July 29, 2022
The brief from today:
Jersey problems for Inter
Inter Milan will be making some alterations to their jerseys for the upcoming 2022/23 season. DigitalBits, a blockchain platform, signed a sponsorship agreement with the Italian side two seasons ago that would see Inter pocket €85 million over a four-year period. Initially DigitalBits appeared as a sleeve sponsor with Socios, another crypto player, remaining as the main jersey sponsor in 2021/22. As per the contractual agreement, next season was set to be the first with DigitalBits being on the front of the jersey, but things have taken a turn. It appears that Inter haven’t received the payments owed to them from DigitalBits, and as a result will remove the name from their jersey. It’s no secret that the crypto market has been struggling recently, with major player Bitcoin, amongst numerous other cryptocurrencies, drastically dropping in value, so this development with Inter and DigitaBits should be concerning. Inter are already dealing with financial issues, and have had to take on loans from private equity companies to balance their books. In addition to that, they have also been selling key players to offset debt, so the last thing needed is for scheduled revenue to suddenly vanish. DigitalBits is also currently one of Roma’s sponsors, so whether any delinquent payments appear there—or at any of the numerous clubs with other crypto sponsors— is something to watch out for.
Inter’s jersey will now look different unless DigitalBits sort out the payments they owe
CAF reschedules AFCON qualifiers
With September’s international break meant to include qualifiers for the 2023 AFCON, CAF has now made some adjustments to the schedule. With the recent decision to postpone next summer’s continental tournament to January 2024 because of weather challenges, CAF has now postponed the September qualifiers. Rather than have the fixtures then, teams will now be able to use the opportunity to train and/or schedule friendlies. A story yesterday discussed Qatar’s lengthy training camp leading up to the World Cup in November, and with this schedule change announced by CAF, African nations will also be able to get a little extra preparation. It is still just a roughly 10-day window, compared to Qatar’s six-month camp, but with the World Cup fast approaching, and the club season commencing, the five national teams—Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Tunisia, Morocco—heading to Qatar will gladly take any opportunity to fine tune tactics and training.
CAF, and its president, Patrice Motsepe, have adjusted the September international break schedule