Chris Weatherspoon
@cweatherspoon.bsky.social
Football Finance Writer at The Athletic UK | Will write about money for football | Views are not someone else's 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦/𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗦: 📧 cweatherspoon@theathletic.com 🔗 https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/chris-weatherspoon/
It should really go without saying that, just as football wasn't Gianni Infantino's to sell, nor is a World Cup final his to trade in exchange for personal support The fact he even thinks of this as appropriate, alongside everything else, disqualifies him from remaining in post
Bruno Guimarães set to join Arsenal in £75m package. Lyon due £6-7m and £3.75m solidarity goes to former clubs #NUFC player sales in the last 12 months now at £350m+ #NUFC combined player sales in 12 seasons 2013-14 to 2024-25 were £352m
Chris Weatherspoon@cweatherspoon.bsky.social · 3d agoEddie Howe is out. So is Newcastle United's first post-takeover era Big sales dominate but buying shift is stark. £110m on under-21s already. Only two English clubs have ever spent more in one season on that group Numbers, reasons here: @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/748...
Arsenal spent £185m+ in transfer fees last season on players over 24, a single-season mark only topped by Al Hilal in 2023-24 (Neymar, Malcom, Neves, Mitrovic + more) and PSG in 2017-18 (erm, Neymar). Going big on experience again w/Bruno Guimaraes They want to win *now* (again)
Eddie Howe is out. So is Newcastle United's first post-takeover era Big sales dominate but buying shift is stark. £110m on under-21s already. Only two English clubs have ever spent more in one season on that group Numbers, reasons here: @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/748...
Newcastle’s transfer strategy has shifted: What does it say about PIF and where does it leave the club? (Gift Article)
A range of internal and external factors have caused the club's owners to turn off the spending taps on Tyneside
nytimes.com
With four weeks of the window to go, here's how the Premier League's transfer spending looks. £200m down on 2025 (World Cup-impacted) but familiar patterns and a very familiar face at the top. All in today's Transfer DealSheet @theathleticfc.bsky.social FREE 🔗 www.nytimes.com/athletic/748...
Football ended European Super League but blew the reconstruction and got Super League-lite. It cannot blow the moment with FIFA. A president who thought himself omnipotent is weak; shoddy governance in full glare. End cult leadership and a patronage system all too ripe for abuse
With four weeks of the window to go, here's how the Premier League's transfer spending looks. £200m down on 2025 (World Cup-impacted) but familiar patterns and a very familiar face at the top. All in today's Transfer DealSheet @theathleticfc.bsky.social FREE 🔗 www.nytimes.com/athletic/748...
Eddie Howe is out. So is Newcastle United's first post-takeover era Big sales dominate but buying shift is stark. £110m on under-21s already. Only two English clubs have ever spent more in one season on that group Numbers, reasons here: @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/748...
Newcastle’s transfer strategy has shifted: What does it say about PIF and where does it leave the club? (Gift Article)
A range of internal and external factors have caused the club's owners to turn off the spending taps on Tyneside
nytimes.com
Football ended European Super League but blew the reconstruction and got Super League-lite. It cannot blow the moment with FIFA. A president who thought himself omnipotent is weak; shoddy governance in full glare. End cult leadership and a patronage system all too ripe for abuse
JP Morgan Chase gunning for Derby County's record low points total at this rate
Key distinction now clear: FIFA's proposal ties FFE creation to the equity sale. FIFA’s proposal to members is absolute: FFE with an accompanying stake sale, or no FFE at all. In effect: agree to a sale or we won't maximise revenues @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/748...
