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New York Times
a day ago
- Business
- New York Times
Frankfurt are about to hit profits of €345m in six years just from selling strikers – this is how they do it
Most clubs would feel a little uneasy, maybe even start to panic, if they always had to think about selling their best attacking player come the end of a season. Others, understandably, would fight tooth and nail to try to keep that key figure. But for Eintracht Frankfurt, under the guidance of sporting director Markus Krosche, letting their top goalscorers go — as they have done after four of the past seven German Bundesliga seasons — has swiftly become a natural and necessary part of their self-sustainable approach. Advertisement 'I call them end clubs,' Krosche said in an August 2024 interview with Sky Sports, referring to the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Liverpool. 'We are a club in between, who sell to these end clubs. 'This is what I tell the players: 'If your development is faster than our development as a club, and I get the money I expect, I will let you go'. This is why so many young talents like to come to Frankfurt, because we know what we have to do to develop them. 'Selling players is part of my job. I am not emotional about it. It's business.' Though it sounds clinical, Krosche's attention to detail — having invested heavily in the training facilities and coaching staff at Frankfurt over the past few years — is just as beneficial for the players as it is for the club's financial growth. They have hired psychologists and nutrition experts and can rely on a team of specialist coaches to work individually with young players, helping them to achieve their goals, which are, transparently, to move on and to play for Europe's biggest sides. With the imminent sale of Hugo Ekitike to Premier League champions Liverpool, reported by The Athletic to amount to around €91million with add-ons, Frankfurt's net transfer profit since summer 2023 will rise to around €161m. Their two biggest sales until that deal is official — Randal Kolo Muani and Omar Marmoush — both arrived as free agents and left commanding fees of €165m between them. When Ekitike is factored in, and only accounting for the centre-forwards they've sold, Frankfurt will have made a profit of around €345million (£300m/$405m at current rates) in just six years. Even before Krosche's 2021 appointment, in summer 2019, Frankfurt more than tripled their original investments when they sold Sebastien Haller and Luka Jovic in the same window. Andre Silva, who came in that summer on an initial loan to replace them, left for almost eight times the price for which he was purchased in summer 2020, just a year later, after scoring 28 league goals in the ensuing campaign. From a pure profit perspective, no club have generated more across the past three years, according to Transfermarkt, and they've done it while climbing steadily up the table: from seventh in 2022-23, to fifth, to matching their highest-ever Bundesliga finish last season by coming third. So, just how do Frankfurt keep doing it? And is it something we can expect to continue, with even more money coming their way? From a player-recruitment perspective, Frankfurt's approach to ensuring future profitability isn't groundbreaking. They target youngsters with high sell-on potential, placing particular emphasis on those who are positionally versatile and suit the club's style of play. It's the consistency and commitment to their methodology, along with the environment they create for incoming players, that helps them reap the rewards. Advertisement The execution of their strategy is always clear to see, with 21 of Frankfurt's last 26 permanent signings being under the age of 25 when they joined the club. They also, crucially, are not afraid to spend themselves if they spot a market opportunity, and will offer eight-figure fees if they believe that player fits their model. A look at their 10 most expensive buys illustrates that pattern. One of the oldest purchases in the list was that of Arthur Theate, though he was just 24 at the time. With plenty of top-flight experience in Italy's Serie A and France's Ligue 1 behind him, he came in from Rennes last August and played the third-most minutes of anyone in the Frankfurt squad. Of the 10, six are still at the club, and the others were sold for a cumulative profit of €111million, with a hefty boost to come when Ekitike officially becomes a