Kildare SFC Semi-Finals Preview

Newbridge is the location for the Kildare SFC semi-finals this weekend. Both games will be played on Saturday. Firstly, at 2pm before the second game throws-in at 4.30pm.

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The first game sees Moorefield take on Celbridge. After escaping Group B on Points Difference, Moorefield had a point to prove in the quarter-final. Last weekend, Johnstownbridge took them on in the quarter-final. Last year’s runners-up shook off any cobwebs though and won 1-18 to 2-09. After winning the Championship in 2017 and ’18, Moorefield are aiming to reclaim the title.

On the other hand, Celbridge are trying to win their first Championship since 2008. In the meantime, they lost the 2017 final. On that occasion, Moorefield was also the opposition. This year Celbridge mean business though. After topping Group D, they made a big impression in the quarter-final. In the end, they defeated Clane 1-18 to 0-07.

Subsequently, holders Sarsfields play Athy. Last year, Sarsfields needed a replay to beat Moorefield in the final. But, they have had no such challenge yet this year. Raheens were their most recent victims. In the quarter-final, it finished 2-14 to 2-06 to the reigning champions. Sarsfields managed to win back-to-back Championships in 2015 and ’16. Now, they are on course to repeat this feat.

Sarsfields’ final opponents in 2015 are again the opposition this weekend. Group A winners Athy are enjoying a good season themselves. In their quarter-final, they saw off Round Towers with ten points to spare. Athy have names such as the Hylands, Kevin Feely, Niall Kelly, Liam McGovern, and Paschal Connell in their ranks. Therefore, they have an array of firepower and experience to get them over the line.

Sarsfields will remain favourites to go on and win the Dermot Bourke Cup. Yet, each of the remaining teams is worthy of a place in the final.

Kildare GAA TV are broadcasting both of the semi-finals from St. Conleth’s Park.

Kildare SFC Semi-Finals: Saturday 26th September

Moorefield vs Celbridge, 2pm

Sarsfields vs Athy, 4.30pm

Don't miss out on this weekend's #ClubChampionship semi-finals 🏐

This weekend we will live stream Saturday's Joe Mallon Renault SFC semi-finals & Sunday's Pittman Traffic IFC semi-finals.

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3-way tie at top of Dubai Duty Free Irish Open leaderboard

Day one the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open saw a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard, with Dean Burmester, Jordan Smith and Aaron Rai all carding five under par rounds of 65 at Galgorm Castle Golf Club, Co. Antrim.

Irishman James Sugrue, the 2019 Amateur Champion who played at last week’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot, carded a three under 67 to sit just two shots off the pace – drawing comparisons with a famous amateur victory in this tournament by one Shane Lowry 11 years ago.

Lowry, returning to home soil for the first time as Open Champion this week, struggled to an opening five over 75 while European Ryder Cup Captain Pádraig Harrington carded a one over 71 in his first competitive appearance in six month

Mallow amateur James Sugrue is the leading Irishman in the field, having shot a three under par opening round of 67 to lie just two shots off the lead.

“I was in the U.S. Open last week and going from there to here is a little bit easier to say the least. It was very tough, very penal, you can hit good shots off the tee and end up in the rough where you can only take a wedge out of it” explained Sugrue.

The top amateur, who plans on turning professional after the Masters, was happy with his first round score, but admitted:

“There’s a lot of golf to be played yet but obviously I’m very happy with how I played today. Conditions were tricky although we didn’t get wet, it was gusty and when you’re caught in those holes where there’s trees all around you, you don’t know what way the wind is blowing. You just have to trust it.”

Offaly man Shane Lowry had a nightmare day at Galgorm, shooting a five-over-par round of 75, leaving him 10 shots off the lead after day 1 at the Co. Antrim venue.

“I just struggled today” Lowry said honestly, “Myself and Bo were talking going up the last, and I pretty much did everything really badly today, from course management to decision making to actually pulling off the shots. It was not very nice out there, but I gave it my best, that’s all I could have done, and it ended up in a 75. It’s nice to birdie the last, and if I can go out a shoot a few under tomorrow, hopefully be here for the weekend and hopefully a couple more decent scores. First and foremost my goal tomorrow will be to make the weekend” he added.

