Business

LISBON — The Portuguese man behind the Football Leaks website said at the start of his trial on Friday that he was proud to be a whistleblower on European soccer clubs' big-money dealings.

Rui Pinto, a 31-year-old former history student and self-taught computer mastermind, faces 90 charges — from unauthorised access to data and violation of correspondence to attempted extortion — in the case at Lisbon's Central Criminal Court.

The Premier League has cancelled its contract with Chinese broadcasters PPLive Sports International after just one season, the league said in a statement on Thursday.

The broadcasters, part of retail group Suning, paid around $700 million for three years of English Premier League (EPL) streaming rights from the 2019-20 season.

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.