June 21, 2022
The brief from today:
Qatar still preparing
The 2022 World Cup hosts played a friendly today in anticipation of the competition scheduled to commence in November. The match, which took place in Marbella, Spain, was against Irish Premiership champions Linfield. Qatar would lose the match by a 1-0 scoreline, and it means some more fine tuning will be required as the World Cup nears. The hosts, who are certainly not among the favorites, will at least want to put in a good showing starting against their Group A rivals: Senegal, Netherlands, and Ecuador.
New ownership at Lyon
Long time owner and president of Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon), Jean-Michel Aulas, confirmed that the club will be bought by American businessman John Textor. Textor is currently a shareholder of English Premier League side Crystal Palace. His sports investment company, Eagle Football Holdings, will acquire a majority stake in Lyon, but Aulas will stay on as president for at least three years. This marks the end of the Aulas’s ownership which began in 1987. During his reign Lyon has risen through the ranks in Europe, and were even ranked as high as 12th most valuable club in the world by Deloitte in 2009. Textor’s takeover continues the growing trend of American ownership of clubs around Europe. Lyon now join Marseille and Toulouse as the Ligue 1 teams owned by a US based business or person.
Textor (L) will take over from Aulas (R) as the new owner of Lyon
Columbus Crew spend some money
Major League Soccer side, Columbus Crew, signed Colombian “Cucho” Hernandez from English side Watford today. The deal is worth a total $10 million, and the length of the contract will be three years. Hernandez only spent one season at Watford playing in the Premier League until they were ultimately relegated to the Championship last season. In his time there he made 28 appearances, registering three assists and scoring five goals. The transfer fee makes him the record signing for the Columbus Crew, and the club will be hoping for a return on investment.