The Clara-native found the weather a problem during his round, but was not trying to use that as an excuse for his 75:

“I was very cold out there today. I had my handwarmers and everything, but it was tough out there, very tough out there. There were a few times into the wind I couldn’t get myself enough club. I hit a great shot on number 14, the par three, and I pitched it about 20 yards short of the flag. That was a bit weird. It is what it is, I felt like I could have shot a decent score. I played here yesterday, I like the course. Today I just went out and nothing went right for me. “

Pádraig Harrington, who shot a respectable 71 in his first competitive round in six months, felt the round was very mixed, with some good and some not so good:

“But there was lots of good stuff and even the bad stuff, I just put down to rust, so I was more than happy with it. It was nice to finish with a par, I wanted to birdie it obviously – finishing with a birdie would have got me back to level par. I missed a couple of putts at 16 and 17. I’m just not playing enough. I really should have trusted my driver on my right to left, I haven’t missed anything right all day and I hung onto it and got myself in trouble.”

Round one scores (incomplete, one group still to finish):

65 A RAI (ENG), D BURMESTER (RSA), J SMITH (ENG),
66 T TREE (ENG),
67 J CATLIN (USA), S GALLACHER (SCO), R KARLBERG (SWE), J SUGRUE (AM) (IRL), O LENGDEN (SWE),
68 S HEND (AUS), J JANEWATTANANOND (THA), G HIGGO (RSA), J HARDING (RSA), L BJERREGAARD (DEN), N LEMKE (SWE), M SIMONSEN (DEN), J GUERRIER (FRA),
69 M ARMITAGE (ENG), N ELVIRA (ESP), S JAMIESON (SCO), R ROCK (ENG), D LAW (SCO),
70 F ZANOTTI (PAR), O FARR (WAL), B STOW (ENG), G STORM (ENG), E FERGUSON (SCO), W ORMSBY (AUS), C SORDET (FRA), J LAGERGREN (SWE), D HUIZING (NED), C HILL (SCO), J SENIOR (ENG), W NIENABER (RSA), D MCGRANE (IRL), J MCLEOD (AUS), M ANTCLIFF (AUS),
71 S BROWN (ENG), L VAN MEIJEL (NED), J LUITEN (NED), P HARRINGTON (IRL), R RAMSAY (SCO), C SYME (SCO), J SURI (USA), D WHITNELL (ENG), A CANIZARES (ESP), D PERRIER (FRA), A MERONK (POL), L HERBERT (AUS), G COETZEE (RSA), J CALDWELL (NIR),
72 M KORHONEN (FIN), S CROCKER (USA), J MORRISON (ENG), D HOWELL (ENG), M FENASSE (FRA), S SHARMA (IND), J HANSEN (DEN), C SHINKWIN (ENG), R MCEVOY (ENG), D COUPLAND (ENG), R BLAND (ENG), L SLATTERY (ENG),
73 A ROZNER (FRA), D DRYSDALE (SCO), G PORTEOUS (ENG), T MCKIBBIN (AM) (NIR), F LAPORTA (ITA), R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA), M SCHMITT (GER), R MCGOWAN (ENG), A ARNAUS (ESP), T KOIVISTO (USA), N COLSAERTS (BEL), L CANTER (ENG), M BALDWIN (ENG), J KRUGER (RSA), D VAN DRIEL (NED), J VEERMAN (USA), J SCRIVENER (AUS),
74 M KAWAMURA (JPN), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), H PORTEOUS (RSA), G MOYNIHAN (IRL), S SODERBERG (SWE), M WARREN (SCO), J STALTER (FRA), Z MURRAY (AUS), M POWER (AM) (IRL), R WATTEL (FRA), E MOLINARI (ITA), L JOHNSTON (SCO), B RITTHAMMER (GER), W BESSELING (NED),
75 G BHULLAR (IND), C MORIARTY (IRL), A COCKERILL (CAN), P DUNNE (IRL), M LEE (AUS), M KINHULT (SWE), R ROUSSEL (FRA), D YOUNG (SCO), M CAMPBELL (NZL), S LOWRY (IRL), S TILEY (ENG),
76 D HORSEY (ENG), A WU (CHN), S KJELDSEN (DEN), Y CHANG (KOR), B POKE (DEN),
77 J WINTHER (DEN),
78 S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP), O FISHER (ENG), R FOX (NZL),
79 A CHESTERS (ENG),
83 C SHARVIN (NIR), A PAVAN (ITA),
**
C PIGEM (ESP), K REITAN (NOR), C HOWIE (SCO)