Liverpool player. Jonathan Burkardt has yet to play competitively for Frankfurt but looks to be another acquisition that aligns closely with their recruitment project. Burkardt only turned 25 this month, so the three-time Germany international centre-forward has his best years ahead of him after leaving boyhood club Mainz. He scored 18 Bundesliga goals in what was his farewell season after recovering from the knee injury that kept him out for most of 2022-23 and the start of the following campaign. Able to play across the front line, as the position map illustrates below, even filling in at wing-back in his early appearances in the top flight, Burkardt is another forward who is adaptable, athletic and quick to spot opportunities to run in-behind — exactly the kind of attacking player who tends to prosper in a high-energy Frankfurt side. There are distinct similarities between him and now-Manchester City forward Marmoush, who was also picked up by Frankfurt after showing his versatility elsewhere in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart and Wolfsburg. As he has gone on to show in the Premier League, the Egyptian can play anywhere across the final third, but his skill set — an excellent striker of the ball from distance and a springy, powerful runner on the counter-attack — saw him thrive at a club that gave him the freedom to exploit space in transition. Advertisement As we can see below, Frankfurt were the side to have generated the most expected goals (xG) from fast-break situations last season, only being outscored in those scenarios by Liverpool across Europe's big four leagues (Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A). With Marmoush at the heart of their distinct attacking approach, alongside Ekitike, another player similarly well-suited to free-flowing football on the break, the pair saw their respective valuations take off. In that respect, Frankfurt's commitment to quick, attacking football under coach Dino Toppmoller goes some way to explaining their recent success in the transfer market. Appealing to clubs in the Premier League, far and away the highest-spending division in world football, will be key to the consistent profitability of their model. And given that the English top flight jumped above the Bundesliga for the number of direct attacks per game last season, players who can be decisive at speed will continue to command premium prices. Speaking to The Athletic in May, Frankfurt CEO Axel Hellmann used the example of Marmoush to underline the importance of targeted training within his club to accelerate the upward trajectories of their talented players. 'We have one of the best coaching teams in the Bundesliga,' Hellmann said. 'That's really important, because we sign young players and the process of educating them, which is what is making us famous at the moment, involves a lot. 'When Marmoush arrived, he wasn't really a goalscorer, but our coaches worked with him mentally, physically, strategically, and tactically and technically on the pitch. Our team worked on all his abilities and we created a whole new player. It's good education and good coaching.' Marmoush joined Frankfurt as a pacy, positionally fluid attacking player, but he left 18 months later as so much more. He became a clinical finisher, his work on free kicks and set pieces was evident, plus the technical ability and combination play to both break down low blocks and strike with space ahead. Some will view their approach as lacking ambition, but Frankfurt's acceptance of their place in the footballing food chain is arguably their greatest strength. Their track record of developing and upselling young players now speaks for itself and helps attract some of the best prospects to their club. There are no delusions at Frankfurt, no blockers; if a player works hard to realise their talent, they will get the move they crave and help the club to achieve their objectives along the way. Advertisement All that remains to be seen now is how they continue to scale up on the pitch. Even with Champions League football on the menu for the coming season, Frankfurt will struggle to reinvest all of their immense transfer profits into the squad, as they are unlikely to attract the kind of star player who can sign and then immediately improve them. They have little choice but to keep investing in the future, so even if we see a slight drop-off from that third-placed finish, don't expect Frankfurt's striker conveyor belt to slow down.
