07/05/2026

SPORTS THURSDAY | MAY 7, 2026

29

History beckons Strasbourg BlueCo-backed club nears landmark European achievement S TRASBOURG could this week reach the first European final in their history, at the end of a turbu lent season for the club which belongs to the same BlueCo consortium that owns Chelsea. He pointed out that Strasbourg were languishing in the regional, amateur fourth and fifth tiers of French football 15 years ago, after running into financial diffi culties and going into liquidation.

rent club world champions,” he suggested. He was replaced by O’Neil, under whom Strasbourg have already lost in the French Cup semifinals. “Thursday’s game is the biggest in the club’s history. We will need the same sup port and energy that we got against Mainz,” said O’Neil. The problem is that the club’s most vociferous supporters have, since last sea son, chosen to express their displeasure at the ownership by staging a silent protest in the first 15 minutes of matches. What is happening at Strasbourg is “what the future could look like for the vast majority of clubs,” said Ultra Boys 90, a leading supporters group, in an open letter earlier this year. “They will be relegated to the role of feeder teams, without their own resources, with no soul and no link to where they come from.” The silent protest is expected to take place as usual tomorrow, even if Ultra Boys 90 are calling on fans to gather ahead of kickoff to welcome the team bus to the ground. The stadium has been recently reno vated, with a huge new main stand having taken capacity to around 32,000. It is almost always sold out now, but many of the fans who fill it are unhappy, or at least conflicted, about the direction in which the club is heading. Even if they might be heading for a European final, with the chance of lifting a trophy won last season by none other than Chelsea. – AFP

They returned to Ligue 1 in 2017 after almost a decade away, and had managed to establish themselves again in the top flight. However, Strasbourg hardly looked like becoming competitors in Europe before BlueCo took over in June 2023, a year after buying Chelsea. “We were conscious that we had gone as far as we could with our existing model,” insisted Keller. Significant money has since been invested in new players, and Strasbourg qualified for this edition of the Conference League after an exciting last campaign under English coach Liam Rosenior. Some talented players have come to Strasbourg from Chelsea, albeit mostly on loan, but what fans have noticed above all is something else: if a player or coach does really well in Alsace, the chances are they will soon be off to Stamford Bridge. In September, Dutch striker Emmanuel Emegha, Strasbourg’s captain, announced he would join Chelsea next season, upset ting many fans. In January, Chelsea decided to poach Rosenior, whose own comments did little to calm the anger among supporters. “I hope the fans are proud in a way that somebody who’s worked here has been identified to be the manager of a Champions League-winning club and cur

The team coached by Englishman Gary O’Neil host Rayo Vallecano at their Stade de la Meinau tomorrow (3am Malaysian time) in the second leg of their Conference League semifinal, looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first meeting. Neither team has made it to the last four of a European competition before, and the winner will progress to the final in the German city of Leipzig on May 27 against Crystal Palace or Shakhtar Donetsk. Not so long ago, the prospect of lifting a European trophy would have felt like a pipe dream for Strasbourg fans. The club from a city which sits on France’s border with Germany and is the seat of the European Parliament, have been French champions just once, in 1979. Before this campaign, their best run in Europe came in 1980, when they lost to Ajax in the European Cup quarterfinals, although there was a memorable win against Liverpool in the Uefa Cup in 1997. But the involvement of BlueCo in all of this is a point of tension for Strasbourg’s supporters. “We needed someone to accompany us to get to this step,” the club’s president Marc Keller, an ex-Strasbourg player, told RMC radio after the team beat German side Mainz in the last round.

Strasbourg’s Martial Godo (right) battles for possession with Rayo’s Jorge de Frutos during the Conference League semifinal first leg match last Friday. – REUTERSPIC

Premier League losses soar for clubs locked in ‘arms race’

THE Premier League is the envy of the world for its revenue-generating power, yet clubs lost nearly US$1 billion (RM3.9b) last season as the pursuit of on-field success trumped financial security. Despite amassing a record £6.8 billion (RM36.5b) in combined revenue in 2024/25, outgoings continued to outstrip income due to rampant inflation in the transfer market, player wages and agent fees. Chelsea set an unwanted record by posting a Premier League record pre-tax loss of £262 million (RM1.4 billion) for the year ending June 30, 2025. The Blues’scattergun approach to hoovering up global young talent makes them an extreme case, but they are part of a broader trend. Relegation-threatened Tottenham, the ninth richest club in the world, were £121 million (RM65om) in the red last season despite booming revenues from their multi-functional, state-of-the art stadium, and winning the Europa League. The overall numbers would be even bleaker were it not for some smart accounting, with several clubs selling off assets to their own ownership groups. Saudi-backed Newcastle sold their St James’

champions at £4.5 billion (RM24b). Chelsea were sold in 2022 for a total package worth £4.25 billion (RM22.8b) to a consortium led by American investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital. Manchester City have become the dominant force in the English game since a takeover backed by the Abu Dhabi royal family, while the Saudi sovereign wealth fund took control of Newcastle in 2021. Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville believes the scale of Chelsea’s financial problems could signal a slowdown in the bull market for English clubs. But Maguire argues that losses are deemed affordable by super-rich owners. “With billionaire owners and sovereign wealth funds in charge of clubs, whilst the losses seem high, for those people they are deemed to be affordable,” he said. “Unless there’s a mindset change from club owners in terms of controlling your core costs, which are player-related in transfer fees and wages, we’re going to continue in this vein for some time.” – AFP

higher ticket prices. In the frenzied world of the Premier League, success in an increasingly competitive league is no longer measured solely by trophies. For the second consecutive year at least five English sides will qualify for the Champions League, which guarantees a huge financial windfall. New financial rules will be introduced next season focused on limiting squad cost in line with revenue. Spending on wages, transfer fees and agents must not exceed 85% of revenue, with a stricter 70% limit placed on teams in Uefa competitions. However, those changes are unlikely to make a significant impact on losses, with operating costs, which jumped to £1.9 billion (RM10.2b) for Premier League clubs last season, excluded. Despite clubs’ tendencies to haemorrhage money, they remain an attractive asset due to their scarcity value and role in the Premier League’s global soap opera. British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s 27.7% stake in Manchester United, bought for £1.25 billion (RM6.7b) in 2024, valued the 20-time English

Park stadium to another company owned by the club’s shareholders to turn a profit, while Everton and Aston Villa cashed in on their women’s teams. “The problem with the Premier League is that clubs are so incentivised to overspend,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire told AFP . “It’s an arms race at the end of the day in terms of competing for players on transfer fees and wages.” The figures for the 2024/25 campaign do not even fully account for a record £3 billion (RM16b) spent on transfer fees by Premier League clubs in last year’s summer transfer window, smashing the previous high by £650 million (RM3.5b). Liverpool’s £125 million (RM671m) signing of Alexander Isak set a new record for an English club and was part of a £450 million (RM2.4b) window for the English champions, which has so far failed to reap tangible reward. Wages continue to spiral, reaching £4.4 billion (RM23.6b) last season, a 9% increase on the previous year, outstripping the 7% rise in revenue. Spending on agents also reached new highs, fuelling fans’ anger at the money flowing out the game while they are asked to pay significantly