Vesper

https://www.vipleague.pm/fa-cup/brighton-hove-albion-vs-nottingham-forest-1-live-streaming https://www.vipleague.pm/fa-cup/brighton-hove-albion-vs-nottingham-forest-2-live-streaming https://redditsoccerstreams.org/event/brighton-hove-albion-nottingham-forest/1509529 https://soccer-100.com/event/eng-fa/nottm-forest-vs-brighton-live-soccer-stats/733960

Geovany Quenda is going places. Fast. ‘I see similarities with Lamine Yamal’ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6235533/2025/03/28/geovany-quenda-Chelsea-signing-sporting-lisbon-profile/ https://archive.ph/sDHqP Training was already starting when Geovany Quenda turned up. He was new to the neighbourhood — new to the country, in fact — and he wanted to play some football. He approached the coaches and asked if he could join in. In normal circumstances, they would have let him. SF Damaiense, based in the Lisbon suburb of Amadora, is a community club. Turning away bright-eyed local kids is not really the done thing. On this occasion, though, there was a small issue. Quenda, who had just turned nine, didn’t have any kit. “He was wearing jeans and trainers — social clothes,” recalls Edmundo Silva, Damaiense’s president. “He clearly had the football bug and was desperate to play, but the coaches said no.” Quenda, disappointed, might just have walked home. Instead, he hung around. He found a spare ball and started kicking it around by himself. He surely knew what he was doing, just as you surely know where this is going. “The coaches saw his touch, his relationship with the ball,” says Silva. “It wasn’t typical for a kid of that age. They decided to make an exception and let him train. They were curious to see more. And he was astonishing.” Curiosity and astonishment: these have been recurring themes in Quenda’s journey to this point. It is not a long story — he is only 17, barely halfway through his breakout season at Sporting CP — but it has moved quickly, hurtling along with the same momentum that defines Quenda’s wing play. Chelsea may have won the race to sign him for £40million ($51.8m) — he will move to Stamford Bridge in 2026 — but excitement about his potential goes beyond club affiliations. In Portugal, there is a growing conviction that Quenda will be a genuine global star, not to mention a fixture of the national team for years to come. “A good news story for Portuguese football,” Portugal coach Roberto Martinez called him in November. Bernardo Silva, one of the stalwarts of Martinez’s side, was even more effusive: “He might steal my place. It’s impressive how good he is at that age.” Edmundo Silva recognises that sentiment. “He had so much quality in his left foot, even back then,” he says. “After three or four training sessions, we all agreed that the boy was special.” Age, as they say, is just a number. And denim is a just a material. Quenda was born in Guinea-Bissau, west Africa. He moved to Lisbon in 2016, joining his father, who had relocated there for work a couple of years prior. One of his early mentors in Portugal was Basaula Lemba, a former international footballer for Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). Lemba had spent much of his club career in Portugal and was working as youth coordinator at Damaiense when Quenda arrived. “He had never played organised football, but he was playing passes with both feet, making it look easy,” Lemba told Portuguese website ZeroZero in 2023. “He was the guy starting every attack. He had extraordinary potential.” Off the field, Quenda was not the most ebullient. “He was still getting settled into a new life, finding new friends,” explains Silva, the Damaiense president. “He was observant, not a big talker, but very calm and respectful. And he quickly demonstrated that he was a very attentive, smart kid.” Quenda as a child with former Sporting CP player Yannick Djalo (Photo courtesy of Geovany Quenda) Quenda’s talent was so obvious that Silva knew it would be tough to hang onto him for long. He told the youth coaches to hold off on using the youngster in tournaments so scouts from bigger clubs wouldn’t catch sight of him before he was fully registered at Damaiense. It was a smart plan. It didn’t work. “The coaches couldn’t resist playing him,” says Silva. “They took him to a competition in another neighbourhood. After five minutes of the first match, I was getting calls from the two big Lisbon clubs asking me where we had unearthed this diamond.” Silva resisted. “We didn’t want to give him up immediately,” he says. “Geovany was still adapting to a new environment, establishing friendships. Damaiense is a small club, but it has a strong social role in our community. We succeeded in keeping him for a year. It was a fight at times, but it was important for him to be happy.” His next destination was Benfica. He entered their academy in 2017, impressing his new coaches with his dribbling ability and maturity. “He wasn’t scared and he didn’t feel pressure,” David Sousa, who managed him at under-11 level, told Portuguese newspaper Record. “That helped him a lot. He would make difficult things look easy.” After two seasons at Benfica, there was a rift. Quenda and his family expected an offer of a place in the club’s on-site boarding house. When it did not materialise, he left, joining rivals Sporting. Tiago Teixeira arrived at Sporting in summer 2022. He became assistant coach of the under-23 side, later taking up the same role with the senior team. He remembers the buzz about Quenda. “Everyone was talking about Geovany,” Teixeira tells The Athletic. A year later, Teixeira got a closer look at what the fuss was about. Quenda was only 16 when he moved up to under-23 level, but you would never have known it. “He had a fantastic season for us,” says Teixeira. “He found it easy to adapt.” Teixeira’s impressions are recent enough that he quickly abandons the past tense. The player Quenda was in 2023 and 2024 is the player he is today, give or take a little refinement. “He is a very, very good dribbler,” Teixeira says. “He’s impressive physically and can beat his man on the outside or on the inside.” Case in point: his