2011 has seen the FC Barcelona reigning in Europe again, winning the Champions League over Manchester United. It has also been an exciting year from a marketing perspective, with the coverage and promotion of international competitions (Champions League, Copa America, Women’s World Cup), the development of social media strategies, and the quest of the asian market.

In these tough economic times, football club have to be more creative in their strategies and need to innovate to expand their market and fanbase, and ultimately generate more revenues. Spanish giants Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, alongside with top English clubs, Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea are on top of the ‘Football Marketing league’.

Here is a quick summary of the main news and analysis of the business of football in 2011. What do you think were the most important news in 2011?

January

• 400 clubs to receive share of 2010 FIFA World Cup benefits
  Barcelona topped a global league table of clubs receiving compensation from FIFA for letting their players go to the 2010 World Cup.
• Puma launches King Finale Boot Facebook Campaign
  To celebrate the launch of the PUMA King Finale football boot and apparel range, a new Facebook application allows users to create bespoke poster images mimicking PUMA’s new retro-styled ‘King Of…’ advertising campaign.
• Vauxhall confirms England sponsorship
  The Football Association signed a three-and-a-half-year agreement with Vauxhall Motors which see the leading British vehicle manufacturer become Lead Partner to the England teams.
• Nike Introduces the New French Football Kit
  The kit design adheres to the tradition and standards of French style and design excellence while enabling players to perform at their best every time they pull on the famous French shirt.
• King Eric Takes The Throne At The New York Cosmos
  Manchester United legend Eric Cantona made a sensational return to football as the director of New York Cosmos.

February

• Premier League Clubs spend a record £225 million in January transfer window
  Premier League clubs bucked the current economic trend by spending a record £225m in the January 2011 transfer window, beating the previous record of £175m in January 2008 by £50m.
• The Spanish Football Federation and adidas extend their partnership
  Adidas and the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation) announced the extension of their sponsorship agreement, extending the relationship until December 2018.
• Real Madrid, Barcelona Top Deloitte Football Money League as Manchester City Rises
  The combined revenues of the world’s 20 highest earning football clubs have surpassed €4 billion for the first time, according to the latest Football Money League from Deloitte.
• Spanish league usurps Europe’s merchandising throne
  Spain’s Primera División generated revenue of approx. EUR 190 million in the past season, making them the top grossing league in Europe according to the European Football Merchandising Report.
• Liverpool FC becomes world’s first football club with its own mobile store
  Liverpool FC has become the first football club in the world to launch a fully transactional mobile store.

March

• 2011 UEFA Champions League final ball unveiled
  The Finale London, official match ball for the 2011 UEFA Champions League final, has been launched by adidas with a helping hand from Samir Nasri, Salomon Kalou and Jermain Defoe.
• Adidas is All In – Messi & Beckham star in Adidas biggest marketing campaign
  This is the first time ever that adidas has created a campaign that leverages the three divisions that make up the brand – Sport Performance, adidas Originals and Sport Style.
• Marseille and adidas let fans pick Kit design to celebrate reaching 1m Facebook fans
  Fans have been logging on to the adidas led – miteam.com website to fully customise their dream Marseille 2011-2012 kit.
• Lionel Messi, Jose Mourinho Top List Of Highest Paid Players, Managers
  Reigning world player of the year Lionel Messi is the highest-paid footballer on the planet, while Jose Mourinho has the largest salary of any manager in the game.
• Manchester United Facebook page tops 11 million
  Launched only last July, Facebook.com/manchesterunited is the fastest growing page of any sports team on the planet.

April

• Global Player Migration Report 2011
  The Global Player Migration Report analyses the international transfers that occurred in 2010 to 104 leagues belonging to 69 national associations from around the world.
• Nike introduces the Official Ball of Copa America 2011
  Nike unveiled the official matchball for the Copa America 2011 tournament held in Argentina – the Nike Total90 Tracer Doma Soccer Ball.
• Bayern Munich and adidas extend ‘unique’ partnership
  Germany’s most successful club and the world-leading sports equipment manufacturer announced an extension of their partnership through to 2020.
• Man United remains world’s most valuable club
  Manchester United has been ranked football’s most valuable team by Forbes magazine for the seventh year in a row, while Barcelona’s valuation has dropped.
• Liverpool land Premier League record £25m-a-year kit deal
  Liverpool have landed the biggest kit deal in the history of the Premier League, securing a £25 million-a-year contract with Boston-based company Warrior Sports.
• A brand new Juventus.com and social networking
  Juventus revamped its website and launched its new social networking strategy with new Facebook and Twitter accounts, and a YouTube channel.

