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COVID-19: Barcelona Record €97m Loss for 19/20 Season

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By Adedapo Adesanya

Spanish sporting club, Barcelona, posted a loss of €97 million after-tax for the 2019/20 financial year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement on Monday, the Catalan giants said they had made revenue of €855 million, 14 per cent down compared to €990 million they posted in 2018/19 year, while their overall net debt has more than doubled to €488 million.

The club said €47 million of losses was due to lost matchday revenue, €35 million to reduced club shop sales and €18 million on stadium tours, with further losses expected until fans can return to stadiums in Spain.

The statement noted that the club was expecting a lower revenue for the 2020/21 financial year, projecting revenue of €791 million.

The players took a wage cut in order to help combat the deficit while football was suspended due to the coronavirus and managed to save €74 million in salaries thanks to a reduction agreement with players and coaching staff.

The club has also sold players who were on lucrative contracts, such as Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal, in the close season in a bid to get salary expenditure within La Liga guidelines, which directly relate to projected income.

The statement noted, “The club suffered financially from the consequences of games being played behind closed doors, as well as the total cancellation of the basketball Euro League, and hence there was a considerable loss of income.

“The lack of tourists and visitors to the city of Barcelona due to the reductions and limitations applied to international tourism also meant far fewer visitors to Barca’s premises, meaning major losses in terms of such areas as visitors to the Camp Nou Experience and the sale of products in official stores.”

Barcelona, coming off its first season without a title since 2007-08, was not able to add a striker to boost its squad. The Catalan club was negotiating with Memphis Depay of Lyon but couldn’t seal the deal. The transfer reportedly depended on Ousmane Dembélé accepting a move to Manchester United, but the Frenchman stayed in Spain as the transfer deadline closed.

Barcelona had promised changes to the first team after the humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League in August.

After three games so far, the club is fifth on the La Liga Santander table for the season (two wins, one draw) and it is expected to begin its European champions league tournament journey against Ferencravos TC of Hungary on October 20 before the anticipated clash against Juventus which will see its captain Lionel Messi face long time rival, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

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Analysis Reveals Wilfried Zaha as Africa’s Most Handsome Athlete for 2024

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By Dipo Olowookere

An analysis has shown that an Ivorian footballer, Wilfried Zaha, is the most handsome African sportsperson in 2024.

Zaha, who opted to play for Cote d’Ivoire after the Three Lions of England snubbed by him, currently plies his trade in Turkey for Galatasaray.

He moved to Turkey from England, where he played for Crystal Palace, and was one of the stars of the football outfit.

In research conducted by Bettors, Zaha topped the list as the most attractive African male athlete of 2024, closely followed by Odion Ighalo, a former Nigerian striker, and Akani Simbine, a South African sprinter.

The Most Handsome African Athletes of 2024 rankings used the golden ratio as a benchmark for facial attractiveness.

This study carefully analysed high-quality images of athletes from various sports, offering a fresh perspective on their aesthetic appeal.

The methodology involved selecting three high-quality images per athlete, sourced from official sports archives, media outlets, and verified athlete profiles, ensuring accuracy and clarity, according to the results of the research made available to Business Post.

Fourth on the list is Alex Iwobi of Nigeria, who plays for Fulham FC in England, and a Tanzanian footballer with Greece’s PAOK, Ally Samatta, is the fifth Most Handsome Athlete in Africa.

Ghana and Arsenal’s midfielder, Thomas Partey, is sixth, Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly is seventh, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Garbon is eight, Ivorian Cheick Sallah-Cisse is ninth and Senegalese Reug Reug is number 10 on the list.

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Premier League Festive Fixtures Begin on DStv, GOtv

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Premier League Festive Fixtures

Second-placed Arsenal and ninth-placed Manchester United will square up at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday in the first big match of the Premier League festive schedule.

The action-packed month of December will see each Premier League team play six matches within the next 28 days, with Champions League, Europa, Conference League and Carabao Cup matches in between.

The Gunners face the Red Devils knowing there’s no room for error in their chase of Liverpool who are nine points clear at the top of the table. United lost on each of their last three visits to Arsenal but will bank on the new Manager bounce. United Manager, Ruben Amorim, led Sporting Lisbon to a penalty shootout win over Arsenal at the Emirates in the Europa League round of 16 encounter two seasons ago.