goal for Portugal Under-17s against Morocco in September 2023, a ludicrous solo effort that left a trail of dazed defenders scratching their heads and wondering what the hell had just happened. Teixeira, though, is at pains to point out that Quenda has plenty more arrows in his quiver. “He’s a very intense player, very committed,” he says. “But I think his greatest strengths are his decision-making and his ability to play the final ball. He reads the game brilliantly.” It is telling that the players Quenda looked up to in his early teens — Franco Cervi at Benfica, Marcus Edwards at Sporting — were not hug-the-touchline wingers, but tricksy creators. Many of his assists at youth level and for Sporting’s B team came from through balls rather than crosses. He is currently playing on the left flank for Sporting, but it is not a given that he will end up there. “He has a great capacity to learn new positions,” says Teixeira. “Sometimes with the under-23s, he was close to being a No 10. He can operate in small spaces, be that out wide or in central areas. He is very switched on defensively, so he really contributes out of possession, too. In the long term, I think he will end up playing through the middle.” It seems fair to say that Quenda’s career would not have progressed quite this quickly were it not for Ruben Amorim. It was the latter’s willingness to promote youth players that propelled the teenager into Sporting’s first team last summer. “We see him as a big project,” Amorim said in March 2024. “We will take it slowly and look at the big picture.” Quenda has impressed since breaking into Sporting’s first team (Filipe Amorim/AFP via Getty Images) Quenda quickly put paid to the careful approach. Playing slightly out of position at right wing-back, he found the net in the Portuguese Super Cup against Porto — a goal that made him Sporting’s youngest-ever scorer — and never left the side thereafter. “He got an opportunity and didn’t give me any way to leave him out,” Amorim said after watching Quenda net his first league goal against Famalicao in October. “No reason for doubt, nothing. I think he’s going to be a great player.” It is to Quenda’s credit that his level did not dip when Amorim departed to join Manchester United in November. He has arguably been even more effective under the new coach, Rui Borges; witness the superb assists against Vitoria Guimaraes and Porto this year. Borges, clearly, likes Quenda a lot — and not just the cutting edge he provides. “Individual quality isn’t enough and he understands that, understands that he has to be committed,” Borges said after a recent victory. “He’s a kid who likes to learn.” Quenda in action against Dortmund in the Champions League (Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images) His team-mates, meanwhile, increasingly look to him for inspiration. “He’s an enormous talent,” Sporting captain Morten Hjulmand told Record last week. “What stands out is the way he carries the ball. It’s hard to stop him because he changes direction at great speed. He’s really hard to mark.” Like any 17-year-old, Quenda is not a perfect player. Amorim once expressed exasperation at his finishing, which could generously be characterised as scattershot. “He is often more interested in setting others up than shooting himself,” says Teixeira. “I think he could also be more aggressive in one-on-one situations. He could go at his marker more, be a bit more incisive and ambitious, maybe alternate more between going left and right.” The extra year in Lisbon should work to his advantage. He is still living at the Sporting academy, still in school. There are plans for extra English lessons to soften his landing when he moves to London in 15 months’ time. Teixeira, for one, doesn’t believe he will have any problem adapting to a new league. Of greater concern will be the precise circumstances he encounters at his new club. It is not just that Chelsea already have a huge cadre of wingers and creative midfielders; it is also that two more players with very similar profiles to Quenda — Kendry Paez and Willian Estevao — are also due to arrive before him. Paez and Estevao are both left-footed attackers who can play wide or centrally. Both will arrive with significant fanfare. Both are still teenagers. You could easily see Chelsea signing a couple more wonderkids before 2026, too. Quenda will join Chelsea in 2026 (Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images) What’s the plan here? Not for Chelsea, whose modus operandi under Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly at least has the benefit of being transparent, but for Quenda? There is a lot to be said for backing yourself, but the route to regular first-team starts at Stamford Bridge does look unusually congested. There is a danger that at least one of the new guys is going to go the way of Angelo Gabriel, the much-hyped Brazilian winger who was flogged to Al-Nassr — still, somehow, at a profit — in September after precisely zero appearances in Chelsea blue. You can understand, perhaps, why some saw Manchester United — and a reunion with the coach who first took a chance on him — as a better fit. “The Amorim factor could have been a big help,” Sousa, Quenda’s old coach at Benfica told Record. “Maybe it would have been easier for him to adapt.” It is Quenda’s task — and Chelsea’s — to make those hypotheticals irrelevant. The talent, clearly, is there. And for all that we must exercise caution when we talk up 17-year-olds, for all that that it is our duty to highlight the possible pitfalls, to point out that players rarely follow a linear development path, there is a degree of confidence about Quenda’s ability to surf the waves. “I see similarities with Lamine Yamal,” says Teixeira. “Both of them started playing senior football at 16, 17. Yamal is already playing for Spain but Quenda has just been called up by Portugal for the first time and I’m certain he’s going to be a regular in the national team for years to come, and a star of the Champions League. “He will get better with age and keep growing in confidence. He has everything he needs.”

