English Premier League
Fulham Is Back in the Premier League. Staying? That’s Harder.
LONDON — The thing about Aleksandar Mitrovic is that he is not just a striker, barrel-chested and shaven-headed and keen-eyed. He is not simply a Serbian international, a fairly constant presence for his country for the better part of a decade. Nor is he merely something of a national hero, scorer of the goal that […]
Know More
Inside the Chelsea Sale: Deep Pockets, Private Promises and Side Deals
LONDON — The British government on Wednesday gave its blessing to the purchase of Chelsea F.C., one of European soccer’s blue-ribbon teams, by an American-led investment group after deciding it had sufficient assurances that none of the proceeds from the record sale price — $3.1 billion — would flow to the club’s Russian owner. The […]
Know More
Manchester City Fights Off Atlético Madrid in Champions League
MADRID — Many things happened at the Wanda Metropolitano in the final 10 or 20 minutes, the ones that seemed to stretch on and on, long past the final whistle, until they almost constituted another self-contained bonus game, a separate third installment of a scheduled two-part drama. There was some hair-pulling. There was quite a […]
Know More
Roman Abramovich, Owner of Chelsea FC, Has Assets Frozen By Britain
The future of Chelsea F.C., one of Europe’s leading soccer teams, was thrust into uncertainty on Thursday when the British government froze the assets of the club’s Russian oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich, as part of a wider set of sanctions announced against a group of wealthy Russian businessmen. The government, in announcing its actions against […]
Know More
Chelsea Is for Sale as Pressure on Roman Abramovich Mounts
LONDON — Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch whose vast fortune transformed Chelsea into a global soccer powerhouse, confirmed Wednesday that he is actively seeking to sell the team. He has set a deadline of Friday for interested parties to submit “indicative offers” for the club he has owned for almost two decades, and is said […]
Know More
Fabrizio Romano: Soccer’s Prophet of the Deal
In part, his expanding influence — he has added five million social media followers in the past 18 months alone — can be attributed to his work ethic. When Romano is not submitting transfer stories to The Guardian or Sky Sport, he is uploading them to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, or he is talking […]
Know More
The Premier League’s Wealth Is Influencing Title Races Abroad
That first meeting told Alex Muzio all he needed to know. Not long after he and his business partner, the gambling tycoon Tony Bloom, bought Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, a Belgian soccer team, Muzio sat down with the club’s coach. He wanted to discuss potential recruits. Muzio had never been a soccer player. He had never […]
Know More
In Premier League, Fear and Falsehoods Fill Vaccination Gap
The Premier League contends it has done as much as it reasonably can do to persuade its players to accept the inoculations. Van Tam not only addressed the captains of the league’s clubs but also released a video, highlighting the importance of vaccination and dispelling myths, to reinforce the message. He has visited teams in […]
Know More
N.B.A.’s Adam Silver Says Christmas Games Will Go On
The only N.B.A. team that has reduced crowd sizes is the Toronto Raptors, who, because of restrictions in Ontario, have limited capacity to 50 percent. European sports were facing similar disruptions. In England, where six of last weekend’s 10 Premier League games were postponed after virus outbreaks left teams short of players, league officials continued […]
Know More