The Sun
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Heartbroken Jack Fincham reveals cruel ‘loved one' branded him ‘a fat 33 year old loser' as he makes boxing comeback
JACK Fincham has revealed a cruel 'loved one' once branded him a 'fat 33-year-old loser' as he makes his boxing career comeback. Love Island legend Jack, 34, has battled a number of crippling personal issues in recent years, having opened up about living with bulimia for two decades as well as his addictions to drugs, alcohol and gambling. 5 5 5 Despite the hurdles, he's been working hard to relaunch his boxing career and recently revealed he'd signed a new contract with a sports management company. Now Jack has shared the heartbreaking reason behind his determination to turn his life around. Writing on Instagram, he said: 'I got called a fat 33 year old loser, a s*** boxer and everybody knows I'm s***. 'Imagine that from a 'loved one'. Only makes me have more heart and determination. 'I'll never stop training as hard as I can and I will reach my goal of southern area champion in professional boxing.' Jack added: 'Hurt my feelings but [I'm] using that as fuel. The backing I have, I can't lose now. My trainers believe in me so I believe in myself. Sticks and stones.' Opening up about his long battle with bulimia recently, Jack told how he'd go days without eating and, at one point, weighed just over eight stone. Speaking exclusively to The Sun, he said: 'I have been a bulimic for 19 years, bingeing on food and then being sick. 'There have been days when I have ordered a McDonald's breakfast on Uber Eats, then gone to the Co-op and bought 12 bags of salt- and-vinegar McCoy's crisps, then had bags and bags of fizzy belt sweets. 'I have had two large Domino's pizzas with all the sides. It makes me feel ashamed. "There have been so many times that I have gone to the garage and got the same thing — a Ginsters Cornish pasty, one of their peppered steak slices, a sausage roll, bags of sweets and more McCoy's. 'I'd eat it all, then go to the downstairs toilet at my mum's — because nobody could hear me, as it was in the hall, next to the front door. I know it's gross, but for years I didn't actually think I had a problem.' He added: "I'd go three days with hardly any food and was so starving, my mum asked my boxing club if I could eat. 'They told her I could have a jacket potato with beans. I weighed just 52kg." Jack won Love Island in 2018 with ex-girlfriend Dani Dyer. The couple split just nine months later. Since then Jack has been in an on/off relationship with former Towie star Chloe Brockett, with him confirming last month they'd split for the eighth time. 5
Forbes
07-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Sanjog Gupta Named Chief Executive Of International Cricket Council As India's Power Strengthens
Sanjog Gupta (R) has been named chief executive of the ICC (Photo by Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty ... More Images) Cricket's worst kept secret was officially revealed on Monday when Sanjog Gupta was named chief executive of the International Cricket Council. Gupta, the head of live sport at Indian broadcast Jiostar, assumes the role immediately and becomes the seventh chief of cricket's governing body. He succeeds Australian Geoff Allardice, who resigned in January but had remained in the role in the meantime. Allardice's position had been under shaky ground late last year after an inquiry was launched over whether there was a cost blowout for the U.S. leg of June's T20 World Cup. With Allardice's future appearing tenuous, Gupta had been bandied around as a possible replacement - as I first flagged in January. The ICC launched a global recruitment process in March, attracting more than 2500 applications, before a shortlist of 12 candidates. But Gupta was always the clear frontrunner. 'These are exciting times for the sport as marquee events grow in stature, commercial avenues widen and opportunities such as the women's game scale in popularity,' he said in a statement. 'I look forward to contributing to the next phase of cricket's evolution, expanding its global footprint, enhancing the fan experience, and working closely with ICC Member Boards to build on our strong foundations.' Gupta replaces Geoff Allardice in the role (Photo by Patrick Bolger-ICC/ICC via Getty Images) Gupta is the first major appointment at the ICC since all-powerful Jay Shah became chair in December, with the pair having worked together before when Shah was at the helm of India's mighty governing body. India's influence on the powerful ICC board and Chief Executives' Committee will only strengthen amid cynicism over the apparent glorification of Shah since he stepped into the role. 'We considered several exceptional candidates for this position, but the Nominations Committee unanimously recommended Sanjog,' Shah said. 'Our goal is to move beyond traditional boundaries and establish cricket as a regular sport in the Olympics, growing its expanse across the world and deepening its roots in its core markets.' Jay Shah is the ICC chair (Photo by) Gupta will step into the role just in time for a pivotal ICC Annual General Meeting in Singapore from July 17-20. The festering relations between India and Pakistan, in the aftermath of renewed hostilities between the nuclear-armed countries, is set to be a major talking point at the meetings, with the fate of this year's Asia Cup hanging in the balance. There are also big picture issues such as the futures of cricket's formats and continual fears over the financial health of smaller cricket nations. The Indian governing body currently receives a big slice of the ICC's revenue distribution model, 38.5 per cent or about $600 million annually, dwarfing every other nation - especially the combined share of the 96 Associates who get about two per cent. Cricket, a British Commonwealth sport that has struggled to expand past traditional terrain, will gain vital exposure at the 2028 Los Angeles Games as it makes its Olympic return after just one previous appearance in 1900. How the teams - six per gender in the T20 competitions - qualify has yet to be determined and will be up to the ICC, who are determined for cricket to become a permanent Olympic sport. Gupta will play a major role in overseeing the sport's long-awaited Olympic comeback in a major opportunity for cricket to legitimize its claims of being the second biggest sport in the world. All eyes will be on the upcoming round of meetings in Singapore, which will attract all the major powerbrokers in world cricket, as a new era of the ICC starts.