same thing has been said since 2023

Palace is heading to a 7th consecutive away clean sheet

nil 3 Nketiah

horrible defence by Fulham

nil 2 Sarr

nil 1 Palace Eze

most diverse (non elite teams) FA Cup quaterfinals field post WWII

https://www.vipleague.pm/fa-cup/fulham-vs-crystal-palace-1-live-streaming https://www.vipleague.pm/fa-cup/fulham-vs-crystal-palace-2-live-streaming https://www.vipleague.pm/fa-cup/fulham-vs-crystal-palace-3-live-streaming https://redditsoccerstreams.org/event/fulham-crystal-palace/1509527 https://soccer-100.com/event/eng-fa/c-palace-vs-fulham-live-soccer-stats/733958

Andrey Santos looked great again as did most of Strasbourg (after a poor first half where Lyon dominated play, they flipped the switch on in the 2nd half) they tore apart Lyon for the most part (was 4 1 until a 96th minute pen) extended highlights https://hoofoo42r.videohatkora.com/embed/09MW36butjfS3

cheesy easy in water lolol

17-year-old winger is currently training with Chelsea ahead of future Strasbourg move https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/17-year-old-winger-is-currently-training-with-Chelsea-ahead-of-future-strasbourg-move/ Chelsea currently have a youngster training with them even though he’s due to sign for Strasbourg in 2026. Chelsea and Strasbourg both fall under the BlueCo ownership, so activity between the two sister clubs isn’t uncommon. In the current 2024/25 season, Chelsea loanees Andrey Santos and Djordje Petrovic are both enjoying incredible campaigns in the French Ligue 1 with Strasbourg. Santos has been earmarked for Chelsea’s squad going into next season because of his impressive midfield displays. As for goalkeeper Petrovic, he’s enjoying a really strong campaign in net in France. However, Jody Morris doubts Petrovic will make it at Chelsea. Yaya Dieme training with Chelsea ahead of Strasbourg move in 2026 According to The Daily Mail, Chelsea have teenage winger Yaya Dieme training with them at Cobham right now. Apparently, the 17-year-old prospect hails from the Diambars football academy set up by Patrick Vieira in 2003. The report says that Dieme is expected to sign for Strasbourg, moving to France in January 2026. In the meantime, the exciting youngster is currently training in England with sister club Chelsea. Back in 2023, Dieme was part of the Senegal side that won the Under-17 African Cup of Nations. Journalist Fabrizio Romano reported back in January that Strasbourg agreed the Dieme transfer with a potential future view to joining Chelsea further down the line. However, the forward doesn’t turn 18 until October, so his deal is on standby until next January. Strasbourg becoming a great alternative for Chelsea players As Strasbourg hunt down European qualification this year, it’s becoming a more attractive home for Chelsea loanees to go and develop. Position Club Matches played Points 1st Paris Saint-Germain 26 68 2nd Marseille 26 49 3rd Monaco 26 47 4th Nice 26 47 5th Lyon 26 45 6th Lille 26 44 7th Strasbourg 26 43 Current Ligue 1 standings in the 2024/25 season Chelsea fans predict big things for Santos because of his outstanding performances at Strasbourg, scoring nine goals in 26 appearances across all competitions this term. From a Chelsea perspective, they may have a perfect process to help build themselves future stars. While Dieme is expected to join Strasbourg next year, perhaps he’s someone that Blues supporters should keep an eye out on.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham set for 13-day transfer headstart as Premier League confirm rule change https://www.londonworld.com/sport/football/arsenal/arsenal-Chelsea-tottenham-premier-league-transfer-headstart-5054733 The Premier League has altered the summer transfer window to help clubs taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup. Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Premier League rivals will all be able to get a head start on transfer dealings this summer with the Premier League giving the green light to an earlier A Premier League statement on Thursday read: “Premier League clubs have today agreed the dates for the Summer 2025 Transfer Window.opening of the window. The Premier League transfer window ran from June 14 to August 30 last summer. The period when top flight clubs can complete deals will now take place over two separate periods this summer due to the FIFA Club World Cup. That change has been made to benefit Chelsea and Manchester City ahead of the tournament but will also see the opportunity to complete signings as early as June 1 extended to all Premier League clubs. When does the summer transfer window open for Premier League clubs? The summer transfer window for Premier League clubs will now be open in two separate periods. The first is between Sunday, June 1 and Tuesday, June 10. The second is between Monday, June 16 and Monday, September 1. “The window will open early, between Sunday 1 June and Tuesday 10 June, due to an exceptional registration period relating to the FIFA Club World Cup. It will then reopen on Monday 16 June and close on Monday 1 September.” The first fixtures of the Premier League season will kick off on the weekend of August 16. That means that the window will remain open and allow clubs to complete business during the early rounds of top flight fixtures, as was the case this season. How the Club World Cup has changed the transfer window The transfer window has changed this summer in order to allow Premier League clubs taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup to sign players ahead of the competition. The tournament takes place between June 14 and July 13 in the United States. The FIFA Council had already approved the interim window in October. A FIFA statement explained: "The objective is to encourage clubs and players whose contracts are expiring to find an appropriate solution to facilitate the players' participation." In the interests of fairness, the governing body has since extended the early transfer window period to be applicable for all Premier League clubs and not simply those involved in the Club World Cup. Which Premier League clubs are involved in the Club World Cup? Chelsea and Manchester City are the only two Premier League clubs competing at the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States this summer. Places in the tournament are decided by European teams’ performance in the Champions League over the past four seasons.Chelsea won the Champions League in 2021 and Manchester City lifted the trophy in 2023, which has helped them qualify for the Club World Cup. Real Madrid, who won the Champions League in 2024 and 2022, have also qualified. The rest of the nine places available for European teams were given out through a Uefa ranking system. Only two clubs from any one nation are permitted to enter into the Club World Cup, which is why teams including Liverpool and Arsenal were not considered with Chelsea and Manchester City already ushered in. The FIFA Club World Cup groups are as below: Group A: Palmeiras, FC Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami Group B: Paris St-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle Sounders Group 😄 Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica Group 😧 Flamengo, Esperance Sportive de Tunisie, Chelsea, Club Leon Group E: River Plate, Urawa Red Diamonds, Monterrey, Inter Milan Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg In other news, Arsenal have been handed an Alexander Isak transfer opportunity amid Newcastle United contract claim.

