Fifa announce plans to introduce Biological Passports

Fifa have announced plans to introduce biological passports and have them in place for the 2014 World Cup in Rio, Brazil, following the successful trials at the 2011 and 2012 Club World Cups. Testing on players will commence two months before the World Cup is due to kick-off.  This comes after doping has been put back on the agenda by an increase in offenders being caught.

Dr. Eusebio Fuentes, known for his involvement in doping in cycling recently said “If I would talk, the Spanish football team would bestripped of the 2010 World Cup”. Vincente Del Bosque, Spain Coach said "It is a subject that I prefer to ignore". Football is now in the spotlight, so here we look at some of those caught doping in football.

Frank De Boer

Tested positive for nandralone while at Barcelona but his ban was removed on a successful appeal.

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Marco Borriello

After being given a rare start in the Serie A with AC Milan against Roma, Boriello tested positive for prednisalone and prednisone. In January 07 he was suspended for three months. He later blamed the presence of both drugs on treatment for a sexually transmitted disease.

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Mark Bosnich

In 2002, after relatively a relatively unsuccessful stint at Manchester United, the Australian failed a drugs test after moving to Chelsea the previous season on a free transfer. He was subsequently banned for nine months resulting in Chelsea giving him the boot.

Source: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2007/11/29/MarkBosnich_action_DarrenWalsh.jpg

Lee Bowyer

No stranger to the media spotlight, Lee Bowyer has been the topic of many a conversation in pubs and stadiums all over the world. He has had brawls in nightclubs as well as one with fellow team mate Kieron Dyer while at Newcastle. In 1995, shortly after turning professional, Bowyer and fellow team mate Dean Chandler both tested positive for cannabis. Bowyer was suspended for 8 weeks, dropped from the England U-18s and enlisted in a rehabilitation programme by the Football Association.

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Lee_Bowyer_Arsenal_vs_Birmingham_2010-11.jpg/240px-Lee_Bowyer_Arsenal_vs_Birmingham_2010-11.jpg

Fernando Couto

Couto was one of Portugal’s greatest ever players to represent his country. He has played for many top clubs including Porto and Barcelona. It was in 2001 while playing for Italian outfit Lazio when he failed a doping test and found to have been taking nandralone. He received a nine month worldwide footballing ban, but after serving only four months of his ban he would be allowed play football for Lazio again.

Source: http://www.yotufutbol.com/contenido/europa/portugal/fernando%20couto/fernandocouto3.jpg
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Edgar Davids

In May 2001, the most famous of all glaucoma sufferers Edgar Davids tested positive for an anabolic steroid and was banned by Fifa.

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Rio Ferdinand

After joining Manchester United from fierce rivals Leeds for a record sum of £30million he would miss a drugs test in September 2003. He would live to regret it and was banned from January until September 2004.

Source: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00792/rio_ferdinand_engla_792030c.jpg
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Josep Guardiola

Pep was nearing the end of his career in 2001 when he would be test positive for nandralone while playing for Brescia. He would receive a four month ban but after six years of appealing the decision, he was cleared of all charges and his reputation restored to its fullest.

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Paddy Kenny

In 2008, Paddy Kenny tested positive for ephedrine. It was believed that it was found in his system via cough medicine but the FA would did not believe this story and In 2002 he would be banned for a total of nine months.

Source: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/5/11/1242066737455/Paddy-Kenny.-001.jpg

Diego Maradonna

After testing positive for ephedrine at the World Cup 1994 in the America, Maradonna was suspended immediately and eventually he was sanctioned for 18 months. No stranger to a sanction, Maradonna had previously tested positive for cocaine while playing for Napoli.

Source: http://image3.mouthshut.com/images/ImagesR/2006/7/Diego-Maradona-925008091-1662-1.jpg

Adrian Mutu

The Romanian Mutu, tested positive for cocaine in 2004 while playing for London club Chelsea. He was banned for seven months by the authorities and this would eventually lead to Chelsea sacking Mutu.

Source: http://wallpaperball.com/wp-content/uploads/Adrian-Mutu-Chelsea-Wallpaper-1.jpg

Romario

After a long and illustrious career that saw him become idolised by thousands of people, at the age of 41 it was announced he had tested positive for propecia. It was his defence that the drug was found in anti-baldness medication that he was using at the time.

Source: http://www.allejo.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/romario-tetra.jpg

Hasan Sas

In 1998, after signing for Galatasaray for over $4million, Hasan Sas was found to be doping, using a substance known as Phenylpropanolamine. He was banned by Fifa for six months.

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Jaap Stam

It was after playing for Manchester United, while  playing for Lazio that Stam’s name would be forever tarnished after he tested positive for nandrolone. This happened shortly after Couto was found to be doping in the same year. Stam would receive a five month ban which would be reduced to four after an appeal.

Source: http://www.tabelepilkarskie.com/kursy/players_images/30795_jaap_stam_3.jpg

Kolo Toure

It was in March 2011 when it was revealed that Kolo had failed a drugs test resulting in him being suspended by the club. WADA imposed a six month worldwide ban on the City defender. He has yet to regain a regular pace in the City defence.

