Selections

News Tank Football: elections, appointments, promotions & departures recorded in January 2025

Jacco Swart (NED), managing director of European Leagues since June 2019, will step down at the organisation's general assembly to be held in Frankfurt (GER) on 06/03/2025, announced the organisation on 23/01/2025. Federico Cherubini has been appointed CEO of Parma Calcio 1913 (Serie A Enilive) and will take up his post on 27/01, announced the club on 22/01/2025. "This announcement coincides with the departure of Luca Martines," said the club, which was promoted to the Serie A at the end of the 2023-24 season. "The supervisory board of FC St. Pauli (Bundesliga) has nominated Oke Göttlich, for another term of office as club president," announced the German club on 22/01/2025. Oke Göttlich has been at the head of the club since 2014. Florentino Pérez has been re-elected president of Real Madrid CF (LALIGA EA Sports) for a further four-year term, until 2029, at the meeting of the electoral board, in the absence of any other candidacies, announced the club on 19/01/2025. Andrew Sheridan has been appointed head of partnerships strategy and commercial ventures at Arsenal FC (Premier League), he announced via his LinkedIn account on 11/01/2025. Take a look back at the movements (elections, appointments, promotions & departures) covered by Ne…

Selections

2026 FIFA World Cup: 500 days to go until the opening match at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca

The opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held in Mexico on 11/06/2026, at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City (83,000 capacity), followed the next day by the first match of the competition in the United States, in Los Angeles (California), as well as the very first World Cup match to be played in Canada, in Toronto. FIFA awarded the hosting of the 23^rd World Cup - the first with 48 teams, compared with 32 from 1998 to 2022 - to three Concacaf zone Federations (US Soccer, FMF and Canada Soccer), at the Congress meeting in Moscow (RUS) on 13/06/2018. The United States will host 78 of the 104 scheduled matches (including 100% of the matches from the quarter-finals onwards) in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Atlanta, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia and "New York New Jersey". Mexico will host 13 matches in Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. Canada will also be hosting 13 matches on home soil, in Vancouver and Toronto. Each of the three host countries will play its three group matches at home. The final will take place on 19/07/2026 in New Jersey (in the current MetLife Stadium, 82,500 capacity), as…

Data

2024-25 Ligue 1 McDonald's: an average of 18,018 season ticket holders per club, 49,000 for OM

The 18 Ligue 1 McDonald's clubs have an average of 18,018 season ticket holders for the 2024-25 season, up 6% on 2023-24 (17,001). The French top flight ranks last among the European Top 5 leagues, behind the Serie A Enilive (an average of 18,637 season ticket holders per club). With a record 49,000 season ticket holders, Olympique de Marseille leads the French clubs and is sixth among the clubs in the European Top 5. Paris Saint-Germain, in second place, have 35,650 season ticket holders in 2024-25, while LOSC Lille round off the podium with 30,000. Overall, six French clubs have more than 20,000 season ticket holders. By contrast, AS Monaco FC and Angers SCO have just 3,500 and 4,500 season ticket holders respectively, the lowest totals in the Ligue 1 McDonald's and also the lowest among the clubs participating in the European Top 5 leagues. Eight Ligue 1 clubs have fewer than 15,000 season ticket holders. Only the Serie A has a higher number of clubs (10) below this threshold. RC Strasbourg Alsace is the French club with the highest ratio of season ticket holders to stadium capacity, at 78.7%. In France, season ticket holders occupy 52.6% of stadium capacity…

Data

European Top 5: social media communities of the 96 clubs (February 2025)

• The clubs in the European Top 5 leagues registered 32.3 million new followers during the month of January 2025, bringing their total followers to 2.86 billion on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X. • Real Madrid CF (LALIGA EA Sports) is the club with the most followers with nearly 406 million, ahead of FC Barcelona (LALIGA EA Sports, 350 million) and Manchester United FC (Premier League, 215 million). • Barça was the club that posted the best growth in absolute value, with 9.1 million new followers in January. • Real Betis Balompié (LALIGA EA Sports) was the club that experienced the greatest percentage growth in terms of followers on social media: +6.5%. • 10 clubs have more than 100 million followers: five from the Premier League, two from LALIGA EA Sports, one from the Ligue 1 McDonald's, one from the Bundesliga and one from the Serie A Enilive. The infographics below show the ranking of clubs by aggregate number of fans, then by each platform. Instagram (number of followers), TikTok (number of followers) and X (number of followers). For Facebook, News Tank has recorded the highest number of followers and likes since September 2023.

Think

NBA: "We're at a turning point in European basketball with the NBA Europe project" (P. Ausseur, LNB)

"We are at a turning point in European basketball. We need the power of the NBA, which can be a tremendous accelerator, but this will only be possible under two conditions. Firstly, we must not fragment European basketball any more than it already is. Secondly, I expect the NBA to work with the national leagues and not to replace them. On the contrary, it must work with them. If these two conditions are met, then European basketball can look forward to even brighter days than today," said Philippe Ausseur, president of the Ligue Nationale de Basket, to News Tank on 23/01/2025. The LNB was invited by the French Basketball Federation (FFBB) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to take part in a meeting organised in Paris on the sidelines of the first NBA game of the week at the Accor Arena (12^th arrondissement) on 23/01/2025. "The discussion was mainly about a better understanding of the 'NBA Europe project', as the NBA will be working with FIBA rather than Euroleague Basketball," said Philippe Ausseur, while NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed the North American league's interest in the European market the day before. "I mentioned in a podcast that we could…

Think

Juventus FC: "I'd like ESG themes to become a criterion for choosing future sponsors" (Greta Bodino)

"I would like ESG themes to become a criterion for choosing future sponsors over time, as this would allow us to respect our objectives in this area even more," said Greta Bodino, chief people, culture and sustainability officer at Juventus FC (Serie A Enilive), to News Tank Football on 09/01/2025. Greta Bodino expressed her views at a time when, in December 2024, the Turin club launched its new ESG strategy entitled "Black, White and More", based on six pillars (two environmental, three social and one governance). "Juventus is listed on the stock exchange, so there is a healthy pressure to respect what is announced. We also have an ESG committee within the club that will steer and monitor the operational implementation of this strategy. Our next step is to prepare a real dashboard with our KPIs, indicators of everything that can be measured, and then present it to the board," continued Bodino. Putting Juventus' new ESG strategy into practice, involving partners, decoupling the ESG budget from the club's financial results... Greta Bodino answered questions from News Tank Football.

Person

Valentin Guyonnet

Chief Commercial Officer @ Hurricane Group • Chairman & Founder @ e-Xplorer

Person

Claude Delforge

Président @ Ligue de Football Amateur (LFA)

Organisation

Saudi Pro League (SPL)

Sector: Saudi Arabian professional football leagueFounded: 2008President: Abdulaziz Al AfaleqCEO: Omar MugharbelCommercial Director: Maximilian Haschke Main partner:• Roshn (real estate, PIF): title sponsor of the 1^st division Partners:• adidas (equipment supplier)• Visit Saudi (tourism)• Pepsi (beverages)• Lay's (crisps)• Aquafina (water)• Gatorade (energy drinks)• TikTok (social network)• EA Sports (video games)

Organisation

Koesio