Over the past week, The Athletic has delved into the financial health of five European clubs Everton, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Hertha Berlin and Lyon to explore how they ran up such substantial debt or losses and the challenges they face going forward.
So what have we learned?
These are all very different clubs of varying sizes in five different countries, some are already part of a multi-club model and one (Everton) want to be, and the majority have recently come under new ownership. They each have their internal problems but there is a common external factor: Covid-19 hit them hard.
When football was paused because of the pandemic in March 2020 and then played in empty or partially-closed stadiums for over a year, our crisis clubs were not sufficiently equipped to cope.
As our Matt Slater explained on The Athletic Football Podcast, Covid-19 was an external shock to these businesses and its all about what sort of state you were in as you went into that shock. What was your plan B? What was your plan C? Was there any plan at all?
The Athletics Crisis clubs series:
Evertons former chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale said losses of at least 170million are attributed to Covid-19, with further market analysis indicating that figure could be as much as 50million higher.
But in handing Everton a 10-point deduction last week for breaching the Premier Leagues financial rules, an independent commission was not impressed by the clubs attempts to use the impact of Covid-19 on the transfer market as a mitigating factor. The position that Everton finds itself in is of its own making, the commissions verdict said.
While the pandemic hurt every football club, it almost killed Barcelona.
Being forced to close the gates at their Camp Nou home deprived the club of the largest matchday revenues in Spain, as well as income from their museum and stadium tour. And all that footfall usually meant they sold lots of merchandise, too.
The company which owns Inter took out a loan at 12 per cent interest from U.S. asset management firm Oaktree Capital in 2021 to keep its investment breathing when Covid-19 threatened to take the club under. That now stands at 329million (287m). While not all of it has been drawn down, the loan must either be repaid or refinanced, or the club must be sold otherwise, Oaktree can turn the outstanding debt into equity and repossess it.
Germanys Bundesliga was the first major league to restart worldwide after that first Covid-19 lockdown, in May 2020, but Hertha had just taken on debt to buy back shares they had sold to KKR, a U.S. private equity group, so they could sell again to Lars Windhorst, a London-based financier. What was supposed to be a transformative investment amounted to very little and didnt really change the equation. And if anything, down the line, it made it harder for Hertha to recover financially.
And while it wasnt Lyons fault that French football was particularly battered by Covid-19 and things got even worse when Ligue 1s broadcaster partner Mediapro stopped paying instalments on its 780million annual TV rights deal they were left reliant on successful player trading to make money. And they didnt do particularly well at that.
All these clubs entered the pandemic in bad shape. They were already stretched and, yes, there was also a bit of bad luck for some of them, but when the crisis of Covid-19 came along, it hurt them all in different ways for different reasons.
We hope youve enjoyed the series, both the written pieces and our podcasts.
Thanks for reading, listening and commenting it means a lot.
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)
For the past 30 years, the World Bank has partnered with Tajikistan to help boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and unleash the countrys full development potential. When COVID-19 hit, the World Bank financed the Tajikistan Emergency COVID-19 Project to support the Governments efforts to respond to the health, social, and economic impacts of the pandemic. Four rounds of financing for this project have strengthened the countrys intensive care capacity, vaccine deployment, and protection of vulnerable households, and strengthened pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response at the national and regional level, protecting the country against future shocks and helping build a resilient health sector.
Key Highlights
Challenge: Vulnerabilities Exposed by COVID-19
Tajikistan has experienced an improvement in living standards over the past two decades, with the poverty rate falling from 32 percent in 2009 to 13.4 percent in 2022. However, the country's undiversified economy, reliance on migrant remittances, and high risk of debt distress, make it more vulnerable to external shocks. The recent COVID-19 crisis significantly increased uncertainties and risks for Tajikistan, highlighting the health sector's weaknesses, and leading to increased poverty and food insecurity for the most vulnerable.
The **"Listening to Tajikistan" **survey monitored the well-being of people, focusing on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,based on more than 17,000 interviews with people from all regions of the country. The survey found that people's economic well-being deteriorated severely in 2020; 40 percent of respondents reported that no family member was actively working in May 2020. Food security also deteriorated in 2020 as incomes fell and food prices went up, and in May and June 2020 over 35 percent of households said they had to reduce their food consumption. These impacts were exacerbated by a 20 percent decline in remittances, in a country where more than half of households rely on this source of income to buy food and other basic necessities.
Approach: From Pandemic Response to Prevention and Preparedness
June 4, 2023 marked 30 years of partnership between Tajikistan and the World Bank, and 29 years of Tajikistan belonging to the International Development Association (IDA). During this period, the World Bank **provided over $2.8 billion in support **for improvements to infrastructure, education, healthcare, poverty reduction, and more. These operations are providing better health services for the country's population by strengthening institutional capacity, providing training and equipment, addressing child malnutrition, and providing vaccination and other support against pandemics such as COVID-19.
At the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, Tajikistan was one of the first countries in the world to receive emergency support from the World Bank, which worked with the country's Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MOHSP). An original IDA grant of $11.3 million was approved for the Emergency COVID-19 Project to: i) strengthen the country's capacity to provide intensive care to people sick with COVID-19 (e.g. through renovation and equipment for intensive care units); ii) help communities reduce infection (e.g. by providing personal protective equipment for health care workers, and information and behavior change communication for the general population); and iii) protect the vulnerable (e.g. with cash transfers to protect children vulnerable to malnutrition). This support was reinforced by three rounds of additional financing: $8.63 million for COVID-19 vaccines, $12.57 million in grant financing for additional cash transfers, strengthening of oxygen supply, and a stop-gap funding for routine child immunization (February 2021), and a $25 million grant for the procurement and provision of additional vaccines (March 2022).
