Archive March 26, 2025

From this year’s Club World Cup, Manchester City and Chelsea could win up to $97 million in prizes.

The overall prize fund, which will be split between all 32 teams in accordance with various factors, will be $ 775 million, with $ 407 million split between all participating clubs, and $ 368 million given in performance-related terms.

In contrast, Sheffield United earned £109.7 million in prize money last season, compared to the £175.9 million that winners City received last season.

According to a ranking based on sports and business factors, European clubs will earn more for participating than teams from other continents.

The top-ranked European team will receive £29.6 million just for participating, and they will also receive the highest prize of around £97 million for winning all of their group-stage games and then progressing to the tournament.

A team will earn £1.5 million if it wins the group stage, earning £8.8 million for reaching the last 16, £12.2 million for reaching the quarter-finals, £16.33 million for reaching the semi-final, and £31 million for winning the final.

The two Premier League teams that qualified through their most recent Champions League victories could therefore receive the biggest prize money ever given in club football over a seven-game schedule.

The United States will host the expanded Club World Cup on June 15 through July 13.

It used to be a seven-team annual tournament, but 32 clubs will now compete in it once every four years.

Gianni Infantino, president of Fifa, said: “The distribution model of the Fifa Club World Cup epitomizes the pinnacle of club football.

Asia (AFC), Africa (Caf), North and Central America (Concacaf), South America (Conmebol), Oceania (OFC), and Europe (Uefa) will host teams from each of the six international football confederations.

The most of any of the confederations’ 12 places are determined by the clubs’ Champions League performances over the past four seasons.

Only two clubs per nation can qualify, making Liverpool, who won the Champions League in 2022, out of the 2021 champions Chelsea and City, who won the 2023 champions.

Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich are among the players who have a significant influence on the success of this tournament, which has hardly ever been viewed as a global football consciousness.

They have negotiated significant revenue to be a part of it; they should make at least £40 million if they advance from the group stage and can earn up to £97 million if they succeed. That revenue is comparable to the money made from Champions League participation.

However, not all clubs are created equal. The smaller European clubs that have qualified, like RB Salzburg, will only receive around £15 million if they are selected from the group. A similar sum is due to South American clubs like Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Flamengo.

Teams in North America, Asia, Africa, and Auckland City, the only club from Oceania, will receive even less.

The biggest clubs will, of course, argue that their schedules are already stretched and that pre-season revenue is already being squandered, but this tournament seems to be very worthwhile right now.

Chelsea and Manchester City will have more room to maneuver in accordance with profit and sustainability regulations, but they could defy the competition with smaller leagues in Europe and beyond, just as Champions League participation gives those teams a major financial advantage.

Fifa predicted that this tournament will encourage the expansion of the game beyond Europe and raise money for organizations that are not yet wealthy.

England head coach Shaun Wane hopes his 2025 side can finally achieve Test success in glorious technicolour after studying the sepia-tinted tapes of the previous Ashes series victory against Australia.

The late Johnny Whiteley’s Great Britain team, led by Frank Myler, won the final two Tests with a 2-1 victory down under, and you must go back in 1970 to see this kind of television footage.

Wane has quickly turned his attention to creating new history in a well-known old rivalry with the announcement that Mal Meninga’s Kangaroos will face England at the end of the regular season.

According to Wane, “I want to be the coach of the first team to win it for decades,” he said.

“We haven’t won one in a long time; our last victory was in 1970.” Although those games are in black and white, I’ve watched them.

After eight years, England has the opportunity to face off against the world champions by winning the Ashes series this autumn.

The 2017 World Cup final, which Australia won, was the final meeting of that year. The Kangaroos have since won the world title once more, winning it in England in 2022.

Wane continued, describing the opportunity to lead the team as his “coaching highlight,” “The chance to face off against the best in the world is phenomenal.”

Because this wasn’t simple, The RFL and RL Commercial did a fantastic job of getting this done.

It’s so exciting for me to play three Ashes Test matches at fantastic venues. I’ll work hard and ensure that the players are prepared.