Source: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/11/4/1257339719040/Kolo-Toure-001.jpg

Football has a name; BSkyB

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Premier League TV Rights Deals Exceed £5billion

The Premier League has sold the rights to broadcast over 150 live games in over 25 countries from the 2013/14 to the 2016/17 season for a staggering £5billion plus, a huge increase from the £5.2 million paid for the right to broadcast 10 games in 1983 to 1985 . The UK broadcasting rights cost BSkyB and newcomer to the market BT a total of £3.108billion. The new deal is a 70 per cent increase in the value of its domestic live broadcasting rights.

BSkyB came out the clear winner in the UK after strenuous rounds of negotiations and months of strategic planning and spending. In the end they won the rights to broadcast 116 matches per year, securing the rights to five of the seven packages available. It will cost them £6.6million per game, an increase from the £4.7million it’s paying under the current deal, totalling at £760million a year.

Sky chief executive, Jeremy Darroch said:

“This is a good result for ourcustomers and for our business. It means that Sky Sports remains the home ofPremier League football and that viewers will continue to enjoy our live andexclusive coverage until at least 2016. In what was a very competitive tenderprocess, we are pleased to have secured the combination of rights that wewanted, providing certainty for us and our customers. Whilst the cost ishigher, we have capacity for this increase through the combination of excellentwork on cost efficiency across the business and choices over other futurespending. As a result, we remain confident of delivering our financial plans,in line with our expectations, unchanged, in each year of the new deal.” 

BT, who is now anticipated to launch a football channel, secured two of the broadcasting packages for £738million over the three year period. The packages mean that they have won the rights to broadcast 38 games and also have 18 of the 38 first-choice picks. BTs’ entry into the market has ousted current broadcaster ESPN who will no longer broadcast the Premier League from the 2013/14 season onwards.

Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore said:

 “The Barclays Premier League continues to provide excellent football and enthralling drama as we saw last season. The value this drives for our rights-holders is evident and we are extremely pleased that this has been realised for our UK live rights. As ever, the security provided by broadcast revenues will enable our clubs to continue to invest in all aspects of their football activities and plan sustainably for the foreseeable future. This deal allows them to keep delivering what fans want; top quality football in some of world’s best club stadia and an increasing focus on and commitment to areas such as youth development. These are exciting times for both the football and media worlds and we should all be proud of the value both industries contribute to the UK culturally and economically.”

Global Broadcasting

ESPN are not the only major sports broadcaster to fail to renew their broadcasting rights. In America, Fox lost out in their efforts as the free-to-air NBC has secured the exclusive American rights to broadcast live matches for a reported $250million. This is an increase from the $80million Fox paid under the current deal. Fox subsidised up to 80 games to ESPN. 

Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Sports Group said:

“TheBarclays Premier League is the preeminent soccer league in the world, and is onthe cusp of exponential popularity growth here in the US,” ... “NBCU willprovide the broadest programming and promotional commitment that the league hasever experienced here in the United States. The Premier League provides NBCUwith best-in-class content for 10 months of the year across our far-reachingbroadcast, cable and digital platforms. This is a perfect match.”

In Brazil, the broadcasting rights were bought by Fox and ESPN for a reported $50million. This is believed to be up to four times more than the previous deal. Other deals that have concluded range from countries like the Balkans, Mongolia and the Pacific Island’s to Belgium, France and even the rights to broadcast matches on ships and aeroplanes.

Past Deals

The first ever tv deal was for 10 games and was bought by the BBC and ITV for £5.2million for the rights to broadcast the 1983 to 85 season. The next cost considerably less, £1.1million by BBC and ITV for a single season. It didn’t take long for the prices to inflate fast. The rights for the 1988 to 1992 season cost ITV £44million for 21 games. It is in 1992 that the Premier League was established and this is reflected in the huge increase in the price for the broadcasting rights at £190million paid by Sky for 60 games over five years. That’s over £600,000 per game.

This increase in the UK broadcasting rights has been steadily ongoing ever since:

Lenght             Cost                 Broadcaster     Games

1983-85           £5.2million      BBC/ITV        10

1985-86           £1.1million      BBC/ITV        11

1986-88           £6.2million      BBC/ITV        14

1988-92           £44million       ITV                 21

1992-97           £190million     Sky                  60

1997-01           £670million     Sky                  60

2001-04           £1.11billion     Sky                  110

2004-07           £1.706billion   Sky                  138

2007-10           £1.782billion   Sky/Setanta     138

2010-13           £1.782billion   Sky/ESPN       138

2013-16           £3.018billion   Sky/BT            154

How are TV rights sold?

The rights to broadcast a premier league game is a long and arduous process. It takes months of negotiating your way through a series of rounds to buy a series of packages that contain the right to broadcast 23 matches in each package. The packages are labelled and are quite distinguishable by the “the time at which certain matches can be broadcast”.

The money from the broadcasting rights is divided up amongst the clubs at the end of every season after certain cost are deducted, and other money is given to part fund other football authorities such as the PFA, the LMA, the Football Foundation and the Football League. At the end of the 2011/12 season, the money to be divided up amongst the clubs was £1.055billion. This money is split evenly among the clubs meaning every club got £18,764,644. “Domestic cash is split three ways: 50 per cent ‘equal share’, 25 per cent dependent on how many times a club was on TV (facility fees) and 25 per cent dependent on where a club finished in the table (merit payment)”.

