Business

PARIS - Brazil forward Neymar has signed a new contract with Paris Saint-Germain that will keep him in the French capital until 2025, the Ligue 1 club said on Saturday.

The 29-year-old Neymar, who joined PSG in 2017 from Spanish club Barcelona for a record transfer fee of $270 million, has agreed a deal French media reported will earn him an annual salary of $36.50 million.

Neymar said he wanted to leave PSG in 2019 amid media reports he was keen on returning to Barcelona, but he stayed in Paris and helped PSG reach the Champions League final last season.

The average value of the world's 50 leading sports teams rose to $3.43 billion in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an annual list published by Forbes on Friday that was topped by the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.

Forbes said the average value of the world's 50 most valuable teams on the list was up 11 percent from last year's ranking.

English football club Ipswich Town may have fallen on hard times but they are hoping a new shirt sponsorship deal with singer Ed Sheeran will make them the "A Team" with the ginger-haired crooner's fans.

Ipswich, nicknamed The Tractor Boys, was FA Cup winners in 1978 and won the UEFA Cup, forerunner of the Europa League, in 1981 but now finds itself in the third-tier League One.

MANCHESTER, England - It has certainly been a year of sporting contrasts for American businessman Joel Glazer.

In February, he was in celebratory mood, raising the Vince Lombardi trophy as his NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, led by veteran quarterback Tom Brady.

Three months later, Glazer's Premier League soccer team, Manchester United, had to call off their match against rivals Liverpool following violent protests against the American's ownership of the club.

Back in December of 2019, UEFA revealed its plans for a revamped Women’s Champions League beginning with the 2021-22 season. After a brief nightmare concerning the ramifications of the harebrained European Super League on the women’s game, we can now get back to celebrating the changes that were approved by UEFA’s Executive Committee last week.

LONDON — JPMorgan said on Friday it regretted supporting soccer clubs in launching a breakaway European Super League after the plan collapsed earlier this week due to a storm of protest from fans and politicians.

"We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community and how it might impact them in the future," a representative for the bank said. "We will learn from this."

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City started the process of withdrawing from the breakaway European Super League on Tuesday less than 72 hours after agreeing to join, with Chelsea also reported to be quitting in a major blow for the proposed new competition.

City confirmed they wanted to pull out while fellow English club Chelsea were reported by local media to be preparing the paperwork to leave a project backed by U.S. investment bank JP Morgan and headed by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

Following are the ownership details and Champions League records of the 12 top European clubs who announced on Sunday the launch of a breakaway Super League, and similar details on Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich, two major European clubs not taking part in the Super League:

Who Would Be In European Super League?

ARSENAL

Barcelona have leapfrogged Spanish rivals Real Madrid to become the world's most valuable soccer club with a valuation of $4.76 billion, according to a list published by business magazine Forbes on Monday.

Real Madrid, who have topped the list five times in the past, edged Barcelona 2-1 in El Clásico on Saturday but find themselves second best off the pitch with a valuation of $4.75 billion.