Given the facilities on offer and the loyalty shown at previous events, Wane thinks the final game at Headingley will be a “perfect finish,” but he is equally excited about the venues that highlight the ambition shown in marketing this tour.

He continued, “It’s iconic for us,” adding that. I’ve played there, I’ve worked there, I’ve watched games there, and I’ve watched Test matches there.

“I was raised watching matches between Great Britain and Australia and England and Australia.”

England’s struggles against Australia have been difficult to bear, with more work still needed to fix things since that humiliating defeat in 2017.

England had the best chance of competing in that final when Josh Dugan’s ankle-tap on a runaway Kallum Watkins ended the nation’s best chance of winning in dramatic fashion.

Even the “supercoach” Wayne Bennett would become coaches who couldn’t shake the Aussie stranglehold, along with Brian Noble, Mal Reilly, Ellery Hanley, and Eric Ashton.

Wane has a blueprint for aspire to glory, though Wigan and St Helens have recently won the World Club Challenge against NRL opponents and the upper end of the Super League is still strong.

Wane continued, “It is a real test for us.” They have a lot of talented players, they claim. And I’ve watched over the years when we’ve gotten closer to Australia and lost sight of it.

There are some technical differences in how we conduct things that are very different for the NRL players, and that’s going to be our advantage. “You need to go set-for-set like they’re used to in the NRL.

The Premier League has requested an investigation into co-owner Todd Boehly’s involvement with the ticket-reselling website Vivid Seats, according to Chelsea Supporters’ Trust.

The group reiterates a previous complaint that Boehly’s involvement in Vivid Seats as a director and investor, as well as having a 13% stake in Chelsea, is “a clear conflict of interest” and “a breach of trust.”

It also highlights Vivid’s status as an “unauthorised ticketing website” by the Premier League, which allows fans from abroad to purchase tickets unofficially for between £90 and £20,000.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) of the government has also received evidence against CST.

It stated in the letter that “Many CST members have written to us in response to this connection.

Mr. Boehly’s relationship with Vivid Seats, a director and part-owner of Chelsea FC, is completely inappropriate and significantly undermines Chelsea FC’s efforts to combat ticket touting.

The CST has contacted Mr. Boehly directly and given him numerous opportunities to address supporters’ concerns both publicly and privately.

However, neither Mr. Boehly nor his representatives have responded to these inquiries, and tickets are still for sale on Vivid Seats’ website.

According to the official website of Chelsea, “ticket touting is prohibited and any purchases made unofficially will be invalid,” with fans being denied entry to the stadium.

Users in the UK are not permitted to use Vivid, but it is legal to do so abroad. Despite a pop-up disclaimer warning that reads “tickets for the EPL games are not currently available for purchase in your location,” BBC Sport has been able to confirm that the website allows UK-based users to purchase tickets.

BBC Sport has contacted Chelsea, Boehly’s representatives, and Vivid for comment.

The CST letter added that the club’s pledge to stop ticket tampering encouraged it and that it has also been supported by the Football Supporters’ Association. Season ticket holders have received an email outlining a number of actions being taken, but it is not named Vivid Seats or any other ticket resellers.

Stamford Bridge’s “flat” atmosphere was previously highlighted by previous manager Mauricio Pochettino and later refrained from being addressed by current head coach Enzo Maresca.

The British and Irish Lions may negotiate with leading French clubs to allow players to be released early for the Australian tour this summer.

The Top 14 play-offs that clash with the Lions’ itinerary include Blair Kinghorn, Jack Willis, Ben White, Kyle Sinckler, and Jack White.

According to Lions head coach Andy Farrell, who spoke to Rugby Union Weekly, “A team in France might be open to a discussion about letting people go early.”

The Top 14 final, which marks the French rugby domestic season’s climax, takes place on June 28 in Paris.

The Lions’ first game on Australian soil will be against Perth’s Western Force on the same day, on the other side of the world.

Without travel and jet lag, the Top 14 finalist is unlikely to represent the Lions before their match against the Waratahs on July 5, just before Australia’s first Test.

