(ARTÍCULO DE OPINIÓN PUBLICADO EN MARCA 06/04/20)

Tras muchas semanas de intensas reuniones y negociaciones, y con las cifras de la pandemia mejorando día tras día, se vislumbra por fin el retorno del fútbol en Europa y en España. Si se cumple lo previsto, los equipos de LaLiga Santander y Liga SmartBank comenzarán los entrenamientos esta misma semana, con vistas a un esperado reinicio liguero a medios de junio y con la intención de finalizar el campeonato con las normas de competición inicialmente establecidas.

Mientras tanto, ya sabemos que no va a reanudarse la liga regular en Segunda B y estamos a la espera de lo que se decida con respecto a ascensos y descensos, tras semanas de continuas filtraciones interesadas buscando influir en la complicada decisión que debe tomar la RFEF.

Como gestores del CE Sabadell hemos participado de manera constructiva y discreta en todos los foros de discusión a los que hemos sido invitados, pensando en lo que pudiera ser mejor para esta categoría maldit...

(PUBLICADO EN MARCA 30/04/2020)

La industria del fútbol, al igual que el resto de la sociedad, ha sufrido durante las últimas semanas las nefastas consecuencias de la invasión de un enemigo inesperado, capaz de poner en jaque todo lo establecido y obligando a muchos sectores de la sociedad a reinventarse en pleno siglo XXI. Afortunadamente, el impacto del devastador Covid -19 comienza ha comenzado a remitir y las cifras de infectados y fallecidos siguen reduciéndose día a día, al tiempo que el número de curados que abandonan los hospitales crece de forma exponencial.

Así, al tiempo que el gobierno va anunciando en cuentagotas medias de relajación del confinamiento, el fútbol suspira por iniciar los entrenamientos que den paso a poder retomar y finalizar las competiciones de la temporada 2019/20. Todo ello tras muchas semanas de maratonianas sesiones de negociación -en su mayoría en formato telemático- que continuarán hasta el mismo momento de la vuelta a la actividad.

Un nuevo partido

Y es...

It’s a pleasure to announce the new edition of the FootballTransfer Review 2020 – summer Edition. A report that provides relevant data and insightful and independent analysis on the variables that influence squad designs and player transfers. The report was unveiled in a preview version this Thursday 5th September in the Soccerex Europe event in Oeiras (Portugal) by Esteve Calzada (CEO Prime Time Sport) and its global version goes live this 6th September.

Main topics FTR 2020 summer edition:

• La Liga and SerieA established a new investment record this summer after investing 1,3bio€ and 1,2bio€ respectively in player signings. After Premier sides investing 1,5bio€, LaLiga and SerieA represent 87% and 78% of English spending respectively.

• Premier League’s growth is slowing down due to stagnation of TV income and sterling pound depreciation. The English tournament had only 3 teams in the European spending Top 10 and only signed 3 of the most expens...

Report by Dermot Corrigan for The Independent.

Teaming up Barcelona captain Lionel Messi with new signing Antoine Griezmann, and also bringing back Neymar from Paris Saint Germain, excites many both inside and outside the Camp Nou.

But with Barca’s finances already worryingly stretched even before paying €120 million to sign Griezmann last week, the idea of pushing the limits even further to sign Neymar should trouble anyone concerned about the Catalan club’s long-term economic health.

Ex-Atletico Madrid forward Griezmann’s arrival has brought Barca’s summer spending to almost €240 million, including Frenkie De Jong from Ajax (€75m). While players worth around €100 million have been sold - including Andre Gomes to Everton (€25m). However the club’s tricky financial situation still left the blaugrana board scrambling embarrassingly last week.

Barca’s directors made an eleventh hour attempt to negotiate a staggered payment plan for Griezmann, drawing a...

Kylian Mbappé was named world's most valuable U21 player for second season in a row in the Soccerex 20 U21 report by Prime Time Sport. The report was mentioned in both Spanish and international media. 

