Football Partnerships

In the United States of America, American football, basketball and baseball undoubtedly reign supreme amongst sports fans - but it’s impossible to miss the enthusiasm for and growth of soccer in the country.

Purists the world over of course call the beautiful game ‘football’, but with American football so entrenched, in the United States it’s ‘soccer’ that’s making waves in this sports-mad country.

A startling sign of the popularity of the game and the country’s appetite for a sport which has by far the biggest global appeal, is the fact that United States soccer fans have already purchased over 93 300 tickets for matches at next June’s 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa.

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Wednesday’s Champions League final was globally the most-viewed televised football event of the year so far and will retain that position for 2009 bar a miracle. According to this research by SPORT+MARKT, a European fanbase of over 80 million people follow either one of the Champions League finalists, with Manchester United slightly less popular in 16 key markets.

However, despite the greater popularity of Barcelona in Europe, the Spanish champions attract less fans to their Camp Nou stadium, which has over 20,000 seats more than Old Trafford. In fact, Manchester United’s average attendance over the last three seasons has been higher. In relative terms, Manchester United reaches a stadium usage of 99 per cent while Barcelona fans only occupied 71 per cent of the seats this season.

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CNBC Africa is calling on all business people in Africa to get into the spirit of soccer by wearing a football shirt to work on 15 June 2009.

“With the start of the Confederations Cup on June 14 and less than a year to go to the kick-off of the 2010 World Cup, it’s time for the continent to show its colours and show support for the beautiful game of soccer” says Gary Alfonso, the network’s chief operating officer.

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Football business event Leaders in Football has announced that Sunil Gulati will deliver an exclusive interview to the event on 7-8 October at Chelsea FC.

Gulati is president of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and chairman of the US 2018/2022 World Cup Bid Committee. He will cover the recent economic events and their impact on the football community as well as the current state of the game in the United States.

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Skyboxes at the new Red Bull Arena will range from $65,000 to $75,000, the team has announced.

The 25,000-seat arena is being constructed in Harrison and is scheduled to open for the 2010 Major League Soccer season.

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