CBS News
03-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Steelers sign general manager Omar Khan to new 3-year contract
The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed general manager Omar Khan to a new three-year contract, the team announced on Thursday. Khan, who has been the Steelers' general manager since 2022, will be with the team through at least the 2028 season after inking the new deal. "I am excited to announce we have signed Omar to a new three-year contract," Steelers President Art Rooney II said in a news release. "Omar and his team have done a great job over the past three years in constructing our roster through the NFL Draft, strategic trades, and free agency. We look forward to continuing that trend that will lead to even more success on the field." The Steelers said Khan has aggressively built a roster that provides strength at all positions and includes immediate starters as rookies. When Pittsburgh hosts the 2026 NFL Draft, the Steelers said they already have 12 selections, thanks to Khan. "I would like to thank Art Rooney II for his support," Khan said in a press release. "I believe we are building a championship roster and look forward to the 2025 season and beyond as our goals continue to be to bring another Super Bowl to the City of Pittsburgh and our great fans." Khan has been with the team for 25 years, most recently working as the team's vice president of football and business operations. There, his role was focused on managing the team's salary cap and negotiating contracts with players and coaches.
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Carlton plays fans for mugs by masking woes with corporate claptrap
'If you start listening to the fans,' Wayne Bennett once said, 'it won't be long before you're sitting next to them.' Indeed, if you're running a high-profile sporting organisation, it usually pays to block out the noise. If Brendon Gale had heeded the advice of Richmond Twitter following their three elimination final losses, the club would be in ashes. There's no way Chris Scott would be coaching Geelong today if the club had acted on the criticism of him following the 2019 and 2021 preliminary finals. But there's a fine line between not listening to the fans and playing them for mugs. So much of the messaging coming out of Carlton right now makes a mockery of what the supporters can clearly see and what the club continues to mask with corporate claptrap. For a start, the fans deserve much better than what the general manager of football, Brad Lloyd, has served up in the last fortnight. Following the North Melbourne loss, he gave 10 minutes of banalities – 'Vossy's a wonderful person, he's working hard, everyone's working hard' – none of which is in dispute. Last Saturday, he was rattling off phrases like 'strong connections', 'strong feedback' and 'safe environments', the sort of language best reserved for the annual report, not for placating angry supporters. The coach is more of a straight talker but what he's saying doesn't marry up with what we're seeing. His press conferences have been a mix of LinkedIn jargon and Champion Data cherrypicking. He insists their numbers are good and says their contested game is the envy of the competition. In many ways, Michael Voss is to be admired for the way he has conducted himself this year. It takes an abnormally even temperament to front the media after losses like those against Richmond, North Melbourne and Port Adelaide and still manage to find positives. As senior coach, he has to be the last to yield. What's he supposed to do, shrug his shoulders and say his team's no good? No, he's going to keep fighting until they drag him out of there on a trestle table. But resilience can sometimes stray into delusion, into obstinance and into job preservation. There's a reluctance to deviate from being a 'contest and clearance team', and a refusal to accept that the one-dimensional gameplan has worn the senior players down and set them up to fail. The Carlton fanbase is incredibly frustrated. They sat through the worst of the Malthouse and Bolton era. They watched a 16-man GWS beat them at the Docklands – as low a day as the club's ever had. They watched Port Adelaide put 19 goals in a row on them in 2021. They were there for the 'Collingwood have closed like the Grim Reaper' game. They've seen this team built brick by brick, high draft pick by high draft pick. They've been assured by the club and the wider commentariat that all the pieces were in place, and that their time was now. And then, this. All that for this. They've heard many journalists, pokie