speaking of Real Madrid and frees (if this is true) Liverpool Exclusive: ‘Trent Alexander-Arnold has already signed pre-contract’ https://www.footballinsider247.com/liverpool-exclusive-trent-alexander-arnold-has-already-signed-pre-contract/ Trent Alexander-Arnold has already signed a pre-contract agreement to leave Liverpool and join Real Madrid when his contract expires this summer. Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who remains well-connected within the game, explained sources in Madrid are “100 per cent” convinced the deal has been agreed. The 26-year-old has been available for talks over a pre-contract agreement since January, and Madrid appear to have swooped quickly to agree terms behind the scenes. Trent Alexander-Arnold set to join Real Madrid after pre-contract agreement Former Man United chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider in November that Liverpool were already aware of Alexander-Arnold’s decision. Now, Robinson has claimed that an agreement was reached during the January window but kept under wraps, and the deal for Alexander-Arnold to join Real Madrid is done. “The information I have is: Trent Alexander-Arnold is going to Madrid,” he told Football Insider. “I spent time in Madrid when we covered the Real Madrid v Man City game, and speaking to sources, they’re convinced Trent signed a pre-contract in January. “It hasn’t been made public knowledge yet, but the word in Madrid is they are 100 per cent sure that he has signed a deal. “Out of the three of them [Salah, Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnodl], that one looks like it’s a done deal. “I don’t think how Liverpool perform between now and the end of the season will have any baring on the decisions the players make.“ Speculation over the future of Alexander-Arnold has persisted throughout the season, alongside Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk as all three remain out of contract. Football Insider first revealed on 1 November that Madrid were making advances towards Alexander-Arnold ahead of the January window with a pre-contract deal in mind. Now, Robinson has explained that Alexander-Arnold is the one out of the three star players edging towards an exit that is already a “done deal”.

Liverpool bombshell: ‘Virgil van Dijk to Real Madrid is a dead certainty’ https://www.footballinsider247.com/liverpool-bombshell-virgil-van-dijk-to-real-madrid-is-a-dead-certainty/ Dean Huijsen will develop into a world-class player over time at Real Madrid if they win the race to sign the Bournemouth centre-back – but Virgil van DIjk could beat him to the Spanish capital. That’s according to former Manchester United and Blackburn chief scout Mick Brown, who remains well-connected in the game, and exclusively told Football Insider that Madrid are well in the hunt to sign Huijsen. Huijsen’s form for Andoni Iraola’s resurgent Bournemouth side this season has attracted attention from a number of European clubs, with the recent Spain debutant adapting seamlessly to the Premier League. But it is the prospect of Van Dijk following Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real that will fill Liverpool fans with dread. It has emerged that the right-back is on the verge of signing for the Spanish giants and his superstar teammate could follow. Meanwhile, the Cherries currently sit 10th in the table albeit with just a four-point gap to the Champions League places, and Huijsen is just one of several Bournemouth players touted with a move this coming summer. Real Madrid weighing up Dean Huijsen with Van Dijk a ‘dead certainty’ It’s no secret that Los Blancos are on the hunt for central defenders this summer, and Madrid see Huijsen – whose Bournemouth contract includes a £50million release clause – as a player within their reach. However, with experienced centre-backs at even more of a premium, Carlo Ancelotti’s side could raid the Premier League champions-in-waiting, Liverpool, to sign their captain Virgil van Dijk on a free transfer. Brown, who has a wealth of experience in top-level player recruitment after over a decade at Man United during their most successful period, believes Madrid could prioritise Van Dijk’s signing over Huijsen’s. “I like him, I think he can become a top-class player”, Brown told Football Insider. “He covers the ground like a gazelle, he’s light on his feet. He’s resilient, he can use the ball well – I think he’s got all the ingredients of being a top-class player. “Where do [Real Madrid] go and replenish their centre-half positions? One dead certainty is Virgil van Dijk as I’ve said many times. I never see it mentioned, but I would be surprised if that hasn’t happened.” “[Huijsen] is a young centre-half they could take, and make into the type of player they want, but they’re going to need a centre-half at the start of next season. “Van Dijk is a ready-made choice, if that was their choice. This lad [Huijsen] is one of those that you’d take, and you’d say; ‘I’m backing him to move up the ladder’.” Dean Huijsen deal too good to turn down for Real Madrid Though the signings of Van Dijk and Huijsen would serve two different purposes at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid may be confident that they can potentially get deals for both over the line. Huijsen’s relatively low release clause will undoubtedly attract almost every side in Europe capable of paying a £50m fee, while Van Dijk’s contract heading for expiry could soon make him a free agent. With Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba both now 32 and Madrid having struggled at centre-back for some time, Huijsen and Van Dijk could form the keystone of a new-look defence for the coming season.

