Is 32 a lot? That depends. Goals scored over a 25 yr career? No Teams played for over a 25 yr career? Yes
There is no saudi or gulf states soccer thread but this should be the permalink to watch PSG vs Saudi All Stars in roughly an hour. https://tubitv.com/live/613758/bein-sports-xtra
Nice work, Sevilla. Glad they're spreading the wealth. Although they probably developed the program because they're so fucking broke they need to squeeze every penny out of every corner of their operations. But this should absolutely help small clubs around the world. Cool. From the Athletic Spoiler When Newcastle signed Alexander Isak for €70million from Real Sociedad last summer, it was a welcome windfall for the La Liga club, and also very good news for all the Swedish forward’s former clubs: Borussia Dortmund, Willem II and AIK. Similarly, when Barcelona signed Raphinha from Leeds United for €58million, Rennes, Sporting Lisbon, Vitoria Guimaraes and Brazilian side Avai got to share almost €3million of the transfer fee paid to Leeds between them due to their part in the winger’s development. This is because of FIFA’s ‘solidarity mechanism’, which mandates that a total of five per cent of every transfer fee must be paid to the clubs at which the player involved developed between the ages of 12 and 23. Most clubs around the world are aware the solidarity mechanism exists, and the more switched-on move quickly to secure what they are due. But claiming the money they are owed can be difficult, if not impossible, for teams who lack the knowledge or resources to go about filing the claim and proving their case. Often, smaller clubs who have lost track of their former youth teamers are not even aware that there is money they could be entitled to. This could be about to change thanks to the new ‘Transfer Tracker’ tool, which was initially developed by La Liga club Sevilla and is now being made available to clubs worldwide by LaLiga Tech. “The Transfer Tracker permits the clubs and federations on a global level to benefit, so they do not miss out on any transfer that can bring them money,” Sevilla’s chief data officer Elias Zamora tells The Athletic. “If you don’t make a claim, you never get the money, as the buying club is never going to remind you.” At Sevilla, Zamora heads a team of seven data scientists, who include experts in computer science, physics and mathematics. They have developed a series of software applications for internal use — AI Radar (for scouting), AI Football (for analysis), AI Ticketing (for marketing) and AI Tracking (which has now been rebranded as Transfer Tracker). The impetus for the AI Tracking tool came not from director of football Monchi’s transfer team, but from the legal department which was finding it challenging to follow up on all the money Sevilla knew they were owed via FIFA’s solidarity mechanism. Most clubs still track player movement manually — staff members keep an eye on the movements of all their former players during each transfer window — which is time-consuming and particularly difficult for smaller clubs without resources, especially when there is a change of sporting director or academy chief. Building an IT solution to track player movements systematically was relatively straightforward for Sevilla’s data team. More challenging was discovering the correct financial data involved, given how complex and secret many transfer dealings can be. FIFA does not share the data in its transfer system with third parties, so Sevilla’s team used their knowledge and contacts within the global football market. “We have our own sources of data, independent of FIFA,” Zamora says, carefully. “There is some commercial data, some external sources, some internal. We cannot guarantee, not at all, that all transfer fees are correct. We might not know the exact fee paid, but we would have a certain intuition about what money was being moved.” Zamora says that, over the last 18 months, Sevilla brought in around €1million (£0.9m; $1.1m) by identifying more than 700 movements of players who had been developed within the club. The biggest sum was €150,000 owed from Real Madrid selling Sergio Reguilon to Tottenham in 2020, as Reguilon had spent the previous season on loan at Sevilla. This January, they are due around €10,000 from their former midfielder Matias Kranevitter’s move from Mexican club Monterrey to River Plate in Argentina. They could get significantly bigger payments if former youth-team players such as Bryan Gil (at Tottenham Hotspur) or Sergio Rico (Paris Saint-Germain) move. “The amount depends, but normally we are talking about dozens or hundreds of thousands of euros,“ Zamora says. “But if there are 700 transfers in which money has moved — then it Some of the extra financial gain is coming to Sevilla through their close relationship with LaLiga Tech, a company spun out of La Liga’s internal technology department, in which IT multinational Globant has a 51 per cent share. LaLiga Tech’s developers worked with Zamora’s team to refine Sevilla’s internal AI Tracking tool and rebrand it as Transfer Tracker, a service clubs can use to identify claims. Before launching the service, LaLiga Tech did an analysis with existing partner clubs in Spain, South America and Europe (including an English club outside the Premier League). They found that clubs could make an average total claim of €3.4million — with the amounts much higher for clubs that developed numerous players later involved in big