4 Irish cyclists at UCI Road World Championships in Imola from 25–27 September

Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche, who competed in the recent Tour de France, will represent Ireland at the UCI Road World Championships at Imola, Italy, this weekend, and will be joined in the 4-man Irish squad by Ryan Mullen and Ben Healy.

Two Irish riders, Ryan Mullan and Nicolas Roche will race the elite men’s time trial tomorrow, Friday, 25 September. The largely flat 31.7-kilometre route starts and finishes at the Imola autodrome and passes through the town of Borgo at the halfway mark. Unlike the road race, the time trial course has just 200m of elevation gain meaning it is expected riders will need to average in excess of 50kph to be in contention.

Roche suffered a crash on stage 10 of this year’s Tour however recovered well to feature in multiple breakaways and secure his 64^th top 10 stage finish in a Grand Tour.

Mullan is a 4-time Irish National Champion in the time trial and bronze medallist at the 2017 European Championships while Roche has 2 TT National titles to his name.

Both Roche and Mullen will also compete in the men’s road race over an arduous 258.2 kilometres featuring 9 loops and 5,000m of climbing on Sunday, 27 September. They will be joined in the race by Ben Healy and Dan Martin.

Martin started the Tour de France just 2 weeks after fracturing a bone in his lower back. The injury forced Martin to maintain a low profile in the early stages of the race however he sprung into the limelight on stage 13 in a long-range breakaway finishing 11^th and again on stage 17. With the Israel Start-Up Nation cycling team member coming into form, the 2020 UCI Road World Championships course looks to suit the punchy climber.

Ireland Squad for UCI Road World Championships, Imola, 25-27 September

Elite Men road race: Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche, Ben Healy, Ryan Mullen.

Elite Men Time Trial: Nicolas Roche, Ryan Mullen.

Munster Rugby confirms Academy player tested positive for Covid-19

Munster Rugby last evening confirmed that it has been assisting a Munster Rugby Academy player within the wider training squad who has tested positive for Covid-19.

The player has been self-isolating since last Monday and has not been in the High Performance Centre in Limerick this week.

The HSE has been contacted and the contact tracing process has commenced, Munster Rugby confirmed.

In taking all precautionary measures, Munster Rugby immediately identified three Academy players and one senior player as potential close contacts and they have already commenced self-isolating.

The latest phase of the IRFU’s routine PCR testing produced zero positive results ahead of this weekend’s ‘A’ game against Connacht.

Discussing confirmation of the positive Covid-19 test, Munster Rugby Head of Medical, Dr Jamie Kearns, said:

“The health and safety of our players and staff continues to be our priority as we take every precaution to ensure a safe training and playing environment. The individual is being monitored medically and remains well.”

The Rugby Championship 2020 Fixtures

SANZAAR and tournament hosts, Rugby Australia, have confirmed the match schedule for the 2020 Rugby Championship.

The six-week tournament will feature 12 Tests on back-to-back weekends between the Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

Each round will be played as a doubleheader with the opening fixture at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, 7 November before five straight doubleheaders across Sydney and Newcastle.

ANZ Stadium and Bankwest Stadium will each host two rounds of The Rugby Championship while Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium will be set for the clash between reigning Rugby World Cup winners, the Springboks, and the All Blacks on Saturday, 28 November.

Australia’s fixtures against New Zealand during The Rugby Championship will also double as matches for the Bledisloe Cup. Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium will host a Bledisloe Cup Test on Saturday, 7 November before Sydney’s ANZ Stadium hosts the final trans-Tasman clash on Saturday, 12 December.

November’s historic tournament will also be the first time that Tier One Rugby nations will have ever featured in a Test match doubleheader.