That is only £66.6m that means we would take a £40.2m loss on him (we paid £106.8m) Adjusted for the pound sterling's inflation since January 2023 until now, it would be closing in on a £47-48m loss, and if the sale happens 4 or 5 months from now, with the pound further losing value, we could be talking close to a 50m quid loss.

Enzo Fernández has reportedly rejected Atlético Madrid. Several players tried to convince him to join the club during this break, but he is determined to stay at Chelsea. He likes London, yes, but all options are open. For now, Atleti isn't one of them.

SO many (even Romano now, ffs) are now pushing (many make the source hard to find) Fichajes bullshit rumour mongering. I am finding those shitbags at the core of 2/3rds to 3/4ers or so of the Chelsea 'transfer' stories. Caveat emptor!

Boehly on Chelsea FC Ownership Struggles, Possible Cricket Venture

Todd Boehly now says he could sell Chelsea for a profit amid twist in £2.5bn Clearlake takeover row https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/news/todd-boehly-now-says-he-could-sell-Chelsea-for-a-profit-amid-twist-in-2-5bn-clearlake-takeover-row/ Ask anyone in sports business about Chelsea’ Todd Boehly and they’ll tell you he is a visionary who can see around corners and is a hawk when it comes to smart investments. It’s a characterisation that is oceans apart from how the private equity titan is portrayed in the British press, where he is seen as the bumbling, bombastic American bulldog with more money than sense. The truth is somewhere between the two extremes. Todd Boehly’s record at Chelsea has been far from flattering but you don’t get where he has without a potent mix of ruthlessness, genius and humility. Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images As far as billionaires go, Boehly is pretty self-made. He is from a relatively affluent background, yes, but now presides over a highly diversified empire of sports, insurance and tech assets worth £6.5bn. That includes his 13 per cent stake in Chelsea, who he bought in a consortium with Clearlake Capital in the summer of 2022 in a deal worth – the headlines said – £4.25bn. In reality, the transaction with Roman Abramovich – or the representatives handling the sale after his assets were frozen by the UK government – was worth far less than that. Chelsea ownership diagram Credit: Adam Williams/GRV Media/The Chelsea Chronicle Incidentally, the proceeds from that sale, which were earmarked for humanitarian causes, are still frozen in a UK escrow account to this day. At £4.25bn, the takeover would have been the most expensive in sports history at the time, but the value quoted in the press was a fugazi. £1.75bn of that figure was ringfenced for investment in the Blues and did not change hands in the deal, which saw Boehly’s fellow private equity titans Behdad Eghbali and Mark Walter buy into the club too. How Chelsea’s owners rank among football’s richest Club owner Rank in top 500 richest people Net worth Club(s) Bernard Arnault 4 $189B Paris FC Mark Mateschitz 80 $23.4B Red Bull clubs Stan Kroenke 85 $22.8B Arsenal, Colorado Rapids Philip Anschutz 86 $22.8B Los Angeles Galaxy David Tepper 87 $22.4B Charlotte FC Francois Pinault 90 $22.1B Stade Rennais Dietmar Hopp 112 $18.4B 1899 Hoffenheim Jim Ratcliffe 200 $12.4B Man United, Nice, Lausanne Hansjoerg Wyss 218 $11.9B Chelsea, Strasbourg Josh Harris 224 $11.7B Crystal Palace Simon Reuben 227 $11.5B Newcastle United David Reuben 228 $11.5B Newcastle United Dmitry Rybolovlev 246 $11.1B AS Monaco Mark Walter 252 $10.9B Chelsea, Strasbourg Dan Friedkin 253 $10.9B AS Roma, AS Cannes, Everton Shahid Khan 307 $9.33B Fulham Nassef Sawiris 324 $8.95B Aston Villa, Vitoria Daniel Kretinsky 402 $7.69B West Ham, Sparta Prague Joe Lewis 405 $7.66B Tottenham Todd Boehly 426 $7.28B Chelsea FC, Strasbourg Richest private owners in football, Sourced from Bloomberg Billionaires Index A fair whack of that cash has been injected into Chelsea via equity to cover operating expense and the gargantuan, £1bn recruitment drive that the new owners have sanctioned over the last three years. Chelsea have also taken out £500m worth of debt with Ares, one of the world’s biggest investment firms who, by extension, effectively have a place in the club’s corporate structure despite owning no shares. The club also has almost £500m worth of transfer debt and – in the story of the week – will at some point need possible three or four times that to build a new stadium or expand Stamford Bridge. Chelsea matchday income and planned stadium capacity infographic Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images In short, Chelsea have spent heavily and have more or less committed to spending even more heavily in the future, with all of the anxiety in terms of Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) that entails. Granted, Enzo Maresca, Laurence Steward and Paul Winstanley have droves of young talent tied down to long-term deals, locking in their value. If latest signing Geovany Quenda comes good, for example, the Blues have protected themselves with the 17-year-old’s seven-year deal and can finesse their player trading model on that basis. But this model – lobbied for by Boehly in his role as chairman – places a huge amount of faith in a recruitment strategy which, to date, has had very mixed results. The above is a roundabout way of saying that Chelsea are probably in a worse place since the takeover, though Boehly’s latest comments suggests he believes different. READ MORE: Chelsea youngster ranked as second best teenager in world football, only Lamine Yamal is better Todd Boehly says Chelsea now worth more than before Clearlake takeover Since May 2022, Boehly’s public appearances as the face of Chelsea have become more and more frequent, despite some reports suggesting he is essentially a lame duck as chairman. In his latest outing, Boehly spoke to Bloomberg about the rift between his ownership faction and Clearlake, which he says is exaggerated, as well as the future of Stamford Bridge. The main headline, of course, centred on the future direction of the ownership. “The status quo” is a fine place to be, he said, but also suggested that the stadium plans could see Clearlake and he go their separate ways in time. Interestingly on that topic, Boehly believes, if he was to sell his stake to Eghbali or anyone else tomorrow, he could actually get a markup on the £2.5bn deal the consortium completed three years ago. “I think the trend is our friend in this industry,” the 51-year-old, whose club has lost almost £400m since the takeover, told Bloomberg. Rank Club Value 1-yr change Owners 17 Manchester United $6.2B +4% Glazer family 18 Real Madrid $6.06B +16% Club members 35 FC Barcelona $5.28B +7% Club members 40 Liverpool $5.11B +8% Fenway Sports Group 46 Bayern Munich $4.8B +8% Club members 51 Manchester City $4.75B +7% Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan 61 Paris Saint-Germain $4.05B +19% Qatar Sports Investment 65 Arsenal $3.91B +9% Stan Kroenke 74 Tottenham Hotspur $3.49B +9% Joe Lewis family trust, Daniel Levy 75 Chelsea $3.47B ±0% Todd Boehley, Clearlake Capital Source: Sportico top 100 most valuable clubs “The opportunity to try and grow the fanbase around the world is big. Unlike American sports, we have the ability to grow internationally and grow our own revenue base on top of that. “So I think the opportunity is enormous. The Premier League is sitting in a great place. One of the great things – and one of the frustrating things – is that the Premier League is becoming so competitive. The depth in the quality of the teams are unlike any other league in the world. It [value] is not derivative of whether or not they won last year. This is a club that just celebrated its 120th anniversary. “I would say, yes [it’s more valuable than we paid for it].” READ MORE: Chelsea now want to sign two Real Madrid stars for £105m, Todd Boehly pulled out of a deal for one them in the past Chelsea in mix for £130m Club World Cup prize, John Terry hails ‘mega’ finance opportunity To justify a valuation of £2.5bn and well beyond, there will need to be some pretty fundamental changes both at Chelsea and the wider football ecosystem. The arms race that has taken place in the transfer ecosystem and retention and market means costs have spiralled much faster than revenues have risen – and more so at Chelsea than most. One new revenue source that can help offset this and bolster the Blues’ PSR situation is the new-fangled Club World Cup, which Maresca will take his side to in the United States in the summer. Chelsea’s Club World Cup draw Group Team 1 Team 2 Team 2 Team 4 Group A Palmeiras FC Porto Al-Ahly Inter Miami Group B Paris Saint-Germain Atlético Madrid Botafogo Seattle Sounders Group C Bayern Munich Auckland City Boca Juniors Benfica Group D Flamengo Espérance Sportive de Tunisie Chelsea Club León Group E River Plate Urawa Red Diamonds Monterrey Inter Milan Group F Fluminense Borussia Dortmund Ulsan Mamelodi Sundowns Group G Manchester City Wydad Al-Ain Juventus Group H Real Madrid Al-Hilal Pachuca RB Salzburg Club World Cup group stage draw This week, FIFA have confirmed that a staggering £780m will be shared among the 32 participants in prize money, with that pot weighted towards European clubs like Chelsea. If Chelsea go all the way in the knockout tournament, they will take home the lion’s share of £130m. It’s a monumental prize fund which, fundamentally, has essentially been artificially created by Saudi Arabia. Former Chelsea captain John Terry has been on the ambassadorial circuit for FIFA recently and, echoing the sentiments of Didier Drogba a few months ago, has talked up the financial opportunity for clubs. “This is an opportunity that financially is mega for every club involved, let alone if you go on and win it,” Terry told talkSPORT last week. “To participate, it’s big financials. “I think we have to be careful in terms of player welfare and stuff like that because being ex-players, we have to support that. “Can there be a break mid-season? I think there should be. You played two, three games a week around the Christmas period and it’s really busy. “Then in February, March, April, you play Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. You could easily just throw a couple of games in there as well. “But I think in terms of players, like for me, six years retired, I’d love to still be playing. I’d love to go back and say, ‘I wish I had 60, 65 games a season.'”

