the fact we were in a healthy position prior to this crisis, our revenues have been shut off yet our outgoings remain,” said Moore.

“And like almost every sector of society, there is great uncertainty and concern over our present and future.

“Like any responsible employer concerned for its workers in the current situation, the club continues to prepare for a range of different scenarios, around when football can return to operating as it did before the pandemic.

“These scenarios range from best case to worst, and everything in between.

“It is an unavoidable truth that several of these scenarios involve a massive downturn in revenue, with correspondingly unprecedented operating losses.

“Having these vital financial resources so profoundly impacted would obviously negatively affect our ability to operate as we previously have.”

In addition to high-ranking football officials, two former Fox employees have been indicted as part of the investigation into corruption.

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Russia and Qatar offered and paid bribes to secure votes in the process that saw them awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups,  an indictment in the United States alleges .

The document, brought by federal prosecutors in New York as part of the long-running investigation into corruption surrounding football’s governing body, claims several former members of FIFA’s executive committee were offered or indeed received bribes relating to their votes.

It is alleged that Ricardo Teixeira, the former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, the now-deceased ex-COMNEBOL president Nicolas Leoz and a co-conspirator were offered and received bribes to ensure their votes for Qatar to stage the 2022 World Cup.

Former FIFA vice-president and ex-president of CONCACAF Jack Warner stands accused of being promised and receiving payments totalling $5 million (£4m) to vote for Russia to host the 2018 tournament.

Rafael Salguero, the former head of Guatemalan football who admitted to accepting a bribe in return for his vote in the process for the 2018 World Cup, is alleged to have been promised a $1m bribe to vote for Russia.

In addition, a pair of former executives at 21st Century Fox have been indicted by the U.S Department of Justice on charges accusing them of paying bribes in an effort to obtain confidential bidding information during FIFA’s sale of American television rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The charges were unsealed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn as former Fox executives Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez are alleged to have made payments to officials of the South American federation CONMEBOL. Also charged are former Imagina Media Audiovisual CEO Gerard Romy and the Uruguayan sports marketing company Full Play Group SA.

In the indictment, which was handed up by a grand jury on March 18, Lopez and Martinez are accused of joining with Full Play to pay millions of dollars in bribes to CONMEBOL officials in exchange for rights to the Copa Libertadores.

Romy, meanwhile, is accused with joining his alleged co-conspirators to pay a $3 million bribe to former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb for rights to home World Cup qualifiers in the Caribbean for the 2018 and 2022 cycles. Webb pleaded guilty to several corruption charges in November 2015.

According to the Justice Department, the indictment includes charges of wire fraud and money laundering while charges against Romy and Full Play allege racketeering conspiracy.

“The profiteering and bribery in international soccer have been deep-seated and commonly known practices for decades,” said William F. Sweeney Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, in a statement.

“Over a period of many years, the defendants and their co-conspirators corrupted the governance and business of international soccer with bribes and kickbacks, and engaged in criminal fraudulent schemes that caused significant harm to the sport of soccer.

“Their schemes included the use of shell companies, sham consulting contracts and other concealment methods to disguise the bribes and kickback payments and make them appear legitimate.”

Fox outbid ESPN for rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in 2011 and, following FIFA’s decision to move the 2022 tournament from summer to winter, Fox were given rights to the 2026 tournament without a bidding process.

The 2026 World Cup is expected to be a massive event in the U.S., who will host the tournament alongside Mexico and Canada as the competition comes to North America for the first time since 1994.

ESPN had previously held the U.S. English-language television rights to the World Cup from 1994-2014.

“It’s shocking that the government would bring such a thin case,” Lopez’s lawyer, Matthew D. Umhofer, said in an email to the AP.

“The indictment contains nothing more than single paragraph about Mr. Lopez that alleges nothing remotely improper. Mr. Lopez can’t wait to defend himself at trial.”

Steven J. McCool, Martinez’s attorney, said in an email: “We are certain a jury will swiftly exonerate Carlos, as the charges against him are nothing more than stale fiction.”

Source – Goal.com

Bayern Munich players will return to training on Monday for the first time since the Bundesliga campaign was halted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Bayern Munich, four points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, last played when beating Augsburg on 8 March

Germany’s top flight has been on hold since 13 March.

The German Football League recommended clubs should not train until Sunday, 5 April; the Bundesliga leaders will welcome back players in small groups.

“Training will take place with no members of the public present,” a club statement read.

“In order to further slow the spread of the coronavirus, FC Bayern asks fans to continue to follow the instructions of the authorities and therefore please do not come to the FC Bayern training ground.”

The Bundesliga remains suspended until at least 30 April following a meeting of league clubs last Tuesday.

Source – BBC News

The Bulgarian feels as if his former club should be crowned champions if no more games are played in 2019-20.

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Former Barcelona star Hristo Stoichkov believes it would be fairer to end the La Liga now, scrap relegation and promote two teams from the second division amid the coronavirus pandemic.

La Liga has been postponed indefinitely due to Covid-19, which has led to more than 12,640 deaths in Spain and over 69,450 globally.

Reigning champions Barcelona held a two-point lead over bitter rivals Real Madrid when the league was stopped, while Cadiz and Real Zaragoza occupied the promotion places in Segunda Division.

Stoichkov – who won five La Liga titles and a European Cup among other honours during his time at Camp Nou – feels Barca should be crowned champions if no more games are played in 2019-20.

“If we see how the situation is, with the matches which have been played, it would be fairer to end the La Liga season as it is now,” Stoichkov told Cope program Tiempo de Juego.

“Many teams could stay up at the bottom, there are a lot of matches left.

“They could leave the league as it is, have no relegation and the top two from Segunda could get promoted to have a 22 team league. Because they have also done a lot of work to win many matches.”

La Liga matches will be played behind closed doors if a solution can be found to get Spanish football back underway.

As things stand, there is still no date set for any such return, but senior figures at La Liga and the Spanish FA (RFEF) acknowledge that a gradual return to normality would have to be enacted.

Sources close to the situation indicated to Goal that fans would continue to be banned from stadiums to prevent another sharp outbreak of coronavirus in Spain as a result of such large crowds gathering.

Jaume Roures, the chief of one of La Liga’s broadcast partners Mediapro also concurred that supporter attendance was unlikely when the competition resumed.

“I hope football returns in July and I say July because, among other things, everyone’s health must be guaranteed,” he told Cadena COPE last week.

“It will return without an audience, surely, but before that they have to do a pre-season. After so long at home, they can’t go out and play as if nothing happened.”

Source – Goal.com