Sport
EFL fans will be able to watch their team over 20 times a season thanks to new Sky Sports deal
More than 1,000 games outside of the top-flight are set to be shown on TV starting from next season.
The English Football League (EFL) has struck a new deal with Sky Sports to broadcast more than 1,000 games live on TV from next season, with a brand-new channel being added to their overall package, which will let fans watch their club at least 20 times every year.
Better still, the new channel will come at no extra charge to existing Sky Sports customers and help get more eyes on the lower leagues each week.
Making the announcement on Monday, 13 May, the EFL confirmed that there are set to be more games than ever aired by the broadcaster thanks to the new record deal and the introduction of Sky Sports+, a new red-button style channel and streaming service allowing fans more freedom.
Kicking off from 2024/25 and running until 2028/29, the new TV rights deal will see a total of 1,059 EFL matches shown across multiple platforms in a contract worth £895m and £40m in marketing benefits.
Sky’s new EFL deal – the division breakdown
As per the official press release, Sky Sports has promised to broadcast a minimum of 328 Sky Bet Championship matches, 248 League One matches and the same number of League Two matches.
In addition to the normal season fixtures, they will also be delivering every playoff game throughout the EFL, as well as all of the 93 Carabao Cup and 127 EFL Trophy matches for the very first time.
Breaking this down to how this looks each round, this equates to 10 live EFL fixtures shown each weekend: Championship games and another five split between the third and fourth divisions.
According to Sky themselves, this represents “a 50% increase on the value of the current rights agreement and will see significantly enhanced exposure for all EFL clubs provided through on-air and digital support from Sky Sports to promote EFL competitions, clubs, and community initiatives.”
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With the 3pm/Article 48 TV blackout remaining in Britain, this means that more games will be scheduled outside of this time zone, however, they are also promising to give better notice periods for fixtures selected for TV broadcast and Sky Sports+ coverage.
The new Sky x EFL deal will also ensure that all opening, final day and midweek fixtures in the Sky Bet EFL will be shown live, as well as all games played on Bank Holidays including Easter, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and lower league fixtures pencilled in for the international breaks.
Fans further down the pyramid have been crying out for better visibility when it comes to their clubs for years, making this a landmark moment in the history of English football, but one that still goes to show just how much TV rights and the entertainment industry continues to dominate the beautiful game.
Still, more games for everyone to enjoy on the telly – that’s a good thing, right?
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Featured Images — Puma/EFL/The Manc Group
Sport
Manchester City release new ‘The Decade Collection’ celebrating 10 years of Pep Guardiola
Danny Jones
Manchester City and PUMA have just released a new clothing line celebrating 10 seasons of Pep Guardiola at the club.
Simply entitled ‘The Decade Collection’, the new PUMA range revolves entirely around Pep as he marks his 10th anniversary in charge of the Blues, focusing on minimalistic style.
Guardiola has always been a trendy bloke, often being highlighted for his fashion choices on the touchline – even some of the questionable ones…
But with a much plainer approach this time around, the Pep clothing collab
Debuting the lifestyle drop on Wednesday, 15 April, Man City wrote on social media, “Ten seasons on the touchline. Ten seasons of setting the standard.
“Introducing the Puma Football Decade Collection with the Pep Team – celebrating Pep’s ten seasons as our manager and inspired by memorable moments from his tenure at the Club.”
While it’s unclear how much (if any) of these new clothes the Catalan coach has helped design or had influence on, but given its exclusive nature, you can expect it to sell out pretty quickly.
They go on to add: “Created to honour a defining chapter that reshaped the club’s modern identity, this exclusive collection is available in limited quantities.
Starting at £30 for the cheapest item – a ‘P’ logo baseball cap – the most expensive part of the collection clocks in at £110: his special anniversary edition ‘Majesty Low Decade’ PUMA trainers.
You can see some more examples of what we’ve already seen him wearing, and what we’ll no doubt see him in pitchside very soon, down below.
https://x.com/ManCity/status/2044347944988516522?s=20
Obviously, City has plenty of other brand partnerships when it comes to both official sports apparel and more casual clothing, many of which we’ve already seen the 55-year-old football manager wear, but you can almost guarantee he’ll be donning them for the coming fixtures.
You can see Man City x PUMA x Pep Guardiola ‘Decade Collection’ in full HERE.
Speaking of which, up next for Pep and co is what could prove to be THE big twist in this year’s Premier League campaign, with his squad of serial winners taking on league leaders Arsenal at home.
Not only did the Gunners’ surprise loss to Bournemouth last weekend help City close the gap on the top spot, but with them refinding their form ahead of hosting the title hopefuls at the Etihad Stadium, it all looks to be shifting back in their favour at the moment.
With seven games left, and one in hand compared to Arsenal, do you see them beating Mikel Arteta’s side to another trophy?
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Featured Images — Manchester City Football Club (publicity pictures)
Sport
Sale Sharks announce signing of exciting new winger David Opoku-Fordjour
Danny Jones
Sale Sharks have revealed their latest bit of recruitment as they have announced an agreement to sign promising young winger, David Opoku-Fordjour.
The brother of existing Sharks player, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, David, is set to join Sale at the start of next Gallagher PREM season.
Sharing the news with their fans on social media, the Greater Manchester rugby union outfit is tipping the ‘exciting’ and very fast forward to achieve big things at the club.
As the older sibling of 21-year-old prop Asher (only slightly), they might be of a similar profile in some ways, but they are still two very unique talents with their own attributes.
The fellow Coventry-born prospect came through his local side’s youth academy, making over half a century of appearances for the Championship team.
He will now become the second member of the Opoku-Fordjour family, who are originally from Ghana, to play for Sale Sharks.
Already capped England star Asher is actually the youngest of the four Midlands-born brothers.
Meanwhile, David Opoku-Fordjour – still just 22 himself – will make his Premiership debut in the coming 2026/27 campaign, penning a one-year deal with an option of extending by another 12 months as part of his contract:
The youngster said in an official statement: “I know the levels at a PREM club will be much higher, but I’m really looking forward to playing and training with internationals every day.
“There are so many good wingers at the club – guys like Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed – and I just want to be a sponge and learn from them and develop as much as I can.”
“Asher and I are really close, and playing with him again will be brilliant. When I spoke to him, he just said that the environment at Sale is great and that I would really enjoy it. He said the club is full of good people, so I can’t wait to get started.”
Commenting on his arrival, Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson said, “There’s some real talent and potential in the Champ, and we think we’ve found one in David.
“He scores tries for fun, but there’s plenty more to his game, and we’re looking forward to seeing how he develops in this environment, learning and playing with the international wingers we’ve got.”
Looking forward to seeing him on the pitch, Sharks?
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Featured Images — FloRugby/Coventry RUFC (screenshots via YouTube)
Danny Jones -
14th May 2024 