Chelsea fans call for Premier League to take action over Boehly’s connection to ticket resale site https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6232453/2025/03/26/Chelsea-fans-boehly-vivid-seats/ The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) has written to Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, regarding Todd Boehly’s involvement with Vivid Seats. Boehly, a minority shareholder and chairman at Chelsea, is a director at Vivid Seats, a website that allows the resale of Premier League match tickets — including to Chelsea games — for thousands of pounds above face value. The American ticketing company is listed on the Premier League’s website as an “unauthorised ticket website”, with the league urging fans to “exercise extreme caution” when using it and other ticket exchange companies. In the open letter sent to Masters, the CST penned that “Mr Boehly’s connection with Vivid Seats is totally inappropriate and significantly undermines the efforts of Chelsea FC, The Premier League, and The Metropolitan Police to combat ticket touting”. A CST spokesperson described Boehly’s connection to Vivid Seats as a “breach of trust” and a “clear conflict of interest”. “Vivid Seats continues to list Premier League tickets for above face value at significantly inflated rates,” a CST spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. “Not only does this undermine the efforts of Chelsea FC, The Premier League, and The Metropolitan Police to combat ticket touting, but Vivid Seats contravenes the Chelsea FC ticketing policy, and is explicitly named by the Premier League as a known unauthorised ticket website. “We believe that now is the time for the Premier League to act swiftly and ensure that a major shareowner of a Premier League club ceases facilitating the sale of tickets for significantly above face value.” (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) Tickets advertised on Vivid Seats for Chelsea’s upcoming game against Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on April 3 range from £144 to over £2,000, while tickets for the match at home to Liverpool on May 2 are priced between £442 and over £3,200. UK-based supporters are unable to use Vivid Seats or other ticket exchange sites similar to it to buy tickets to top-flight games due it being against British law to resell tickets in this manner. The CST’s letter to Masters was supported by the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA), who said, “It is clear the Premier League needs to take action.” “Clubs, supporters’ groups, the police and the Premier League itself has worked hard in recent years to combat ticket touting – there is no excuse for a club owner to be involved in such activity,” a spokesperson for the FSA said. What You Should Read Next Premier League fans are revolting – but for very different reasons Tensions that have simmered for months are threatening to boil over as the season reaches its climax Boehly has co-owned Chelsea with Clearlake Capital since May 2022, and his Eldridge Industries private investment firm invested in Vivid Seats in 2021. The American billionaire has been a director at Vivid Seats since the investment, meaning he passed the Premier League’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test with them knowing about his involvement. In February 2024, Chelsea posted on its official website that they are “committed to tackling ticket touting”. “We identify individuals who fraudulently harvest tickets/memberships to sell at vastly inflated prices, investigate both online and offline illegal ticket sales, and use a range of tactics and enforcement measures that help to combat ticket touting,” the statement read. “Supporters found to be selling their ticket for more than face value will be subject to a club investigation and sanctions.”