The Weely Brief,  highlighting recent soccer industry stories from around the World is provided to San Francisco Seals Fans courtesy of  FMMInternational See below for more information regarding FMMInternational.

 

Current and past issues of the Weekly Brief can be found in our News/Information section under the "Weekly Brief Archives - 2007".

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* Americas *
Beckham attracting more stars?
FC Dallas this week announced the signing of 29 year old Brazilian World Cup winner Denilson, who joins from Al-Nasr of Saudi Arabia. Denison was famously sold by São Paulo to Spain’s Real Betis for $40 million in 1998.

 

Semi-Finals on the road
With the New England Revolution’s Foxborough home stadium unavailable on September 4th the MLS team will host USL’s Carolina RailHawks in the Open Cup semi-final at the 8,500 capacity Veteran's Memorial Stadium in the city of New Britain, Connecticut - some 100 miles away.

 

World Cup bidder tells cities to shape-up
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has asked its 18 candidate cities to prove to FIFA that they are suitable venues to host the competition. Despite being the only country bidding to host the 2014 competition, dilapidated stadiums and a strained public transport system, allied to social and economic issues have put the bid under scrutiny in Brazil.

 

Stadium finance go-ahead
The Deseret News reported this week that The Sandy City Council has signed-off the $35 million in bonds for Real Salt Lake's new stadium project, putting in place the final city approvals to build the $110 million, 20,000-seat stadium.

 

New PDL franchise
USL announced that Juan Carlos Hernandez has acquired the Premier Development League (PDL) franchise rights for the greater Houston area with Houston Leones, slated to start playing at the 17-acre facility Soccer World Center, Richmond, TX in the 2008 season. The PDL focuses on developing young players with rules dictating a maximum of 8 players in each team's 26-man roster can be over 23 years old, while at least 3 players must be 18 or younger.

 

* Europe *
Italian soccer channel launched
SerieA.tv, a dedicated Serie A broadband internet channel is to be launched this week. The channel, run by Infront Advanced Media Solutions, will offer live and delayed matches along with magazine content to fans in Asia and the Americas.

 

EPL side dismiss (more) takeover rumours
Newcastle United have denied the club is about to change hands for the second time this year. Growing speculation had linked the club, which was taken over by English sportswear magnate Mike Ashley less than 2 months ago, with a bid from Icelandic businessmen Jon Asgeir Johannesson and Palmi Haroldsson.

 

Possible takeover?
West London based Championship team Queens Park Rangers has confirmed it is talking to various parties about a takeover. Italian Flavio Briatore, principal of Renault’s Formula 1 racing team, has confirmed he is interested in the team but has denied making a bid.

 

Doubtful takeover?
Portuguese businessman Joe Berardo is finding it difficult to acquire shares for his takeover of Benfica. Having launched a bid for an 85% holding in the club last month, the Lisbon Stock Exchange announced this week that he’d only acquired 1% of the club's stock. Berardo remains bullish and is expected to maintain his interest in a takeover.

 

Impressive figures in Scotland
Current Scottish Premier League champions Celtic FC announced record profits of $30m for the last 12 months, due largely to reaching the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League - which was thought to have produced up to $24m. Revenue for the period stood at $150 million.

 

EPL price cuts taking effect
EPL team Blackburn Rovers has seen their ticket price-cutting strategy reap rewards with a 15% increase in season ticket sales. Rovers cut the cost of the average ticket by 25% passing on to fans some of the benefits of the record EPL TV deal. The club now has around 14,500 season ticket holders.

 

Development plans in Edinburgh
Heart of Midlothian, the Scottish Premier League team based in the Scottish capital announced plans for a $100m development of their Tynecastle stadium. The plans centre on the building of a new 10,000 capacity stand that will incorporate a hotel and leisure facilities and will raise the capacity to 23,000.

European giants continue to look east
Following on from Bayern Munich’s signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with The Cong Viettel in Vietnam, Spanish giants Barcelona confirmed that they are looking at a possible link with rival V-League club Dong Thap.

 

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_* The information contained herein is believed to be correct, but should not be relied upon as such. All financial figures should be seen as indicative only as they may have been converted from another currency.

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