Harry Maguire’s Conviction Nullified, Retrial Soon; CVC and Advent Partner Up in a $1.5 Billion Serie A Media Bid and More (Football Round-Up)

Manchester United stated that the initial verdict by a Greek court convicting team captain Harry Maguire has been nullified following appeal. The convictions were made based on multiple charges following last week’s brawl at the island of Mykonos. 

The 27-year old English defender has been accused of attempted bribery, repeated bodily harm, violence against public employees and insults after a group he was part of got involved in a fight that led to the assault of two police officers. He was handed a suspended prison sentence of 21 months and 10 days. 

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“An appeal against yesterday’s verdict was lodged this morning (August 26) by Harry’s legal team. In accordance with the Greek judicial process, the filing of an appeal extinguishes the initial court verdict and nullifies the conviction, said the statement. “The appeal has been accepted and will lead to a full retrial in a more senior court. This means that Harry has no criminal record and is once again presumed innocent until proven guilty.

CVC and Advent Join Bids 

CVC Capital Partners and Advent International have partnered up in a joint bid of $1.5 billion to acquire a 10 percent stake in a firm that is set to manage the media rights, international trademark and commercial development of Italy’s football league, Serie A.

Serie A, in an attempt to raise revenues, urged investors to submit bids to buy stakes up to 15 percent in a new media firm that will control its broadcasting rights. The deadline for the bid is Friday this week. 

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According to the reports by the Financial Times, the club presidents of Serie A will make the decision on who would win the bid on September 9. CVC will hold 50 percent of the minority stake while Avent would take 40 percent with the remaining 10 percent being held by firm Fondo FSI. 

While CVC has always known to have operated individually, the reports by Financial Times suggest that the firm has decided to join forces with other private equity firms to win over clubs of Serie A, which are hesitant to hand control of their commercial affairs to private investors. 

Messi-Barca Saga

FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi has startled the football world after the club confirmed that lawyers of the 33-year old informed the management about his intentions of leaving. 

Following the development, many clubs have lined up to sign the Argentine footballer and many are excited to see what comes next for Messi after his long-term relationship with Barca comes to an end. The likelihood of Messi joining Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been his long-term rival as the greatest player of the World, at Juventus is also being speculated. There have also been Talks about Messi joining forces with Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain. 

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There have been talks of a possible reunion with Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola.  According to Nou Camp great Rivaldo, Guardiola could rebuild his City aroundMessi if the 33-year old manages to leave Barcelona. 

“Barcelona don’t want to lose their best player for nothing, so they’ll try to convince the player to stay or agree to let him leave if they receive a good offer from another club,” Rivaldo said in an interview for bookmakers Betfair. “It will be a sad ending for Messi’s story with Barcelona if the things remain this way, but this is football and sometimes things don’t run according to our expectations. Manchester City could be Messi’s best option as his next club. He’s 33 but his quality and talent are both unquestionable and I think he still has a few more years at the top.”

EFL, Sky Sports Streaming Deal

The English Football League (EFL) has signed an agreement with domestic broadcasters Sky Sports to allow fans to stream non-televised matches until football remains behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Sky Sport will show 130 live EFL matches for the entire 2020-21 season. The fixture which will not be played live by Sky Sports will be accessible at Clubs iFollow or other streaming services with charges of £10 per match.

In addition, the club season ticket holders will have access to all home games with regards to the agreement of the club where the supporters get a season ticket. As part of the season pass package, fans will also be provided with the access to away midweek matches if the team offers. 

“There is no argument that attending live matches is what the league, its clubs and fans want to see and, clearly, the overriding objective is to get supporters back into stadiums as soon as it is safe to do so. In the meantime, this framework allows our clubs, if they so wish, to reward their most loyal supporters by providing what we hope is only short-term access to watch their matches,”  said EFL Chief Executive, David Baldwin.

Qatar Bids to Host 2027 Asian Cup

Asian Cup defending champions Qatar has made an official bid to host the 2027 edition of the tournament on Wednesday. 

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) stated that four other countries namely India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan have also shown interest in hosting the 2027 tournament. The host country will be declared next year. The next edition of the tournament will be held in China in 2023. 

The Gulf state, which is also hosting the next World Cup in 2022, are in hopes of staging the competition for the third time after its previous staged the tournament in 1988 and 2011, respectively. 

Qatar won the 2018 Asian Cup, where the event expanded from 16 to 24 teams. 

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