Haaland nets win for Premier League | Invesloan.com

As the UK government wrestles with the difficult question of how to generate economic growth, could football provide a helping hand? Yesterday, a new master plan for what could be the largest sport-driven regeneration project in the UK since the London Olympics was unveiled by a task force weighing up whether to replace or revamp Manchester United’s famed stadium.

Old Trafford is just one of several potential football-led projects that could soon be regenerating unloved corners of a number of big English cities. Saudi-owned Newcastle United may choose to build a new stadium that could be part of a broader investment plan, while Birmingham City’s US backers have acquired 60 acres of land around the League One club’s home ground with a view to transforming that part of the city.

United’s crosstown rivals have shown how a stadium can be used as a catalyst for major infrastructure investments, while Tottenham Hotspur have proved that a state of the art venue can transform the long-term financial picture at a big club. The tricky part is paying for the building work.

This week we have even more football for you, as we look at the impact of a huge new contract for Erling Haaland, and the FT’s São Paulo correspondent Michael Pooler asks if Brazilian football can keep up the momentum in attracting foreign capital. Do read on — Josh Noble, sports editor

Haaland’s bumper deal: a win for English football

Manchester City and the Premier League are not the best of friends these days. The long-running legal battle between the competition organiser and its most dominant club is set to come to a head in the coming weeks, when a verdict on rule breaking charges is due to be delivered.

But this week City and the league both have reason to raise a glass after Erling Haaland committed his long-term future to the reigning English champions. His new 10-year contract — almost certainly the most lucrative in the history of European football — will keep him in east Manchester until 2034, when the Norwegian forward will be in his mid-30s.

The career of 36-year old Polish forward Robert Lewandowski — now at Barcelona and current top scorer in La Liga — suggests age need not be barrier to elite success for a top centre forward.

Haaland’s decision to settle down at City is clearly great news for the club, but it’s also a big win for English football, and should help allay lingering fears that the Premier League is losing its appeal for global superstars.

Lionel Messi and Neymar never made it to England, Cristiano Ronaldo spent his prime years in Spain, while Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior all made a beeline for Real Madrid as soon as the chance arose. Mo Salah has just months left on his contract at Liverpool, while even England captain Harry Kane quit the Premier League for pastures new.

There’s an argument to be made that the Premier League simply doesn’t need superstars as much as rival leagues because its brand is so strong, its financial dominance so absolute, and its competition so fierce.

But Haaland is without doubt one of a small (and admittedly hard to define) group of Premier League players with true global clout. In an age where millions of fans follow players rather than clubs, that matters more than ever before.

Haaland is already a record breaker on the pitch, bagging 111 goals in just 126 appearances for City. But for English football as a whole, his marketing prowess — as shown by his Beats campaign appearance with LeBron James — is something even rival club executives can celebrate.

Business of Football Summit

The FT’s Business of Football Summit returns next month for its seventh edition to explore new models for growth with leading executives from Chelsea FC, La Liga, FC Barcelona, Juventus and many more.

As a Scoreboard subscriber, register for your complementary digital pass here to watch the event online on 26-27 February, or register here to join us in-person at The Peninsula Hotel in London on 27 February.

A bet on Brazilian football pays off

After Brazilian football team Botafogo clinched a sensational league and cup double at the end of last season, its owner John Textor didn’t waste an opportunity to troll his naysayers. 

On social media the US businessman and serial soccer investor posted a photo of himself kissing the Copa Libertadores trophy, alongside a WhatsApp message from a detractor.

“You don’t understand anything in football and [sic] waste of time to talk to you. And you will lose everywhere you go,” it read. 

Tagged in the screenshot was Paris Saint-Germain, whose Qatari president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has clashed with Textor, who is also the owner of Olympique Lyonnais in France and no stranger to public dust-ups. 

Yet Botafogo’s success, less than three years since being rescued from financial ruin by its American benefactor, was more than just a personal triumph for Textor. It also provided a showcase for the wave of recent investments into Brazilian football, which has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in funding promises over the past few years.

Despite an abundance of talent and a famous national passion for the sport, many of the country’s clubs — traditionally run as non-profit associations controlled by fans — have often fallen prey to financial mismanagement and struggled off the pitch. 

The drive to reform the business side of the game was catalysed by a 2021 law encouraging teams to become limited companies. It helped draw in the likes of Manchester City proprietor City Football Group, which purchased Esporte Clube Bahia in 2023 and pledged to invest R$1bn. 

Textor told the FT he believes Botafogo will serve as an inspiration for others. Since the takeover it has increased revenues fivefold and reduced debt levels. The team brought home its first ever Libertadores — the South American version of the Champions League — in November, which also secured the Rio-based side a spot in the new Club World Cup this summer. The future looks bright.

But Brazil may soon have increased competition in the battle to win over international investors.

In neighbouring Argentina, free-market libertarian president Javier Milei is pushing for a similar “privatisation” of clubs. And a group of investors this week agreed to buy Colombian team Club Deportivo Seguros La Equidad. Both countries share a key attribute that has helped draw foreign capital to Brazil — a rich source of footballing talent.

Textor — and Brazilian football in general — have benefited from early mover advantage. But others in the region are on the move.

Highlights

• LIV Golf scored a major breakthrough this week by agreeing a multiyear broadcast deal with Fox Sports. The agreement, which came a day after the Saudi-backed competition announced Scott O’Neill as new CEO, brings LIV to US mainstream sports TV for the first time.

• Kay Cossington, former technical director at the English Football Association, has joined US private equity firm Sixth Street as head of women’s football. She has also been named as CEO of Bay Collective, a new multiclub network focused on the women’s game backed by Sixth Street.

• Investors are being sounded out to join a $5bn plan to create a new international basketball league, Bloomberg reported this week.

• Barcelona has moved to ease the strain on their finances by selling €100mn worth of 30-year VIP season tickets at the club’s revamped Camp Nou.

Final Whistle

Everybody in football loves a giant killing in the cup — unless your team is on the wrong end of one — and few come bigger than this.

On Wednesday evening Textor’s Olympique Lyonnais travelled just outside the club’s home city to fifth tier side FC Bourgoin-Jallieu for a Coupe de France fixture. The game between an amateur side and one of the top teams in French football went to penalties after a 2-2 draw. Here’s what happened next.