Mbappé’s valuation is more than twice that of second placed player, Borussia Dortmund & England winger Jadon Sancho who is valued at £108m (€120.3m) and more than three times Ajax and Holland defender Matthijs de Ligt, who is ranked third with a valuation of £66.9m (€74.5m).

There was special covering in Portugal due to Joao Félix's valuation and also in many countries of South America. However, as usual, Spanish and English important media made a great covering of the report.

Full media covering can be checked here.

Paris Saint-Germain and France forward, Kylian Mbappé is the most valuable under 21 player in world football according to the Soccerex 20 U21 Report.

The French superstar tops the rankings for a second successive year with a valuation of £234.8m (€261.6m) according to the 5th edition of the Soccerex report, compiled in partnership with Prime Time Sport.

Mbappé becomes the first player to break the £200m barrier in the annual report, which uses Prime Time Sport’s

Football Value Index to rank footballers born on or after 1st January 1998. The report takes into account the player’s age, position, current club, contract length, market value perception, international caps, minutes played, goals, injuries and technical quality from a variety of sources to arrive at a final valuation.

Mbappé’s valuation is more than twice that of second placed player, Borussia Dortmund & England winger Jadon Sancho who is valued at £108m (€120.3m) and more than three times Ajax and Holland defender Matthijs de L...

Eden Hazard was previously an amazing profile to work with for top brands. However, his signing for Real Madridthis summer has taken his commercial value to a whole new level. The Belgian magician, with 22 million followers on Instagram, has been working lately with major brands like Disney, Beats by Dr. Dre, bwin, IceWatch, DongQiudi or Sure. Of course he's an ambassador also for Nike and Nissan, his major deals. How will his off the pitch activity increase now that he has joined Real Madrid? The next big step of his career has just begun. 

This is just one of the top stories of the new Players Marketing Newsletter by Prime Time Sport. Full newsletter can be read here. 

One more edition of the Football Transfer Review and one more time the covering from national and international media was outstanding. In this edition the main headline was that La Liga broke its investment record in the 2018-2019 season, reaching 955m€. 

You can download the clipping of the FTR 2019 Winter edition in this link.

Also, as the report was presented at the Johan Cruyff Institute of Barcelona, here is a little video of how the event went.

The Football Transfer Review 2019 - Winter Edition is finally here. This Thursday 7th February Esteve Calzada presented the report in an event hosted at the Johan Cruyff Institute of Barcelona.

Esteve Calzada presented the Football Transfer Review joined by Mariel Koerhius (Johan Cruyff Institute Director).

Main topics from FTR 2019 winter edition are:

• LaLiga reaches all-time investment record as it closes 18/19 season with the highest spending ever, rocketing almost 1bio€ 

• LaLiga sides spent 71m€ in the January transfer window, second highest amount in history

• Premier League’s dominance over signings in the top 5 European leagues down to 33% in an historical reduction

• Investment in European football reached 573m€ at winter transfer window, third all-time figure

You can download the full report here.

In a space of just few weeks we have seen how Nike has surprisingly let go Roger Federer and Andrés Iniesta to challenger brands Uniqlo and Assics respectively. In everyone’s opinion, both athletes were firm candidates to have kept a lifetime ambassadorial role with the swoosh brand, well beyond retiring from competing at the highest level.

On one side, the Swiss tennis champion decided to end a 24 year relationship with American sportswear brand to join Uniqlo, in a deal reportedly worth $300m over 10 years. Likewise, football magician Andrés Iniesta has picked another Japanese company to end a Nike relationship that started when he was just 15.

This is Esteve Calzada's editorial from the Players Marketing Newsletter #25 by Prime Time Sport. Check the full Newsletter in here: https://bit.ly/2BpQvE9

The story gets repeated. At contract expiration the athlete –at the twilight of his career- receives a very lucrative proposal which is well above the amount the incumbent is prepared to...