Football

The Premier League has launched legal action against Chinese broadcaster PPLive Sports International Ltd - the Suning-owned company which pulled out of screening its live games in September.

The league subsequently signed a one-year streaming deal with Tencent, and has now brought a reported £170 million lawsuit against its former broadcast partner.

In court papers, first reported by Bloomberg, the league has accused PPLive Sports of defaulting on a £163 million payment for live matches as well as highlights packages.

Vitality has become the new sponsor of the Women’s FA Cup, signing a deal with The FA which will run for a three-year period.

The health and life insurance and investment company will sponsor the competition until July 2023, and will see the tournament rebranded as the Vitality Women’s FA Cup.

According to The FA, Vitality will use the partnership to help drive visibility of women’s football and will aim to inspire more girls and women to take up football or other sports.

City Football Group added a tenth club to its network with the announcement of Ligue 2 side Troyes.

Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (known as ESTAC), has become the latest club to receive investment from the group and, which will become the new majority shareholder having acquired the shares owned by previous owner Daniel Masoni.

French businessman Maxime Ray has also acquired a minority stake in the Club. He will take a seat on the Club’s board.

PepsiCo has signed a new five-year partnership with UEFA to sponsor its women’s football competitions.

The agreement will see the company’s brands including Pepsi Max, Lay’s, and Gatorade support women's football at all levels until 2025, becoming the Main Partner of the UEFA Women's Champions League and the UEFA Women's EURO, as well as youth-level competitions and futsal.

PepsiCo, which has been a UEFA partner since 2015, will also become the Main Partner of UEFA's Together #WePlayStrong programme, which is aimed at encouraging more girls and women to play football. 

Premier League partner Coca-Cola has launched a new campaign ahead of the start of the 2020/21 season.

‘Make Your Home the Home End’ encourages fans to turn their homes into their club’s ‘home end’ for the new campaign. 

The new season looks set to start with more behind closed doors matches, though fans may be allowed into stadiums subject to social distancing measures at some point during 2020/21.

Championship side Norwich City has partnered with sport education organisation BADU Sports, and in-game advertising platform Bidstack in a new three-way partnership aimed at creating new opportunities for young people from underrepresented backgrounds in the UK. 

The alliance will see Bidstack work to support BADU Sports students, providing them with the chance to learn from various teams on both the corporate and performance side of Norwich City. 

Ilkay Gundogan has signed with sport and entertainment talent and commercial management agency KIN Partners.

The agreement will see KIN manage the Manchester City and Germany footballer’s on and off-field interests, including intellectual property development through commercial partnerships, digital strategy, and marketing and communications.

As part of the deal, the player’s uncle and long-standing business advisor, Ilhan Gundogan, will also join KIN Partners in a senior leadership position.

Manchester United have appointed Nick Speakman as Global Head of Social Media.

He founded the social media channel BBC Sporf in 2012, which was rebranded as SPORF in 2016 after an acquisition by agency The Social Chain, where Speakman became Head of Brand. 

A Sport Industry NextGen Leader, Speakman will oversee the Premier League side’s social media channels and strategy, where the club has some 142 million followers across its platforms.

Leeds United have announced that global sports betting brand SBOTOP will become the club’s new Principal Sponsor in what the newly-promoted Premier League club says is the biggest commercial deal in its history.

Leeds United have announced that Clipper Logistics will become the Premier League club’s Official Training Kit Sponsor and Official Logistics Partner as part of a new two-year deal.

The move will see the logo of the Leeds-based logistics company placed on the front of the club’s training kit worn for training sessions, press conferences and warm-up exercises before matches.

Clipper Logistics has been a main sponsor of Leeds for four years, with this latest move expanding the existing partnership.