Kick-off times for the double-header matches will be announced in due course.

The Rugby Championship 2020 fixtures

Round One – Saturday 7 November 2020
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Argentina v South Africa
Australia v New Zealand

Round Two – Saturday 14 November
Bankwest Stadium, Sydney
New Zealand v Argentina
South Africa v Australia

Round Three – Saturday 21 November
ANZ Stadium, Sydney
New Zealand v South Africa
Australia v Argentina

Round Four – Saturday 28 November
McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Argentina v Australia
South Africa v New Zealand

Round Five – Saturday 5 December
Bankwest Stadium, Sydney
Argentina v New Zealand
Australia v South Africa

Round Six – Saturday 12 December
ANZ Stadium, Sydney
South Africa v Argentina
Australia v New Zealand

Cormac Sharvin and Paul Dunne on the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

Cormac Sharvin and Paul Dunne are just two of the Irish golfers competing in this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Galgorm Spa and Golf Resort, Co. Antrim. Both spoke of their current form and hope for this year’s championship.

Ardglass-native Cormac Sharvin, who was the leading Irishman at last year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Lahinch, Co. Clare, is delighted to be back playing in Ireland.

“It’s an opportunity to play on home turf” admitted Sharvin, “I haven’t played great in the last while. I had a good week off last week, reflecting and trying to get back to things that worked for me last year. I’m trying to get back into that trying to tidy up my swing. My game is in the best place it has been all year coming into this week, whether I play well or not is a different story. I feel like I’m moving in the right direction with my game, hopefully I can put four good rounds together this week.”

Discussing the Galgorm course, the Ulsterman, who was 19^th at The English Championship in early August, said:

“I know this course really well. I’ve played a lot of golf here. It’s a good test, the rough is thick. My game is pretty suited to a course like this, you have to drive it well. Tee to green it’s a good test so it should set up pretty well.”

The twenty-eight-year-old has struggled with the bubble professional golfers have found themselves in recent weeks, since the re-starting of competition:

“From the outset I was saying I wasn’t struggling and that I didn’t mind it. But on reflection it’s something I have struggled with. I find it hard separating my golf from chilling at the hotel. I feel like I’ve been uneasy with the whole thing, but I’ve done work on it to try and reframe it and get myself in a good place going into weeks rather than feeling like I’m pushing. It felt like I was rushing my weeks and wasn’t relaxed – I couldn’t wait to get out the bubble. I’m going to have to adapt and get better at dealing with it. I met with my team last week and we’re reframing it in a way that is beneficial to me.”

Reflecting on the usual experience of having to play without crowds at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, Sharvin says:

“It’s a good chance to do well this week. The big challenge is going to be playing without crowds. I’ve played here a lot, even at Challenge Tour events we get good crowds and I seem to get a decent following – I’ve fed off that. It’s something I’ll have to look at this week and I’ll have to gee myself up.”

Greystones golfer Paul Dunne fully agrees with Cormac Sharvin about the strange feeling surrounding this year’s competition:

“It feels a bit weird, it almost doesn’t feel like we’re at home. The Irish fans are usually so loud and they come out in big numbers. It’s different, but it’s nice to be driving my own car, staying relatively close to home, home comforts. Hopefully I can perform.

The Irishman feels he’s adapting well to the ‘new normal’ on the European Tour, stating:

“I’m adapting OK, it is what it is. The weeks are a little bit more mundane than they usually are, you can’t get out and about and do things and your dinner companions are the same every night. Look, it beats sitting at home being locked down, it’s a much better alternative.”

The twenty-seven-year-old spoke about the challenge of the Galgorm, Co. Antrim course, offering:

“The course is all about your tee shots, it’s pretty narrow off the tee. It doesn’t give you much respite. It’s all about keeping it – you would say between the tree line – but there’s decent room between the tree line, but the fairways are fairly narrow and the rough between the fairway and the trees is extremely thick. Especially when it’s wet, you can’t get much out of it at all.”

With the Dublin-born player experiencing problems with a hand injury of later, he states his current goals are “just to get back fit and get my game back in a shape where I feel like I can move forward. I don’t have any short term goals because I don’t know what the future holds.”