money transfers. “That was where we saw the potential of the application,” says Marcos Gonzalez, value proposition manager at LaLiga Tech, which claims there could be up to €1billion owed worldwide that is yet to be claimed. Since the Transfer Tracker was fully launched in December, Gonzalez says contracts have been signed with seven clubs in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, while another 15 clubs across England, Portugal, Croatia and Poland are interested in using the service. “There are a lot of clubs who develop players and currently have problems identifying what they are due,” Gonzalez says. “With this system, it is a win/win for all parties.” The service could be particularly useful to clubs who develop lots of young players, and those who act as stepping-stones before big-money moves to the top leagues. For example, Porto would have been due a six-figure fee last summer when Casemiro joined Manchester United from Real Madrid as he spent the 2014-15 season on loan at the Portuguese side. La Liga clubs Elche, Rayo Vallecano, Mallorca and Barcelona will be due money from Alex Moreno’s move from Real Betis to Aston Villa this month, as well as Catalan clubs Vilafranca and Llagostera. “We can provide the service to the very top clubs or to very small clubs,” Gonzalez says. “We have developed templates and forms so that it is as easy as possible for the club to receive what they are due. I spoke recently with an African club that had practically no structure (for this) and if they allow we can make the claim in the name of a club.” LaLiga Tech is processing the first claims being made by clubs. Gonzalez says the length of the process depends on how “friendly” the club that owes money is when it comes to accepting their responsibility. “If clubs respond rapidly — as they are professional and understand their responsibilities — we can be processing the first payments in two weeks,” he says. “If they try to obstruct it, the process is taken to FIFA. If necessary, legal action can be taken. There is no way of dodging their responsibilities.” LaLiga Tech takes a percentage of the money the development club receives, part of which is shared with Sevilla under their agreement. Both said the terms are confidential, but Gonzalez says it is a lot less than clubs previously ended up paying if they hired legal experts to fight a case they may or may not have won. FIFA has also taken steps to help clubs receive the money they are due via the solidarity mechanism. Under FIFA rules, all players must have an ‘electronic player passport’ showing the clubs they have been registered with since they were 12, which can be used during the solidarity mechanism process. Since last November, all transfers must go through the FIFA ‘clearing house’, which in theory manages the payment of the sums due for all transfers from that date. FIFA president Gianni Infantino told the FIFA congress during the 2022 World Cup that this would help smaller clubs to receive what they are owed. Gonzalez says this is a step in the right direction. However, he adds that player passports are not always complete or correct, systems used by different national federations are not always compatible, and historical transfers are not covered at all. “We hope FIFA manages to bring in their own system, it would be good news for football,” Gonzalez says. “But in the meantime, we will keep helping everyone, especially the smaller clubs who develop players, to get the money they are due. FIFA estimated in November that “close to $400million” should be distributed each year to clubs through the solidarity system but that, in reality, more than $300million is being kept annually — generally by richer clubs taking advantage of those with fewer resources who either do not know or cannot access the money they are owed. Making sure the solidarity payments are actually paid should be a general positive. The clubs who develop young players get more money, which they can invest in better coaching and infrastructure, helping them develop emerging stars, who move for more money in future, and the circle continues. “The solidarity mechanism will spread money to other competitions and in the end bring about more fairness within the transfer market,” Gonzalez says. “The clubs who develop the players can receive what they are really entitled to. There will be some cases where we lose money, but others in which we win. And with this balance, we can make the world of football a little bit fairer.”
Not everyday in the cups you see this, but PSG is playing a 6th tier side today in the Coupe de France.
Manchester fans continue to be shit humans. Where the fuck do you start with how problematic that is?
Mudduck the new face of the Kick it out Campaign? https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/mykhailo-mudryk-apologises-n-word-tiktok-video/
Johan Djourou had a 2 month spell looking like prime VVD but don’t think anyone can top those few months of Cisse on fire
Wydad with a 1-0 lead in their CWC fixture heading towards stoppage with the entire stadium behind them get called for a handball in the box, then one of their players gets a yellow for scuffing the spot followed shortly by a second yellow for dissent, pk converted and they're now trying to survive 11 minutes of stoppage down a man to get to et I didn't know where else to post this
Is Seattle playing in the same stadium? I’m guessing either way that kick off is getting pushed back?