Business

Mario Balotelli's bad reputation reportedly netted him one of the sweeter contract bonuses we've heard of.

Reportedly, a series of documents released by Football Leaks shows Balotelli had a clause in his contract that entitled him to a ￡1 million bonus each season if he was not sent off three or more times.

Balotelli was not sent off during his first season at Liverpool and spent the second season on loan at AC Milan.

Adidas unveiled a women's soccer cleat earlier this week, which is a weird thing to say because we kind of figured they already had those. That is no excuse for our ignorance, though. We should have asked somebody.

(Seriously though, it took y'all until now to figure out that maybe women should have cleats that are actually, like, FOR women?)

The point is, there is a soccer cleat specifically for women and the commercial for it is very good and cool, and it features USWNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn.

Jurgen Klinsmann is no longer the head coach of the United States Men's National Team. Most USMNT fans wanted Klinsmann out even before the debacle against Costa Rica, but most assumed Klinsmann's large buyout would keep him employed at least a little while longer.

Apparently the buyout wasn't big enough to keep Klinsmann around, but it was still a massive amount of money. No one seems to know the exact amount, but most, if not all, outlets feel safe in saying it was quite large.

A new study from Deloitte, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms in the world by revenue, has offered up some pretty obvious conclusions with regards to implementing a system of promotion and relegation in the American soccer pyramid, but it’s also provided one of the more realistic takes on the possible benefits and risks involved.

Barcelona have signed a new shirt sponsorship deal with Rakuten, an electronic commerce and Internet company based in Tokyo. The deal will pay Barca almost $60 million per year for four years, with the option of a one-year extension and even more money should certain bonus criteria be met.

Barcelona’s current deal with Qatar Airways, a partnership which began back in 2011, currently nets them around $35 million per year, but the Catalan side are now set to nearly double that yearly income with Rakuten as the primary sponsor.

While the focus has rightly been on corruption allegations in the bidding process, bribery, money laundering, forced labor, human rights abuses, the host country’s stance towards members of the LGBT community and climactic conditions resulting in a contentious decision to move the tournament to November and December, Qatari officials have come to another controversial decision by forbidding the consumption of alcohol “on the streets, squares and [in] public places” at the 2022 World Cup.

A little over a week after Neymar put pen to paper on a new five-year deal with Barcelona, Real Madrid have announced that Gareth Bale has committed his future to the club by signing an extension running until June 30, 2022.

St. Louis and Sacramento are both making moves to secure an MLS expansion team, but the future for each city is still unclear.

Back in April 2016, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber had said that he wanted to decide on Sacramento’s bid for an expansion team before Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson left office. That is only a few weeks away, and nothing has happened.

Building off a record breaking 2015 season that saw an average attendance of 21,558, the 2016 MLS season managed to set another landmark by edging that total with an average attendance of 21,692 fans per game.

The growth of MLS is exemplified by this being the third consecutive season that the record has been broken. Leading the way for MLS is the Seattle Sounders (42,636 fans per game), Orlando City (31,324) and New York City FC (27,196).