Back on home soil this week should give Dunne an opportunity to fully access where his game is right now, and he is “just ready to go out and play and be able to practice as free as I can.”

2020 Munster GAA fixtures confirmed

The long wait is finally over. The Munster GAA CCC has now confirmed the fixture details for the remainder of the 2020 Munster GAA Inter-County Championships.

It was agreed that Home and Away arrangements would continue for Senior Football, Under 20 Hurling and Minor Football. However, as Senior and Minor Hurling have been organized on a round-robin basis for the past 2 seasons, the Home and Away arrangements would be disrupted so those two competitions will be played at neutral venues for 2020.

All fixtures below are played on the basis that it will be knockout/result on the day. In the Munster Senior Hurling Championship, for the four counties that do not win the Munster Final, there will be a second chance via the All-Ireland Qualifiers.

All fixture details are subject to change in line with Covid-19 related developments in advance of each fixture.

Munster GAA Senior Hurling Championship

Sunday October 25th at 3:45 pm – Clare v Limerick in Semple Stadium Thurles

Saturday October 31st at 3:30 pm – Cork v Waterford in Semple Stadium Thurles

Sunday November 1st at 4 pm – Tipperary v Clare or Limerick in the LIT Gaelic Grounds or

Páirc Uí Chaoimh

Sunday November 15th at 4 pm – Munster Senior Hurling Final

Munster GAA Senior Football Championship

Saturday October 31st at 7 pm – Limerick v Waterford in Fraher Field Dungarvan

Sunday November 1st at 1 pm – Clare v Tipperary in Semple Stadium Thurles

Saturday November 7th at 1:15 pm – Limerick or Waterford v Clare or Tipperary in Fraher

Field Dungarvan, LIT Gaelic Grounds or Cusack Park Ennis

Sunday November 8th at 4 pm – Cork v Kerry in Páirc Uí Chaoimh

Sunday November 22nd at 1:30 pm – Munster Senior Football Final

Bord Gáis Energy Munster GAA Hurling Under 20 Championship

Monday October 19th at 6:30 pm – Cork v Kerry in Austin Stack Park Tralee

October 19th at 7:30 pm – Clare v Tipperary in Semple Stadium Thurles

Monday October 26th at 3:15 pm – Waterford v Clare or Tipperary in Fraher Field

Dungarvan or Sixmilebridge

Monday October 26th at 5 pm – Limerick v Cork or Kerry in the LIT Gaelic Grounds or

Austin Stack Park Tralee

Wednesday November 11th @ 7:30pm – Munster Under 20 Hurling Final

Electric Ireland Munster GAA Hurling Minor Championship

Saturday October 17th at 1 pm – Clare v Cork in the Semple Stadium Thurles

Sunday October 18th at 1 pm – Kerry v Tipperary in the LIT Gaelic Grounds

Friday October 30th at 6:30 pm – Waterford v Kerry or Tipperary in Páirc Uí Rinn

Friday October 30th at 6:30 pm – Limerick v Clare or Cork in Semple Stadium Thurles

Saturday November 14th at 1 pm – Munster Minor Hurling Final

Electric Ireland Munster GAA Football Minor Championship

Saturday October 24th at 1 pm – Clare v Tipperary in Semple Stadium Thurles

October 24th at 1 pm – Limerick v Waterford in the LIT Gaelic Grounds

Saturday November 7th at 1 pm – Cork v Kerry in Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney

Sunday November 8th at 1 pm – Limerick or Waterford v Clare or Tipperary in Fraher Field

Dungarvan, LIT Gaelic Grounds or Cusack Park Ennis

Saturday November 14th at 1 pm – Munster Minor Football Final

Support Enable Ireland’s ‘Life With No Limits’ Campaign

Enable Ireland’s ‘Life With No Limits’ campaign is the annual fundraising and awareness-raising event for the organisation. This year, the campaign takes place between the 19th and 30th of September.