During his press conference, Amorim charged his team to be brave against the Gunners. “Arsenal is the best team I’ve faced by far, they are in a different moment. But every game is a big test now because there are few days to train and we have to manage the minutes of every player. But I want my players to be brave to play this game. We need to have the ball and dominate moments of the game,” he said. United will be without Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo due to suspension. Tune in to catch the action as it unfolds live on DStv channel 203 and GOtv channel 66 at 9:15 pm on Wednesday.

In the other big match of the day, Liverpool will aim to continue their impressive run when they visit Saint James’ Park to take on Newcastle in one of the 8:30 pm matches on Wednesday. The match will also be available on DStv and GOtv.  Newcastle lost 2-0 at home to West Ham last Monday and will be desperate to prevent a consecutive home defeat in front of the Geordies.

Other matches on Wednesday include Southampton vs Chelsea, Aston Villa vs Brentford, Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest, and Everton vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. On Thursday, Fulham will host Brighton while Bournemouth welcome Tottenham Hotspurs to the Vitality Stadium.

Customers can enjoy all matches this festive period by reconnecting their DStv or GOtv decoders. Simply dial *288# to renew or upgrade your subscription. You can also take advantage of the GOtv Golden Window and upgrade to Supa Plus package for N13,900 instead of N15,700. You can also download the MyGOtv app for a better self-service experience.

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What is SRL & Why is It Better Than Virtual Football

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Today’s sports betting services are way more advanced than several years ago. Modern punters can wager on all kinds of sports from the comfort of their homes. Aside from the standard alternatives, however, players can also bet on virtual sports and even take part in the simulated reality league (SRL).

Unlike Virtual Sports, which has been around for years, SRL is relatively new, meaning that not a lot of people know about it. Although it has its specifics, a lot of punters agree that it can be better than v-sports, especially virtual football. There are many reasons for it, so let’s dive in and learn more.

What’s the Simulated Reality League?

Before learning why the SRL is better than virtual football, it is important to share a few things about it. Generally speaking, the Simulated Reality League is a place where advanced machine learning tech and AI process large amounts of data from numerous sporting events. Thanks to that, the AI algorithm can create different numbers of situations, gameplays, and outcomes.

To put it in other words, this complex system uses the real performance of teams or players and creates a similar sporting experience where the results are unpredictable. Unlike in Virtual Sports, where everything is based on the RNG system, here, the Simulated reality league matches are based on the performance of the players and teams. In the case of football, the league offers matches from the world’s best football competitions, such as the EPL, La Liga, and the Bundesliga, and all of them take place at the same time as the real games.

It’s no surprise that the Simulated reality focuses mainly on football because this is the most popular sport in the world. With that said, it is also possible to find simulations for cricket, especially the T20 format that includes the Indian Premier League. Additionally, players will find daily coverage of the big WTA and ATP tennis tournaments.

The specifics

Since Simulated Reality is not that common among sports bettors yet, many people are not exactly sure how it all works. The most important aspect to remember is that everything is unpredictable and exciting. The matches are simulations of real-time events, and AI and the RNG tech ensure that the result is not predetermined. Instead, it is based on what’s happening in the match, making it much more exciting.

AI is the main star of the show here and is the “engine” behind everything. The people behind the SRL train the algorithm to process a lot of data and come up with unique sequences. The latter replicates the real match, providing bettors with a unique experience.

Since all Simulated Reality is new, it also means that people who have not used it so far will have a completely new experience. As we have seen, SR is very different from virtual sports, so it will be something that players will be interested in.

Things to keep in mind when comparing SR to Virtual Football

As mentioned, these two have many differences that people need to take into account. Perhaps the biggest one is realism because V-sports are just simulations that are entirely based on RNG. This means that their outcomes are random and have nothing to do with the real performance of the teams and players.

Those who decide to bet on the Simulator Reality League, however, will see that the latter uses a different algorithm. In other words, players have various types of experience.

With that said, there are some drawbacks of the SRL that bettors need to take into account, one of which is availability. Virtual Sports are available around the clock, which means you can bet on them at any time of the day. The SRL, on the other hand, is based on actual matches across football, cricket, and tennis. This means that there are only a handful of events per day.

The second drawback that users have to take into consideration is the match’s length. As mentioned, virtual sports are always there when you need them, and each match lasts no more than a couple of minutes. This allows you to bet on multiple options.

Due to how it works, the SRL is not like that because the matches there take as much time as the real ones. In the case of soccer, players will have regular 90 minutes of play.

Conclusion

Despite some disadvantages, the SRL is a very attractive option for people who want to bet on football. The new tech is somewhat between real sports betting and virtual sports, so it will definitely have a lot of fans. It will be very interesting to keep track of this option’s future development.

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