May

• How Twitter is bringing footballers back to the fans
  Increasing number of players are embracing the social media phenomenon, and the effect is largely positive.
• 2011 MLS Player Salaries
  The Major League Soccer Player’s Union have released their 2011 salary information. David Beckhan and Thierry Henry still the best paid players in MLS.
• Premier League prize and Record TV payments for 2010-11
  The huge financial rewards on offer to clubs playing in the Premier League showed that United broke through the £60m barrier for the first time.
• Manchester City tops Tickets Value League
  When it comes to getting the most points for your pound it’s Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers who really delivered in 2010/11.
• 2011 UEFA Champions League final is the richest ever
  English champions Manchester United FC and Spanish La Liga winners FC Barcelona to battle for share of historic €200 million prize purse.

June

• Sponsors look to cash in on ‘beautiful side’ of women’s World Cup
  In the run up to the Women’s World Cup, sponsors have been lining up to take a slice.
• Premier League wages keep on rising
  The proportion of income that Premier League clubs spend on wages hit a record 68% in 2009-10.
• Budweiser to sponsor The FA Cup
  The Football Association announced a three-year agreement with Budweiser, which will see the iconic global lager brand become the Lead Partner of The FA Cup.
• YouTube To Broadcast Copa America 2011
  YouTube is to stream live video of all 26 matches from next month’s hotly anticipated Copa America football tournament.
• Brands should be scoring more with football sponsorship
  Even some longstanding football sponsors have surprisingly low awareness.
• FA to test new ad technology
  The FA is testing a novel marketing initiative, which will allow brands to showcase country-specific ads on football ground hoardings at England games.
• Nike Seitiro Premier League, La Liga and Serie A Match Ball for the 2011-2012 season
  Nike have unveiled the new Premier League, La Liga and Serie A ball for the 2011/12 season, the brand new Nike Seitiro football.

July

• adidas Finale 11 Champions League ball 2011-2012
  Adidas continue their association with the tournament with the release of the new Finale 11 – a new, super colorful version of last season’s ball.
• Commercial tours: Sunshine, facilities … and cash
  In that period, clubs will be playing more than 40 games on five continents, balancing the sometimes contradictory needs of managers and commercial directors.
• Manchester United to open talks with Nike on a £400m world record kit deal
  The actual increase is from the annual current value of £23.5 million, to £40 million a year with the new deal also projected to cover 10 years.
• Manchester City stadium to be renamed Etihad Stadium
  Manchester City Football Club and Etihad Airways have today announced a 10-year comprehensive partnership agreement significantly expanding their existing commercial relationship.
• Women’s World Cup Soccer Final Scores New Twitter Record
  The Women’s World Cup final scored a new record with 7,196 Tweets per second.
• Wayne Rooney tops list of most Premier League shirt sales
  Wayne Rooney’s surname was the most popular to appear on replica football shirts during the 2010/11 season.
• adidas name London 2012 Olympic Ball ‘The Albert’
  The London 2012 Olympic football tournament matchball has been named as “The Albert”.

August

• BBC Sport Price of Football survey
  Only 11 out of the 104 clubs in England and Scotland will offer adults the chance to enjoy a day at the football for less than £20 during the new season.
• Castrol creates Cristiano Ronaldo film
  Castrol has created an advertiser funded film-documentary starring their global ambassador, Cristiano Ronaldo, to launch their new product brand, Castrol EDGE.
• Champions League financial distribution – 2010/11
  The 32 clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League last season received performance-related payments, as well as money from the TV market pool, amounting to €754.1m.
• FA Cup Prize Money For Clubs
  Just under £15 million will be paid out by the Football Association in prize money by the time the Final is played on May 5th 2012
• adidas UEFA Club Competitions balls 2011-2012
  Adidas presents the Official Match Balls to be used during the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup tournaments.