The campaign provides a platform for children and adults with disabilities using Enable Ireland services to share their life experiences while raising much-needed funds to support the charity’s work. This year more than ever, the charity is relying on the public’s support for their vital therapy and support services. Like many charities, the Covid-19 pandemic significantly affected Enable Ireland. In fact, they are facing a loss of €1.5million in funding due to the cancellation of fundraising events and their charity shops being closed for three months.

Enable Ireland provides services for over 9,200 children and adults with disabilities in the country. The public can contribute to these services by purchasing ‘Life With No Limits’ merchandise from one of Enable Ireland’s 21 charity shops. Otherwise, you can donate at https://www.enableireland.ie/.

2020’s Champion for the campaign is Mary Fitzgerald.

The 21-year-old para-athlete is the Irish record holder for shot put, discus, and javein. Mary was one of five students awarded a Sports Scholarship under the Quercus Talented Students’ Programme at UCC. She is now in her third year of studying Occupational Therapy.

Mary attended Enable Ireland services in Kilkenny from when she was just a few months old until she was 18. She has previously represented Ireland at para athletic events. Currently, she plans on going to the Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021. Despite her small stature, Mary lets nothing stand in her way. In her own words, “Never tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon!”.

Watch Mary tell her own unique story here.

In partnership with Enable Ireland, Homesense has produced notebooks featuring quotes from Enable Ireland service users to raise much-needed funds. You can pick up a limited edition notebook in Homesense stores in Dublin and Cork, and TK Maxx stores nationwide. For example, Mary’s inspirational quote “Believe in yourself and you can take on the world” is featured.

Furthermore, you can help the organisation by donating a bag of quality clothing or household items into any TK Maxx store nationwide as part of their Give Up Clothes For Good campaign.

Enable Ireland’s services for children with disabilities and their families cover all aspects of a child’s physical, educational, and social development from early infancy through adolescence. For adults, they offer a range of services which include day care, training, personal development, supported and independent living, and social and leisure activities.

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Top 5 Gaelic Football Goalkeepers

In a time when the influence of a goalkeeper on a team’s overall tactical structure is more important than ever we take a look at 5 of the best in the business as inter-county football gets ready for its resumption in October.

1. Stephen Cluxton (Dublin)

There can only be one man at the top of this list.

The Dublin legend has revolutionised the position of a gaelic football goalkeeper and paved the way for the rest of the men on this list.

His short kickouts have changed the game, and his ability to find a teammate from a restart is just about unrivalled. His shot-stopping isn’t bad either.

2. Rory Beggan (Monaghan)

The Monaghan No 1 has been consistently one of the best goalkepers in Ireland over the last decade.

His ability to kick points from long range frees is matched by very few players anywhere in the country, while his ability to distribute the ball accurately will prove even more important to his county this year with the new rules banning a pass-back to a goalkeeper from a kickout.

3. Niall Morgan (Tyrone)

The Tyrone goalkeeper is not only a top class shot-stopper and long range free-taker, but he also acts as a quarter back type figure for his team now.

His ability to get involved and impact general play within Mickey Harte’s team has seen him come to the fore in recent years, and he also manages to aid his team with scores from play when the opportunity presents itself.

4. Shaun Patton (Donegal)

The Donegal No 1 has emerged as one of the best keepers in Ireland since he joined Declan Bonner’s panel in 2018.

A former league of Ireland goalkeeper, Patton’s ability to find a teammate with his extremely accurate and lengthy kick-outs have added a new dimension to the Donegal game-plan as they continue to evolve under Bonner and former Mayo boss Stephen Rochford.

5. Graham Brody (Laois)

Another fine exponent of the modern style gaelic football goalkeeper is Laois No 1 Graham Brody.

The Portlaoise native is probably more well known to people around Ireland for his regular forays up the field in support of his outfield teammates, than he is for producing top quality saves, but make no mistake the Laois keeper is more than capable in that department also, as he has proved time and time again for the O’ Moore county.

Premier League now bigger than La Liga and Bundesliga combined

The revenues of the big five European football leagues have soared in the last twenty years, reaching €17bn in the season 2018/2019. However, English Premier League convincingly tops the list of professional football competitions in Europe, both in terms of profit and brand value.

According to data presented by SafeBettingSites.com, Premier League hit €8.5bn in brand value in 2020, 19% more than La Liga and Bundesliga combined.

