Dugout is to expand into the Middle East and North Africa region after receiving £8.275m ($11.6m) in fresh investment.

The digital football media company received the cash injection from an investors group led by US businessmen David and Frank McCourt. David McCourt is chief executive of tech investors Granahan McCourt Capital and also the founder of ALTV.com, one of the fastest growing free streaming services in the MENA region. Meanwhile his brother, Frank, is chairman and chief executive of McCourt LP and McCourt Global.

Dugout are keen to grow their brand in the MENA market, with Arabic to be added to its language base shortly.

Elliot Richardson, founder and chairman of Dugout, said: “This investment keeps the momentum going and partnerships with innovators like ALTV and Alchemy Media both enhance our technology offering and open up key markets like the Middle East and North Africa, where we know our club partners have such huge support.”

David McCourt, of Granahan McCourt Capital, added: “Dugout represents an excellent opportunity to capitalise on two significant global trends. Firstly, the huge demand for great, original and highly-personalised content. Secondly, the soaring popularity of football in practically every market.”

Dugout is the only media company to be run by nine of the world’s richest football clubs including Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

LaLiga’s expansion into Nigeria has gathered further momentum after agreeing a regional partnership deal with the makers of Big Cola, AJEAST Nigeria.

Under the agreement, the multinational drinks manufacturer will gain access to intellectual property, marketing rights, tickets, merchandising and exclusive content from LaLiga’s top flight clubs.

The strategic partnership was announced at a press conference in Lagos yesterday. The move confirms AJEAST’s status as a major player in the development of football in the country.

Gregory Bolle, LaLiga’s Head of Global Partnership Sales, said of the deal: “LaLiga loves Africa and Nigeria is a strategic country for us, because of its fans and numerous football talents such as Francis Uzoho (Deportivo de la Coruna) and Oghenekaro Etebo (UD Las Palmas). LaLiga is proud to kick off this partnership with a leading beverage brand such as Big Cola. This partnership will allow our millions of Nigerian LaLiga fans to further engage with the best league in the world.”

Theo Williams, Country Director of AJEAST Nigeria, added: “We are proud to launch this partnership with LaLiga. This partnership provides us with a remarkable platform to broaden Big Cola’s profile and values, while giving us another opening to create distinctive experiences for football fans all over Nigeria.”

The length of the deal and its financial figures were not disclosed.

Big Cola is one of Nigeria’s best-selling soft drinks.

Britain’s biggest privately-owned company has teamed up with Sir Ben Ainslie in a £110m ($151.5m)-bid to win the 2021 America’s Cup.

INEOS are backing the 41-year old to finally land sailing’s oldest trophy, which has eluded Britain for its entire 168-year history.

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Ainslie will skipper the 2021 boat.

New Zealand are the current holders of the cup competition, defeating Oracle Team USA in last year’s ‘Auld Mug’. Ainslie was Oracle Team USA’s tactician when it staged a remarkable comeback from 8-1 down to win the 2013 America’s Cup 9-8.

INEOS Chairman and keen amateur sailor, Jim Ratcliffe, said of the partnership: “With the skill of Sir Ben Ainslie and his team, I think Ineos Team GB has a great chance of success in 2021 and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

The winners of the inaugural STA Start Up Awards have been announced on iSportconnect.

Judges on the awards panel, which included MD for Microsoft Startups, Warwick Hill, considered dozens of entries from around the world.

The event, which recognises new tech businesses, was split into 12 separate categories.

Successes included Find a Player for ‘Best Startup App Company’, SeatServe for ‘Best Sport Commerce’ and REFSIX for ‘Best Wearable’.

For more details on these and the rest of the winners from the STA Start Up Awards, click on the video below:

US cable operator Comcast has made a formal £22bn ($30.7bn) bid for Sky that values the UK broadcaster at £12.50 ($17.43) a share.

It’s reported the move threatens 21st Century Fox’s attempts to take full control of the pay-tv group.

Rupert Murdoch has already agreed to buy the 61% of Sky it does not already own – an offer worth £19bn ($26.5bn).

Sky said it was withdrawing its recommendation for the Fox bid following Comcast’s proposal.

Sky shares closed 3.4% higher at £13.59 ($18.95) on Wednesday, suggesting a bidding war for control of Sky could begin. Disney, which struck a $66bn ($92bn) agreement with Fox four months ago, could also make a play for Sky.

Comcast say its bid came with a series of commitments on Sky ownership and UK investment which includes a 10-year commitment to Sky News.

Comcast is already America’s largest provider of cable and broadband with 29m customers.

The German Football Association (DFB) has officially submitted its bid to host the 2024 European Championships.

President Reinhard Grindel handed over the bid documents to UEFA on Tuesday, alongside bid ambassador and former Germany captain Philipp Lahm.

The DFB declared its interest to host the tournament in March last year, and has submitted its dossier ahead of the 27th April deadline.

Grindel said of the proposal: “We are submitting an excellent bid concept for a perfectly organised tournament, which offers a great opportunity for UEFA to further develop European football. UEFA Euro 2024 staged in the heart of Europe will enable all of the participants to be given the best possible support by their fans.”

Germany have won the Euros three times and last hosted the competition in 1988.

The Stars Group is set to acquire British-based Sky Betting & Gaming (SB&G) for a reported £3.4bn (€3.88bn).

It follows the decision by Sky Betting & Gaming’s majority owner CVC and partner Sky to sell to the Canadian online gambling giant.

According to reports, the acquisition will create the world’s largest publicly listed online gaming company.

Sky Betting & Gaming has some of the UKs best known betting brands including Sky Bet and Sky Vegas.

An announcement confirming the deal could be made as early as today (Monday).

English Premier League football has returned to profit and reported record revenues of £4.5bn (€5.13bn) for last season.

According to Deloitte, clubs collectively reported £500m (€570m) in pre-tax profit for the 2016/17 campaign.

The analysis found that wage costs rose by 9% to £2.5bn (€2.8bn), a much lower growth rate than the 25% hike in revenues.

The main factor for the overall growth was the Premier League’s three-year TV deal, which kicked in last season. A record £5.13bn (€5.85bn) was paid to the league by Sky and BT for the 2016-19 UK broadcast rights.

However, only £4.464bn (€5.09bn) was brought in for the latest domestic rights auction for the 2019-2022 cycle.

Dan Jones, head of Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said of the findings: “Despite the lack of growth in domestic broadcast deals announced to date, we still expect to see overall revenue growth in the coming seasons, and if this is complemented with prudent cost control, we expect that pre-tax profits will be achieved for the foreseeable future.”