Genoa, Italy’s oldest club, are seeking new buyers after owners 777 Partners – who had tried to purchase Everton a few months ago – collapsed financially.

Reports claim all of the US-based investment firm’s football assets “have been put up for sale” after the High Court in London presented them with a winding up order.

The downfall of 777 Partners – whose portfolio of teams either under ownership or which they had stakes in included Genoa, Sevilla, Hertha Berlin, Vasco da Gama, Melbourne Victory and Standard Liege – comes some five months after the firm were handed a deadline of the end of May to complete the Everton deal, having initially been granted “conditional approval” by the English Premier League provided they met a number of conditions.

The Miami-based firm had been beset by legal and financial issues and was effectively being kept afloat by a $40 million loan taken by A-Cap in May, one of their principle creditors.

They had been in charge of Genoa since 2021. Belgium’s Standard Liege is also apparently up for sale at €15-18 million.

After a gap in which FIFA was left without a major partner in the esports arena following the licensing fallout with EA Sports over the EA Sports long-running FIFA series, the world governing body has agreed a collaboration with Konami Digital Entertainment Co.

Two editions of the FIFAe World Cup will be played on the Konami platform, utilising both mobile and gaming consoles.

EA Sports and its rebranded EA FC game runs its own global championships.

“We are incredibly excited to join forces with Konami. This collaboration aligns perfectly with our mission to promote football globally and to provide a platform for players to showcase their skills,” said Romy Gai, FIFA Chief Business Officer.

Qualifying for the FIFAe World Cup began yesterday. In the first year of the tournament, 18 nations have been invited with the participants selected on factors such as their player base and the previous performances of competitors from the respective countries.

Komani, senior executive officer Koji Kobayashi said: “At Konami we have continued to take on challenges in the development of football simulation and esports. We are very pleased to be able to contribute to the promotion of eFootball in a new dimension through this collaboration with FIFAe.”

Komani does have recent previous experience in this environment having hosted eFootball tournaments, most notably the Championship 2024 Club Event this year with European clubs, as well as the eJLeague in collaboration with the JLeague.

No value was given for the two-World Cup deal and Konami isn’t licensing the FIFA brand name for its game.

Since FIFA’s fallout with EA Sports (in 2020, $158.9 million of the governing body’s $266.5 million in total revenue for the year came from licensing rights, $100 million reckoned to be from EA Sports), FIFA has promised that it would be creating its own bigger and better video game with the belief that use of its FIFA name would blow allcomers – like EA FC and Konami – out the water.

It hasn’t so far and EA Sports and its new EA FC game have gone from strength to strength, proving that actually in the esports world, FIFA’s name doesn’t have a huge value, it is actually all about the game.

FIFA had wanted a significant increase on the reported $100 million a year EA was paying them for use of their name. EA took the view that they were overvaluing their license and FIFA brand name – it was their game and their ball and they took it away.

FIFA is now back in the esports game with a significant video gamemaker in Konami and with a branded FIFA efootball World Cup. But not yet with a branded efootball game that can compete with the efootball gold standard of EA FC, and unlikely anywhere near the $100 million per year they were receiving from EA.

More than 137,000 tickets to the Women’s Euro 2025 finals in Switzerland have been sold in the first week of going on sale, prompting UEFA to release another 50,000 yesterday.

UEFA said that all tickets in the18 matches of the first release have been sold. The additional tickets released cover all 31 matches.

In total 720,000 tickets will be available for the finals. UEFA is holding back 120,000 for sale to supporters of the 16 participating national teams. These will be released following the December 16 draw at the Swiss Tech Convention Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Fans can purchase up to ten tickets per match from CHF25 for category 2 tickets. Category 1 tickets cost CHF40 for the group stage and quarter finals, rising to CHF for the semi-finals and CHF90 for the final.

An official ticket resale platform will be available from spring 2025. Ticket holders travelling within Switzerland will have free public transport. Their tickets will be valid on matchday for a second-class round trip between any Swiss locality and the match venue.

At the ticket launch on October 1 at the iconic Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Alps, 3,454m above sea level, Aleksander Čeferin, UEFA president, said: “This tournament goes beyond showcasing Europe’s top talent – it embodies UEFA’s deep commitment to elevating the sport and expanding its reach across the continent. We are eager to see the passion it will ignite in host cities and beyond, as it offers a powerful platform to inspire the next generation of fans and players. This is more than a sporting event – it celebrates progress and immense potential in women’s football.”

The Swiss have taglined the tournament the ‘Summit of emotions’. Getting a ticket looks like being a mountain climb in itself.