Recently relegated English club Queen’s Park Rangers have dodged a Financial Fair Play sized bullet after claiming improperly counted losses.
QPR reported a loss of just under 10 million pounds with roughly another 60 million pounds written off in loans. Whether or not the owners were aware that the 60 million written off in loans would count towards the entire total of 2013/14, the entire season’s losses totaled to roughly 70 million pounds.
Normally, even an average professional soccer match will draw thousands of fans. Not the case for a recent match up between two teams in the Colombian League, Atlético Huila and Alianza Petrolera. Incredibly, only 2 fans bought tickets to attend a match in a stadium with a capacity for a 20,000+ person crowd.
So Barcelona got beat out by Athletic Bilbao for the rights to the Spanish Super Cup. More accurately, they get embarrassed. The first game was a 4-0 drubbing that absolutely no one saw coming, and the next was embarrassing for what happened, and what didn’t.
Journalist Rasim Aliyev of Azerbaijan was killed after being beaten by a fan for criticizing Javid Huseynov, also of Azerbaijan.
According to the BBC, Aliyev accused Huseynov of being "immoral" and "ill-bred" in a Facebook post after Huseynov made a crude gesture at a reporter who asked why Huseynov waved a Turkish flag at the supporters of a team from Cyprus. The gesture came following a Europa League qualifier between Gabala FC and Apollon Limassol.
It's good to be Cristiano Ronaldo's friend these days.
Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo's agent, found that out when Ronaldo acted as best man in Mendes's wedding. Ronaldo's gift for the couple: a Greek island.
Despite Greece's recent financial troubles, islands are still pretty pricey, with the cheapest of 12 listed islands for sale in Greece at 3 million Euros.
Lionel Messi has been raked over the coals by the Human Rights Foundation, a non-for-profit organization.
Miguel “El Piojo” Herrera just took the Mexican National Team to a Gold Cup championship win against Jamaica earlier this week. This calls for a celebration right? Well, the win feels a bit hollow if you think about it. Mexico’s run in the tournament was mired in officiating controversy and allegations of corruption. Not only that, but Miguel Herrera reportedly punched a journalist in the neck on the way to his flight at the airport.
Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels had a terrible season in 2014/15, and so did the rest of his team. Good teams have slow starts all of the time, so it was hard to take their slide seriously at first. Then the team was in the relegation zone in week 10, and then dead last all the way into week 19, and it was impossible to call what was happening at Dortmund just a slow start; it was a full blown crisis.
Well, Graham Cummins is going to be famous on the internet now. The Irishman, who plays for St. Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership, did something we at The18 have not seen before.
HOW?! St Johnstone forward Graham Cummins somehow managed to get his eyelid caught in his tracksuit zip! pic.twitter.com/bNj3drY84j
— The Football Café (@thefootballcafe) July 24, 2015
Shirt sponsorships, love them or hate them, are among the biggest sources of income a club receives each season in order to continue paying for their high expenses. Over £200 million will be made across the Premier League from shirt sponsorships alone. Of course a majority of the money comes from the top 6 clubs, who display companies like Chevrolet, Yokohama, Fly Emirates, and Etihad Airways.