Business

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says the single-game knockout format, used in the Champions League this year from the quarterfinal onwards, has produced more exciting football than the usual two-legged games and could be revisited in the future.

The format was changed in order to allow the competition to be completed in a shorter time-span after the COVID-19 pandemic halted play for several months across Europe in March.

Eight clubs headed to Lisbon and the final will be contested later on Sunday, pitting Bayern Munich against Paris St Germain.

English Premier League club Newcastle United has held talks with the Bellagraph Nova Group (BNG) group over a possible takeover bid, the Singapore-backed company said in a statement.

BNG, co-founded by Singapore-based investors Evangeline Shen, Nelson Loh and Terence Loh, and headquartered in Paris, said that negotiations were at an advanced stage and that the group was willing to "massively contribute" to the club's development.

Former World Cup winner Ronaldinho moved a step closer to ending his Paraguayan ordeal on Friday when prosecutors said they would not oppose a "conditional suspension" of the case that would allow him to return to Brazil.

The twice World Player of the Year was arrested on March 6 along with his brother and business manager Roberto Assis after they tried to enter Paraguay with adulterated Paraguayan passports.

League One and League Two clubs, representing the third and fourth tiers of English football, have voted in favor of introducing salary caps for their squads, the English Football League (EFL) said in a statement on Friday.

League One clubs agreed to cap total expenditure on player salaries at $3.27 million while those in League Two agreed to an upper limit of $2 million. 

U.S. billionaire Dan Friedkin has signed a deal worth more than $700 million to purchase the Italian Serie A soccer club AS Roma, the club said on Thursday.

Roma said in statement that formal contracts with the Houston, Texas-based Friedkin Group were signed on Wednesday for a transaction valued at 591 million euros.

"We look forward to closing the purchase as soon as possible and immersing ourselves in the AS Roma family," Friedkin said in a statement on the club website.

Ajax will have to change their playing style after the sale of Hakim Ziyech to Chelsea and the possibility of up to six others leaving before the new season in the Netherlands starts, coach Erik ten Hag said as they began pre-season training.

Ziyech was one of the key figures when Ajax reached the Champions League semifinal last season and also dominated in the Dutch league, but success for the club has meant their players have been in high demand.

The Dallas Cowboys were ranked the world's most valuable sports team for a fifth consecutive year according to an annual list published by Forbes on Friday that was dominated by National Football League clubs.

The NFL's Cowboys, who unseated Spanish soccer club Real Madrid for top spot on the list in 2016, were valued at $5.5 billion, a 10 percent rise when compared to last year, Forbes said in a statement.

The proposed takeover of Premier League club Newcastle United by a Saudi Arabian-backed consortium has collapsed after the group announced they were ending their interest in the deal.

The group, which included Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund PIF, PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers, was reported to have made a $391 million bid to buy United from British businessman Mike Ashley.