The Lions have precedent in negotiations regarding the club’s early signings in France.

Before they left for Australia, Welsh prop Gethin Jenkins, whose contract with Toulon was about to expire, was given the go-ahead to join Warren Gatland’s Lions.

Owen Farrell returned for his part in Racing 92’s Saturday away victory over Clermont Auvergne after two months out with an injury.

The 33-year-old fly-half, who has 112 England caps and has three seasons with the Lions, may return to action right away after the final round of regular-season Top 14 games on June 7 because Racing are 12th in the table and in a difficult position to earn a play-off spot.

The captain’s appointment wasn’t revealed until shortly before the squad’s announcement on May 8th, according to head coach Farrell, who estimated there could be six candidates for the Lions captaincy.

He said, “The list contains maybe four, five, or six.”

When you narrow it down, “you want to fit this number to fit the schedule, what you need, and which hybrid players can play in different positions,” and then you take into account who the leaders are, how the dynamics of a leadership group are, and how they are going to be themselves and able to be comfortable in and around all that.

Instead of jumping right in, it takes a little bit of a process.

Farrell also confirmed that each member of his coaching team still has the final say in what they do.

Prior to his assistants’ appointment, he earlier on Wednesday revealed Simon Easterby, Richard Wigglesworth, John Dalziel, Andrew Goodman, and John Fogarty.

England and Ireland’s attacking teams are run by Wigglesworth and Goodman, respectively.

Archie Vaughan was born in 2005, when his father, Michael, famously led England to glory in the Ashes, but his legacy still lives on.

Although Vaughan, 19, who is set to start his second full season with Somerset, has a surname etched in cricket history, there are undoubtedly expectations that come with it.

The teenager is composed and modest, determined to improve on a breakout season that saw him bat 33.71 with the bat in the County Championship, take 15 wickets with his off-spin, including two five-wicket hauls, and be named England Under-19s captain in January against South Africa.

Vaughan told BBC Sport, “The pressure of expectation is just outside noise, and it certainly doesn’t come from my dad.”

He has had a significant impact, but what I admire most is how he takes a step back and simply lets me enjoy it, letting my coaches do it. I can’t thank him enough for allowing me to be my own man instead of letting me be myself.

Vaughan is aware of the significance and impact it had on the generations before him, despite the fact that he claims to have not seen any footage of the iconic 2005 series with his father.

The other characters in that series also bear the famous surname. Rocky Flintoff, the son of former all-rounder Andrew, has attracted a lot of praise for his bat-as-against-lancashire and England Lions performances.

At the under-19 level, there has already been a Vaughan-Flintoff reunion, and Vaughan believes it is beneficial to have some well-known cricketing fathers as partners.

He said, “We’ve been playing together since we were kids, and we’ve had a few conversations about it.”

Being only 16 and subject to so much noise and attention, it must be a big challenge for him. Someone else should be in the same boat, which is nice.

Vaughan’s success with the ball was unexpected because he had spent most of his youth playing the bat and scoring against Surrey, who had lost the county championship in September. His best performance came in September when he scored 11-140 against Surrey, who finished third overall.

The England Under-19s’ Youth Test against South Africa, which Vaughan won by 10 wickets, was his opening match of 2025.

Given that he only bowled seam before during the Covid-19 lockdown, he turned to bowling spin out of boredom.

Vaughan remarked, “It definitely caught me by surprise.”

“I’d still probably say I’m a batter, but I’ll continue to work hard, and it’s just about managing my expectations.”

I’ve been batting for as long as I can remember, whereas I haven’t been bowling for very long because I started it improperly in my back garden during lockdown.

Vaughan acknowledges that his family gave him the “great opportunity” to attend Millfield School and pursue his cricketing ambitions, but he is incredibly motivated to make the most of it.

Vaughan is confident in other areas, despite the fact that he is not drawn to comparisons to his father’s batting and captaincy.

He continued, “I’m pretty certain I’m a better off-spinner than him.” And I’m undoubtedly a better fielder.