The last of these, and the fate of those proposals in the face of opposition by some Premier League clubs, will be a major feature of 2022, and given that three of the overseas ESL clubs (Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus) are still fighting to keep their hopes of a super league alive, that story is far from over. The publication of former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch's landmark fan-led review, suggesting greater say for fans and, for the first time, an independent football regulator.Continuing turbulence in the EFL, where Derby County went into administration - the highest-profile recent example of a period in which football finance increasingly appears broken.Superstar Lionel Messi's landmark transfer from indebted Barcelona to Qatar-owned Paris St-Germain, a move that, for many, defined the difficulty the sport's traditional powers now face trying to compete with clubs bankrolled by Gulf states.The emergence of Fifa's controversial proposal for a biennial World Cup, the latest move in a continuing power struggle between the governing body, confederations and clubs.The completion of the protracted Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United, one of the most controversial deals in the game's history, with concerns the acquisition was an attempt to sports-wash the country's human rights record, and over the Premier League's handling of the saga.The unprecedented protests and fan power that helped defeat the ESL, the tension and divisions it caused between clubs and leagues, and the renewed scrutiny of ownership, encapsulated a year in which football finance was a central theme, one that also witnessed: Both stories raised serious questions about governance, with a significance that extended to politics and wider society. But the collapse of the ESL plot and the turmoil at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, following very different controversies, had much greater domestic relevance than the implosion at Fifa, shaking each of England's two national sports to the core. Perhaps only Fifa's great corruption scandal in 2015 can compare in terms of sheer intensity, levels of interest and impact. The Sports Desk podcast - discussion and debate on the big off-field issuesīut away from the action, 2021 also featured two of the biggest, most dramatic and fastest-moving stories I have covered in two decades of sports reporting - the rise and fall of football's breakaway European Super League (ESL) and English cricket's racism crisis.Max Verstappen's victory has divided the sport amid fears entertainment was put ahead of fairness. The first ever appearance by England's men in football's European Championship final, British athletes' feats at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the achievements of jockey Rachael Blackmore, boxer Tyson Fury and cyclist Mark Cavendish were among others who lifted spirits when it was needed most.įormula 1, meanwhile, witnessed one of motorsport's most thrilling and contentious finales, the driver's championship remarkably only decided on the very last lap of the very last race after a decision by the race director costing Lewis Hamilton what would have been a record eighth title. Emma Raducanu's spellbinding US Open triumph was arguably the greatest sporting fairy tale in British history, potentially hugely significant for the future of both tennis and women's sport.Īt a time when the pandemic has exacerbated a physical inactivity crisis, the hope was that the teenager's win would inspire many youngsters to take up tennis, after fears the Lawn Tennis Association - which governs the sport in Britain - had failed to harness Andy Murray's era of success.
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