€1.5 bn Higher Revenue than Other Top Football Leagues

Besides leading in brand value, the Premier League also generates the highest revenue of all the European football leagues and has the highest operating profit. Although the coronavirus outbreak caused a massive financial hit to England’s top division teams, Premier League clubs are still expected to generate at least €1.5 bn more than their counterparts in Germany and Spain, revealed the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2020.

The reason for that is broadcasting rights. Statistics indicate the Premier League clubs are set to reach €2.4 bn in revenue from broadcasting rights this season. Commercial revenues are forecast to hit €1.7bn value in 2020, a €139 million increase year-on-year. Matchday profits follow with €614 million in revenue this season.

Manchester United tops the list of the professional football clubs in England, with over €1.3bn in brand value in 2020, revealed the Brand Finance Football 50 – 2020 survey. Statistics show the club generated €627 million in revenue last year, while its wage costs amounted to €352 million. The 2019 Global Sports Salaries Survey also revealed that Manchester United’s first-team players earned an average of €6.8 million last season, ranking as the second leading football club in Premier League and seventh globally.

Liverpool FC hit over €1.2bn brand value this year, the second-largest among all Premier League clubs. Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance 2020 showed the club generated €533 million in revenue in season 2019/2020, while its first-team members earned an average of €6.1 million last year. Liverpool also represents the second most-expensive football team globally, with €1.02bn in the combined market value of its 30 players.

Manchester City ranked as the third most valuable football brand in England, with over €1.1bn in brand value in 2020. However, statistics show the club, which generated €538 million in revenue last season, tops the list of the highest-priced football teams in 2020, with €1.04bn in the combined market value of its 31 players. In the 2019/2020 season, Manchester City had an average annual first-team member salary of €7.7 million, the highest among all Premier League clubs.

La Liga Has the Most Valuable Football Club Brands

Although La Liga ranked as the second leading European football league with almost €4bn in brand value in 2020, statistics show the two top Spanish clubs represent the most valuable football brands globally.

Real Madrid and FC Barcelona both hit over €1.4bn in brand value this year, accounting for 70% of the total brand value of the highest-leveled Spanish football league.

Statistics show the first-team players of Real Madrid, the world’s largest football brand, earned an average of €9.45 million this season. At the same time, their combined market value hit €930.3 million, ranking them as the fifth most-expensive football team in the world.

FC Barcelona, the second most valuable football brand in the world, tops the list of European football clubs with a €10.4 million average annual player salary in the season 2019/2020. The club’s players also represent the third most expensive football team globally, with €1bn in their combined market value. Moreover, the Spanish football giant hit a record revenue of €813.3 million in the season 2018/2019 and ranked as the biggest cash-generating football club for the first time.

With €3.2bn in brand value or 2.6 times less than Premier League, Bundesliga ranked as the third most valuable European football league. The leading German football club and the sixth globally, FC Bayern München, accounts for one-third of that figure, with over €1bn in brand value this year.

Italy’s Serie A and French Ligue 1 follow, with 1.8bn and 1.2bn in brand value, respectively.

SportsNewsIreland

Kildare SFC Semi-Finals Preview

Kildare SFC Semi-Finals: Saturday 26th September

3-way tie at top of Dubai Duty Free Irish Open leaderboard

4 Irish cyclists at UCI Road World Championships in Imola from 25–27 September

Munster Rugby confirms Academy player tested positive for Covid-19

The Rugby Championship 2020 Fixtures

Cormac Sharvin and Paul Dunne on the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

2020 Munster GAA fixtures confirmed

Munster GAA Senior Hurling Championship

Munster GAA Senior Football Championship

Bord Gáis Energy Munster GAA Hurling Under 20 Championship

Electric Ireland Munster GAA Hurling Minor Championship

Electric Ireland Munster GAA Football Minor Championship

Support Enable Ireland’s ‘Life With No Limits’ Campaign

2020’s Champion for the campaign is Mary Fitzgerald.

Top 5 Gaelic Football Goalkeepers

Premier League now bigger than La Liga and Bundesliga combined

EDITOR PICKS

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