FIFA insists ‘nobody is selling football’, pushes ahead with consultation plan despite backlash (Gift Article)
It follows European confederation UEFA and Concacaf, the confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean, rejecting the plans.
nytimes.com
Important: FIFA claim one-off $20m available to members, provided by the sell-off, is for "long-term development" projects, but members only have until 19 September to assent So 53 days to cost and plan long-term projects and work out best way to get value from an arbitrary sum
For those keeping score, here's how FIFA's 211 members break down by confederation: • UEFA: 55 ❌ • CAF: 54 🤔 • AFC: 46 😠 • CONCACAF: 35 ❌ • OFC: 11 🤔 • CONMEBOL: 10 🤷♂️
'Inviting private investment to the table hardly points football in the direction of philanthropy; they will want their money back and more. Private capital and global development, which FIFA repeatedly cites itself as an important player in, tend not to be bedfellows.' 👇
Chris Weatherspoon@cweatherspoon.bsky.social · 6d agoFIFA want to set up a new subsidiary, shift the World Cup there...then sell off a chunk of it for billions and give all of it to member associations. But what are they actually proposing? Is it akin to other sports? And...why?! Analysis @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/747...
Hard to take stock when new twists are flying in every hour but football could well be witnessing the real-time defenestration of a FIFA president who less than a fortnight ago thought himself invincible and the mastermind behind "the best show in the world". Delicious hubris
CONCACAF statement especially significant given quite a lot of CONCACAF nations rely on FIFA for a majority of their funding - and have thus largely got in line until now
On BBC 5 Live shortly after, erm, 5 to discuss YET MORE FIFA
How much FIFA needs UEFA's teams is pretty obvious but, to put some numbers to it, performance-based prize money: • 2025 Club World Cup: 12 UEFA teams (out of 32 total) took home 67% of the pot • 2026 men's World Cup: 16 UEFA teams (out of 48 total) took home 57% of the pot
Cape Verde currently favourites for the 2030 World Cup
FIFA want to set up a new subsidiary, shift the World Cup there...then sell off a chunk of it for billions and give all of it to member associations. But what are they actually proposing? Is it akin to other sports? And...why?! Analysis @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/747...
Breaking down FIFA’s stake sale, how it compares to other sports and whether it’s necessary (Gift Article)
The intention is to raise $4.2billion from outside investors, which led to the narrative that FIFA wants to sell (part of) the World Cup
nytimes.com
'Inviting private investment to the table hardly points football in the direction of philanthropy; they will want their money back and more. Private capital and global development, which FIFA repeatedly cites itself as an important player in, tend not to be bedfellows.' 👇
Chris Weatherspoon@cweatherspoon.bsky.social · 6d agoFIFA want to set up a new subsidiary, shift the World Cup there...then sell off a chunk of it for billions and give all of it to member associations. But what are they actually proposing? Is it akin to other sports? And...why?! Analysis @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/747...
FIFA want to set up a new subsidiary, shift the World Cup there...then sell off a chunk of it for billions and give all of it to member associations. But what are they actually proposing? Is it akin to other sports? And...why?! Analysis @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/747...
Breaking down FIFA’s stake sale, how it compares to other sports and whether it’s necessary (Gift Article)
The intention is to raise $4.2billion from outside investors, which led to the narrative that FIFA wants to sell (part of) the World Cup
nytimes.com
I, for one, am shocked that CAF, which in a non-AFCON year derives around a third of its revenue from FIFA already, is the first confederation to make a statement that doesn't condemn all of this
Thing is, FIFA reckon just by hiving out commercial and events operations into a single, focused entity, they can generate enough to pay 211 member associations $4.2bn in 2027-30, $4.6bn in 2031-34 and $5.1bn in 2035-38, so why the need for a one-off equity sale too...
What do you mean this is the perfect time to plug 8,000 words on FIFA's finances?
Chris Weatherspoon@cweatherspoon.bsky.social · 4w agoFIFA is one of sport's richest bodies, the World Cup its crown jewel. Eleven years after corruption nearly toppled it, football's overseer has more money than ever. But where from? And where does it go? The deepest of deep dives: @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/733...
On BBC Radio Scotland talking latest FIFA shenanigans imminently