Spending measures agreed

Source: http://www.footballtop.com/sites/default/files/photos/championship/barclays.jpg

Premier League clubs agree deal designed to curb wage inflation

The stipulations, coming after nine months of discussion of the deal mean that teams with player costs over £52million can only increase their pay package by £4million this year, £8million in 2014/15 and by £12million in the 2015/16 season. Other stipulations agreed are that clubs can lose no more than £105million over a three year period. Also, any losses must be covered by owners and future funding to the club guaranteed.

Breaching the rules could result in severe penalties; a point’s deduction being amongst the penalties for the worst offenders. If club owners fail to guarantee losses and future funding, they will have to comply with the more scrutinising stipulations. One of those being that the owners must comply with losses of no more than £15million over a three year period.

There are write-offs for clubs who have exceeded the £105million, by showing that if they had not invested in youth development and infrastructure they would not have exceeded the boundary. The measures have been designed to curb wage inflation and force clubs to cut their massive costs in the long term. The top clubs looking to qualify will have to comply with Uefas’ Financial Fair Play rules by next season or face exclusion from European competition.

Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore said of the deal;

"From a fairly low threshold of financial regulation we have had a journey," he said. "This is a leap but an extension of where we were heading anyway. This is a fairly decent leap into the tightening up, particularly the future guarantees." … "A new owner or even anexisting owner with a change in attitude or a change in fortunes can investproportionally a decent amount of money to improve their club," he said."But what they aren't going to be doing is throwing hundreds of millionsat it in a very short period of time. I'm not criticising that; I've beensupportive of them, supportive of what they have done to make it a morecompetitive league."

Former Manchester United and England right-back Gary Neville recently called for all players wages to be made public. Neville argued that the agents influence has become something of concern and that if wages were made public it would reduce the role of agents. He pointed to the banking sector and how it was left un-regulated and the devastation it caused, indicating football could be headed in the same direction.

“Twosteps could be taken to improve transparency. Firstly, publish the wages ofplayers, as they do in the US sports, so there is no mystique about salaries.Secondly, as well as publishing how much a club spend on agents – as theFootball League and Premier League do every year – break down those fees to theindividual agents and their companies. Let’s see which agents and clubs sharean especially close relationship” … “The Government seems to set up an inquiryinto something most days of the week, but football could really do with anindependent inquiry into how agents influence the game. And then come up withsome proposals as to how to regulate their role.”

Clubs Finances

Currently only seven of the league clubs would be under the £52million threshold . Accounts revealed recently showed that Chelsea’s average wage bill per day is £481,468. That is 86 per cent of their income and have had the highest wage bill, £191million over the last few years until Manchester City overtook them with a wage bill of over £200million.

That wage is a whopping 114 per cent of their income, compared to Manchester United’s 46 per cent. Carlos Tevez earns £200,000 a week and Yaya Toure is on £220,000 a week. Manchester City players were taking home an average of £75,000 a week. They are not the only ones paying ludicrous sums of money to their talent. Wayne Rooney earns £8million a season at united while Torres earned £16.7million over 2012, including commercial deals.

Everton’s wage bill reached £63.4million. That’s 75 per cent of the clubs turnover. This was an increase of over £5million being payed out to talent in the space of a year, up from £58million. Manchester United’s wage bill is £160million and 90 per cent of Aston Villas income is spent on talent.

In the 2010/11 season, the wages being paid to players stood at £1.6billion. The wages to revenue ratio now stands at 70 per cent. On average, every Premier League player earns £21,000 a week excluding bonuses and sponsorship deals. This adds up to over £1million per year, per player.

Sports sponsorship expert and Director of brandRapport, Nigel Currie said:

“Even relatively ­unknown players, ­playing for teams at the wrong endof the table, can earn ­between £200,000-£300,000 a year” … “But the great ­advantagethe ­Premier League has over these other major events is that it is playedevery week — for nine months of the year. Most first team players in thePremier League could typically ­expect to earn £200,000-£300,000-a-year inendorsements — taking the average gross pay for the majority of Premier Leagueplayers towards the £2m-a-year mark, including bonuses and appearance fees.Premier League pay levels reflect the fact that the league has ­become one ofthe few truly global sports brands, alongside the Olympics and the World Cup.” 

Premier League clubs are making serious losses despite announcements of record income of over £2billion to the Premier League. The losses for league clubs was £361million last year. Manchester City accounted for £197million of this although it was a significant shift from the £350million plus losses from the season before.

Owners like Roman Abramovich of Chelsea and Sheik Mansour of Manchester City have invested over £1billion into their respective clubs. Abramovich has done so since his arrival at the club and |Mansour since arriving in 2008. With such amounts invested, these clubs still produce massive losses. Chelsea has only recently announced that they held a profit at the end of the financial year under the Abramovich era for the first time last year. Much of this was down to them winning the Champions League and a deal with BSkyB falling through leading to them being recuperated money.