EUR 350 mn record turnover for FC Bayern Munich
The annual turnover of German FC Bayern Munich reached a record high of EUR 350 bn based on the results of the 2009/2010 season, reported Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Chief Executive Officer of FC Bayern M?nchen AG.
“This is the first time we reached a turnover exceeding EUR 300 mn. Taking into account the aggregate profit from Allianz Arena (which is a stadium used for Bayern home games), we expect to see a turnover of approximately EUR 350 million,” said Rummenigge in an interview for Focus-Money magazine.
The CEO added this was the 16th profitable year in a row for the club. “Crisis? Frankly speaking, we have not even heard of any,” Rummenigge joked. The football club registered its previous record in the 2006/2007 season of EUR 286.6 mn.
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Klitschko sets a fight date
Ukrainian heavyweight boxer and winner of the WBC belt Vitaly Klitschko will fight former WBO champion American Shannon Briggs. Klitschko and Briggs will meet inside the ring on October 16, 2010 at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg.
38-year-old Briggs said he signed the fight contract with Klitschko at the end of July but the information had not been officially confirmed until now. The American boxer promised to help the Ukrainian boxer go into retirement.
Briggs won the WBO belt in 2006 after his fight against Belarusian Sergei "White Wolf" Liakhovich. In 2007 the American lost the title to Russian fighter Sultan Ibragimov. Overall, Briggs has fought in 58 bouts in professional boxing with 51 wins (45 KOs), 5 defeats, 1 draw and one cancelled fight.
During his professional career Klitschko has fought 42 bouts with 40 wins (38 KOs) and 2 defeats. The last time he defended his title was in May 2010 when he knocked out the Polish boxer Albert Sosnowski.
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Real Madrid is up for sale
Real FC General Manager Jorge Valdano stated that some players that do not fit the plans of Jose Mourinho will leave the team in the nearest future. “At the moment we have 26 players, but soon we will have to part with several of them. We need to balance the team” said Valdano. At that, the general manager of the royal club added that Spanish players will remain part of the team.
Before the closure of the transfer window, Real is likely to sell Fernando Gago, Mahamadou Diarra and Lass Diarra. Meanwhile, Rafael van der Vaart is likely to stay with Real. Last week, the club signed an agreement with Germany’s midfielder Mesut Ozil.
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Highest paid athlete of all times is named
A charioteer named Gaius Appuleius Diocles, who lived in ancient Rome in the 2nd century BC, was the highest paid athlete of all times. Over his athletic career he amassed a fortune equivalent to US $15 billion in prize money. Peter Struck, a professor of classical studies at the University of Chicago calculated that the fearless entertainer of the Circus Maximus has beaten the modern day famous American golfer Tiger Woods, who was heralded last year as the first athlete to earn over US $1 bn.
Gaius Appuleius Diocles was a chariot racer that participated in the most popular sport in ancient Rome – chariot racing – in the largest stadium in the world in those times known as Circus Maximum, reported www.for-ua.com. Having come to Rome from modern-day Portugal, Diocles began his career as a charioteer at the age of 18 and retired at the age of 42. Over this period, he earned 35,863,120 sesterces. This figure is recorded in a monumental inscription erected in Rome by his fellow charioteers and admirers in 146.
His total earnings were enough to cover the pay of all rank-and-file soldiers of the Roman Army at the height of its imperial reach for a fifth of a year.
By today’s standards, that last figure, assuming the apt comparison is what it takes to pay the wages of the American armed forces for the same period, would cash out to about $15 bn. Even without his dalliances, it is doubtful Tiger could have matched it. “Woods and other modern-day athletes can consider themselves poor compared with the earnings of charioteers in the ancient Rome,” stated Struck.
He noted that in Rome the athlete made his fortune even without sponsorship and marketing fees that bolster the pay of his modern counterparts in the sporting world.
Chariot racing was in ancient times a very dangerous sport and often ended in the deaths of charioteers. However, the winners earned huge amounts in prize money. They were paid by the organizers of the games – rich Roman officials and then emperors; they sponsored mass entertainment events in order to gain popularity among the people.
The capacity of Circus Maximus was 250,000 or 25% of Rome’s population. The length of the race track was 621 meters and 118 meters wide. Up to 12 chariots could participate in one race. Chariots with four horses were the most popular in these races.
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