September

• Heineken launches ‘Legendary Football’ UEFA Champions League campaign
  The campaign is built around a new 30-second film featuring UEFA Champions League legends.
• Juventus will beat Arsenal every time in a branding match
  For a good Italian brand, the first strategic step forward is usually a step back because the answers to the future can inevitably be gleaned from understanding the origins of your brand.
• Arsenal revs up digital marketing to attract global fanbase
  Arsenal is set to ramp up digital marketing activity, including a raft of new social gaming and media initiatives, to keep pace with its Premier League rivals in the quest to engage international fans.
• Man Utd is world’s ‘most valuable’ sports brand
  Manchester United is now ranked as the “most valuable sporting team in the world” as its brand value has more than doubled under the Glazer family’s ownership
• Tottenham look to sell their brand to fans and sponsors
  The north London team is looking to reach out its a potentially huge fan base around the world, and then leverage that global interest in Spurs to hopefully sign a number of new sponsorship deals.

October

• Manchester City strikes content deal with YouTube
  Manchester City become the first Premier League club to sign a content deal with the video sharing giant, YouTube.
• Liverpool want bigger share of overseas TV money
  Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre said the break-up of the established broadcasting deal for English top flight clubs is “a debate that has to happen” with the Anfield club favouring the Spanish model.
• Manchester United attract half of Premier League’s global TV audience
  Manchester United matches attract almost 52 per cent of the Premier League’s entire global TV audience.
• Official English football wage figures for the past 25 years
  The amount of money paid to English professional footballers each season since 1984-85 is revealed in detail for the first time.
• Mexican side Jaguares de Chiapas replace shirt names with Twitter handles
  Mexican Primera Division side Jaguares have taken their dedication to Twitter to a new level, by printing players official account names on the back of their shirts.

November

• Manchester United to unveil global social-media network
  Manchester United is building its own branded global social network and media outlet, with the aim of targeting its international base of an estimated 350m supporters.
• FC Barcelona unveils its new web platform
  The platform was built to better serve the broad Barca fan base, and adapt to constant flux of different world wide audiences.
• PUMA Launches African Artist Inspired Kits
  Puma has unveiled new kits for its ten partnered African national teams at the opening of a month-long exhibition, Interpretations of Africa: Football, Art and Design.
• Lionel Messi Unveils His New Personal Logo
  “To all my Facebook friends, I share with you my personal logo that represents who I am as a player and person. Hope you like it!”
• Adidas unveiled Brainy Boots Offer Messi Secret in Nike Challenge
  After two years in development, adidas released football shoes that allow the wearer to compare speed and movement with stars including Messi.
• La Liga ready to adopt the Premier League model over fixture schedule
  The controversy over the new kick-off times introduced in La Liga this season is set to be averted in the future, with plans for clubs and fans to know the scheduled start times before the start of the season.
• Real Madrid and Cisco to turn Bernabeu into most technologically advanced stadium
  Santiago Bernabéu Stadium will be a model for leading technology innovation and provide fans a completely innovative experience.

December

• EURO 2012 adidas match ball Tango 12
  The official ball of the Euro 2012 in Ukraine and Poland, which was developed by Adidas, will be called the “Tango 12″.
• Sevilla fans paying to have tiny photo of themselves on players’ shirts
  Sevilla fans can go to its website, select the player they want to wear their mug and the exact spot on the number they want to appear for the entire season.
• FA hopes for 30% international TV fees rise
  The value of the Football Association’s international television sponsorship deals could rise by about a third thanks to increased demand for England matches and the FA Cup.
• Manchester City partners with EA Sports to boost brand
  Electronic Arts has launched a “permanent pop-up” at Man City’s Etihad Stadium, as part of a wider content partnership that will see a range of club-specific content developed.
• adidas and UEFA extend European club football partnership
  UEFA has signed a new six-year deal with adidas for the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup which will run until the end of the 2017/18 season.
• Munich 2012 Champions League Final visual identity
  UEFA has revealed the new visual identity for the 2012 UEFA Champions League final in Munich on 19 May based on German Expressionism and the city’s modern architecture.
• FC Barcelona target China internet market
  Barcelona aim to extract one euro from every Chinese citizen to access their webpage in order to make €1.3 billion.

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