FootBiz newsletter #10: Legal bills, Club World Cup, 50+1 and a battle to buy Argentina's biggest clubs

The Premier League shareholders meeting came and went with the only public leak (and counter-spin) emerging around the Associated Party Transactions case that was heard earlier this summer.

But reading the reports you’d struggle to work out who actually ‘won’ - or if anyone even did.

The Daily Mail and The Times reported that Manchester City had secured a victory, given the Premier League had pulled the proposed vote on amending the rule.

The New York Times’ Tariq Panja was among those who saw it the opposite way, explaining that “beyond potential tiny concessions related to a database, it seems the club has secured very little at considerable expense.”

Of course, thanks to the Premier League’s rule X.31, we won’t ever get an official account of what happened. The commitment of these governing bodies (as well as the likes of the ECA) to a lack of transparency remains very unhealthy for the sport.

Nick De Marco, part of the team that defeated the Premier League on behalf of Leicester recently, explained it fairly succinctly.

Add onto this the fact that the Premier League overspent their annual legal budget by nearly 6x (a whopping £45m) and it paints a pretty unhealthy picture of the direction things are heading.

It appears that the league - as well as City - are “securing very little at considerable expense.”

“Yet more good news for the lawyers,” quipped one English football exec.

“Perhaps Shakespeare had the right idea.”

[Legal note: we do not actually endorse killing all lawyers]

Table of Contents

• One month in

• Club World Cupdate

• Unopposed election for Tapia

• The battle for Argentine football 

• M&A murmurs

• Finger pointing in the women’s game

• More premium content

• Dortmund financials

One month in

A month of FootBiz.

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Coming tomorrow for premium subscribers: Matt Hughes on the shifting dynamics between Premier League owners

Club World Cupdate

We covered the struggles of FIFA’s new CWC last week, and trailed the announcement of the host cities that Matt Hughes had previously reported in the Guardian.

After the confirmation of those cities over the weekend, one other interesting report caught the eye from Italy.

Gazzetta dello Sport had a story claiming that the bid deadline had passed for broadcasting rights without a single bid from the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

We knew the situation was dire when an emergency meeting was called with broadcasters this month, but for FIFA to not even receive bids from some of the globe’s biggest territories should ring serious alarm bells for the expanded tournament.

As noted by Adam Crafton, FIFA also usually strip all stadia of their sponsored names for tournaments as to preserve their own relationships with FIFA partners.

In the announcements for the Club World Cup, sponsors were included. Another sign of FIFA’s commercial struggles surrounding the competition, and one that will be highlighted when next summer’s MetLife Stadium becomes the catchily named New York New Jersey Stadium 12 months later.

Unopposed election for Tapia

The head of the Argentine FA, Chiqui Tapia, will be elected unopposed for his third term in the post after no challengers emerged before the deadline for candidates. Tapia has been in the role since 2017 and will remain in it until at least 2028. During that time, Argentina won its first World Cup since 1986.

A surprise addition to the AFA board to serve alongside him was Boca Juniors president Juan Roman Riquelme, who becomes one of the association’s six vice presidents.

Riquelme recently described Tapia “one of the greatest leaders in the history of Argentine football, alongside [Julio] Grondona,” which wouldn’t be a comparison I would particularly want myself.  

For context: Grondona was one of the most corrupt football administrators during an incredibly corrupt period of football administrating, per FIFA and the US Department of Justice. He embezzled tens of millions of dollars that could have aided Argentina’s youth system and crumbling infrastructure.

The battle for Argentine football 

I was recently speaking to an ardent follower of German football about their famous 50+1 structure, which guarantees fan control of (nearly) all professional football clubs.

With private equity companies having tested the water on the Bundesliga’s commitment to its majority fan-owned model, peaking with the ‘tennis ball protests’ of February, I did half wonder whether this widely revered footballing culture would survive the direction that global football appears to be headed.

Stridently, he told me “those who want the private money to come in are those who would make money from it.

“Everyone else would choose for German football to protect its soul.”

It is a similar battle to what has broken out in Argentina since the election of president Javier Milei to the country’s highest office.

Chiqui Tapia, who as we discussed will be re-elected for another term in the country’s second most important presidency, that of the Argentine FA (AFA), is prepared to fight Milei tooth and nail.

One of Milei’s many reforms in a “mega decree” issued immediately after he became president in December last year was designed to circumvent AFA rules that only allow clubs to be fan-owned non-profit organisations, or asociaciones civiles. In this structure, clubs are more community assets where fans vote for who they wish to represent them in club elections, and gain access to certain facilities. 