grubs and bitter former coaches blame the senior players. Some are even pointing the finger at the captain, a player who's shouldered more responsibility than any footballer I've ever seen, a player who's wheeled out like a factional hack every time the team plateaus. They've seen the footy media give the senior coach an incredibly soft ride, the sort of luxury afforded to a coach with an 'aura'. Blame it on the sins of Carlton past. But it means there's a kind of overcompensation of caution, a reluctance for the club and the media to acknowledge what's really at play here – that the Carlton coaching panel has not demonstrated it has the tactical acumen to compete with the top teams, to confound opposition coaches, to change within seasons, and to implement a gameplan that brings out the best in its players. They can talk 'alignment' and 'values' and 'contest and clearance' until they're blue in the face. Facts trump waffle. The facts are this team has won eight of its past 24 games. It's beaten one top eight team in that period. Its players are tired, hesitant, slow, terrified of making mistakes and wedded to an obsolete gameplan. Its leaders are like Leslie Nielsen in front of the exploding fireworks factory. Ignore the performative talkback tantrums, the graffiti, the exhortations for greater effort, the calls to trade Cripps. Most sane and sober Carlton fans think major change is warranted, including the senior coach. This might be one of those rare occasions where it pays to listen to them. This is just the sixth time a round of matches has been split down the middle in this way since GWS Giants joined the competition in 2012. When Leigh Matthews unexpectedly resigned as Brisbane senior coach in 2008, Voss was thrust into the hot seat. His first year was a good one, and with the prime minister watching on, they met Carlton in an elimination final. Both clubs were far from their peak but there were some champions running around that night, including Chris Judd, Jonathan Brown and Simon Black. Brown played with a fractured eye socket, but still managed four goals. Daniel Bradshaw kicked the final two goals of the game to sink the Blues. Kevin Rudd, who was running the country on about two hours of sleep a night at that point, and who had hitherto shown no interest in football, was perhaps the most animated he'd been in his entire time in office. Brisbane traded heavily and disastrously the following season, picking up Brendan Fevola, whose life was in disarray at that stage. They won their first four games, but fell in a heap thereafter. Voss was sacked in 2013, despite winning five of his last seven games, including one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of the game against Geelong. The midfielder will be remembered for his match-winning goal in the 2018 grand final against Collingwood, as he retires after 165 matches. Sheed was overlooked by the Magpies in the 2013 draft but joined the Eagles with the next pick. 'The privilege of being at a big club is that you're relevant, there's people who talk about our club a lot, and I think you can't hide from that,' Carlton's Harry McKay told AFL 360. 'And when a big club isn't playing great footy, that's kind of expected. '[It] doesn't change too much what we do day to day … We talk about what we can control and what we value inside the four walls, and if we were riding the rollercoaster of narratives every week, then it's a tough way to go about it.' Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion McKay, who is out injured, said he was finding navigating Carlton's troubles this year even more disappointing because of how stable things felt inside the club compared to some of the other rough periods he'd experience in his 10 years at the club. Any thoughts you want to share? Reply to this email or send your views to fromthepocket@ Which two clubs launched the 1985 season with a Friday night game at the MCG? Answers in next week's newsletter, but if you think you know it, hit reply and let me know. Last week's answer: Which club has the most players aged 30 or older on their current playing list? Collingwood with 11 players. Congratulations to Elizabeth F, who was first to reply with the right answer. Tom Lynch has a role to play in Richmond's rebuild but he failed as a leader with his meltdown against Adelaide. From Glory and Fury to Devils and Dolphins: the trend for unorthodox Australian sporting nicknames has come full circle, writes Jack Snape. Reply to this email and drop me a line, or email fromthepocket@ Have a friend who might? Forward this to them, or tell them how to get it.