Milei’s decree, and a subsequent one in August, are both trying to force the AFA to allow sociedad anónimas deportivas (SADs) under their statutes. SADs are for-profit corporations.

The ensuing battle is similar (but not identical) to a choice between the Bundesliga model and the Premier League model, and has already pinged back and forth between the country’s highest courts, and won’t be ending any time soon.

In the blue corner; the president, many of Argentine football’s best-known names and a glut of foreign capital.

In the red corner; the Argentine FA, a majority of fans, years of history and some very angry club presidents.

For the full deep dive into the battle for Argentine football click the picture below.

To celebrate one month of FootBiz, this piece will be free to read but we hope you will support FootBiz by upgrading to a premium subscription, knowing this is the sort of content you can expect.

M&A murmurs

It seems like there aren’t many clubs that aren’t available in France right now but the post-DAZN broadcast income is apparently proving a really tough sell and might have, for the medium term, dented what sellers can hope to receive.

We are hearing that there is still a ton of investor uncertainty over the TV deal because of the exit clauses that mean there is not necessarily true clarity over how long this pact will run and if there is even any broadcast upside for years to come.

Add in the lack of confidence in the LFP to turn things around at league level and you have a cocktail that some bankers have told us means it only really makes sense for owners looking to add another club to their portfolio, closer to the Belgian or Dutch league than Serie A or La Liga.

After Strasbourg became part of Chelsea’ group and Lyon became part of the John Textor cinematic universe, what now for RC Lens, Toulouse, Montpellier, Le Havre and others of a similar size?

“As an investment to find great academy diamonds or trade players and expose them to elite football it’s always going to be appealing.

“For the purely financial investors it is less clear.”

With multi-club owners having attracted protests in France, there are additional obstacles to navigate but for Liverpool and Newcastle, both known to be looking for another club to buy as an affiliate, the discount price might be too tempting to ignore.

Finger pointing in the women’s game

What a mess in the WSL, where the sold-out Premier League game between Chelsea and Manchester United next weekend (with a prime Sky Sports broadcasting slot) had to be postponed after Chelsea were handed a Champions League fixture just over 48 hours later.

Real Madrid now visit Chelsea on October 8, just two days after the United game was supposed to take place. While the draw only happened on Friday, UEFA have been unusually strident in laying the blame at the door of the WSL.

Chelsea are understood to have tried to negotiate a way out of the fixture tangle, but with schedule congestion and player welfare a major focus for the new governing body of the women’s leagues, the WPLL, there was never any way these two games could go ahead as they had been laid upon the west London club.

"It is with sincere regret that we are left with no other option than to confirm the postponement of next weekend’s WSL fixture,” said Chelsea in a statement.

"We are extremely disappointed with the outcome but wish to reiterate that player welfare and the impact on our supporters are of the utmost importance to us."

The WPLL, on their part, had requested no English team were drawn the play on October 8 having feared such a situation.

UEFA ignored the request and have been criticised by some in the women’s game for scheduling continental games at only 10 days’ notice, but European football’s governing body were keen to point out that they issued participating clubs with the Champions League calendar a year ago and said they have been clear with domestic leagues that they should not play games where there is a chance of such a clash.

The Chelsea Women’s Supporters Group blamed the WSL for the farcical circumstances: “Absolute failure by the league. The club had to protect the players. We feel for all the supporters who have lost money on transport and hotels.”

More premium content

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• Man City and the 115 charges: what to expect

Dortmund financials

Borussia Dortmund confirmed their provisionally published accounts from last month and the picture is pretty rosy for Germany’s second-biggest club.

Reaching the Champions League final does tend to help on that front, though, and the key takeaways surfaced by intern Raef Coke tend to all hinge on that huge spike of income:

• Record-breaking Revenue: Total revenue reached an all-time high, surpassing €500m

• Strong profit growth: Net profit surged by 361% to €44m

• Champions League Impact: Reaching the Champions League final boosted broadcasting revenue from €74m in 22/23 to €120m in 23/24

• Efficiency improved: Wages increased 14% to €269m but reduced as a % of turnover from 56% to 52%

• Dividend resumption: Despite the volatile share price, Dortmund's strong revenue performance enabled the club to resume dividend payments for the first time since September 2021. The anticipated dividend distribution is €0.06 per share, totaling €6.623 million, marking a significant milestone for investors.

The club opened a North American office earlier this year, which is expected to further boost their healthy commercial performance (up 15% to €250m in 23/24) over the coming seasons.