The World Bank's focus has subsequently shifted towards addressing critical gaps in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR). Given the success of the national vaccination campaign and lower demand for COVID-19 vaccines, in 2023, the project was restructured to strengthen the country's sanitary and epidemiological services (SES), laboratory capacity, and digitalization of information systems. PPR is also part of the recently approved health project Millati Solim -- Health Nation.
At the regional level, this impetus is translating into initiatives like the Central Asia One Health Framework for Action. The World Bank is collaborating with several Central Asian countries on the Framework, which will help address three shared high-level goals: pandemic prevention and preparedness, the resilience of food systems, and improving regional trade and agricultural sector competitiveness.
Results: Crisis Response and Social Protection
The World Bank committed a total of $57.5 million under the Tajikistan Emergency COVID-19 Projectto help strengthen the country's response to the pandemic and support vaccine procurement and delivery. The results achieved around the three key areas of the project include:
"We are grateful for the efforts of the Government and the World Bank in providing modern facilities for us. It has been three days after my father's surgery. He is feeling better now," says Mirzosharif Sobirov, a resident of Tajikistan's Varzob district.
With World Bank support, Tajikistan was able to procure almost 900,000 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. 98 percent of all adults - Tajikistan's COVID-19 vaccination target group (57 percent of the overall population) was vaccinated as of June 2023.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission created a program to help small businesses recover from the economic downturn.
Last September, the City of Covington gave $185,890 worth of American Rescue Plan Act funds to the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission to identify and assist small and home-based businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The newly created program was titled the Small Business Technical Assistance.
On Tuesday, the programs director Covington-based attorney Jamir Davis updated the commission on its progress. So far, the program has served 32 Covington small businesses, held over 75 one-on-one consultations, and assisted with the founding and registration of 13 businesses, including Golden Gelato, The Empanadas Box, DeeFelice Market and Upper Kutz barber shop.
All in all, wed definitely say the program was a success, Davis told the commission.
Business owners were required to answer a variety of questions to determine what kind of service was best suited to their specific situation.
As a part of our one-on-one consultations, we would really sit down with businesses and ask the hard questions, Davis said. What do you sell? What will people buy from you? What will you charge? How can customers pay you?
The program provides business owners with services such as assistance on properly registering their business with Covington and the state of Kentucky, budget creation, updating business financials, developing business plans and completing a financial literacy program.
The program is open to Covington residents who were negatively impacted by COVID-19, current small business owners, and those who aspire to start an unestablished business.
It was an easy sell to help businesses that were in need during COVID and we appreciate you hitting the ground and going out and finding those businesses and talking with them, Vice Mayor Ron Washington told Davis.
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As the season of gatherings and get-togethers begins, a warning from those tracking COVID-19 throughout the state comes along with it caution will be key to help turn an increasing trend around.
Right now, we are seeing an uptick, Dr. Susan Kline, of the University of Minnesotas Medical School, said, adding, It is increased compared to where weve been the last several weeks.
Dr. Kline said its not a dramatic increase, but one theyll be watching closely as the university and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) are now in charge of tracking COVID-19 in the states wastewater.
The latest data available shows a 13-percent increase over the last two weeks, part of a slow rise that began in June. But, the state is nowhere near the levels tracked at the beginning of the year. Still, Dr. Kline says with the timing of the trend, people should lean on our experience about what we know about this virus.
If youve been exposed to somebody whos ill, especially if its someone with COVID, again, probably best to test yourself before you go to a holiday gathering, Dr. Kline said. If youre feeling well, and the test is negative, I think itd be okay to go [to a holiday gathering]. But, depending on how close your exposure was, you maybe should be wearing a mask.
She also suggests taking advantage of the tools at hand including Paxlovid, a medication meant to treat COVID-19 that needs a prescription. And, just this week, the federal government is sending free at-home COVID-19 tests again households can order up to eight tests, depending if they ordered the four offered earlier this year.
I think those [at-home COVID-19 tests] are probably the easiest and quickest tests that people can get their hands on at short notice, and theyre quite good, Dr. Kline said.
Order your free tests HERE.
Dr. Kline said its also not too late to get the COVID-19 vaccine for it to make an impact this season.
Four out of five people in Mexico who got influenza shots so far this year turned down the government's recommendation they get Russian or Cuban COVID-19 boosters at the same time
November 21, 2023, 4:27 PM ET
2 min read
MEXICO CITY -- Four out of five people in Mexico who got influenza shots so far this year turned down the governments recommendation that they get Russian or Cuban COVID-19 boosters at the same time, officials said Tuesday.
Assistant Health Secretary Ruy Lpez Ridaura attributed the high refusal rate to people being reluctant to get two vaccines at the same time.
People have a certain reluctance to get simultaneous vaccinations, Lpez Ridaura said.
But the population eligible for flu and COVID-19 shots people over 60 and people with underlying health problems are considered high-risk, and Mexicans in those groups had extremely high take-up rates for Covid vaccines in 2021 and 2022, according to the Health Department.
Some people appear to simply distrust the Russian Sputnik and Cuban Abdala vaccines, both designed in 2020 for variants prevalent at the time.
It is an old antigen, it's as if they were going to give me an influenza vaccine from 2020, said Andreu Comas, a professor of medicine at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi. There are no studies regarding the effectiveness of both of these vaccines against the (current) variants.
Mexico has bought millions of doses of the Russian and Cuban vaccines. The original plan was to administer around 20 million shots, but only about 1.9 million people, or 9.5% of those eligible, have agreed to take them since the vaccination campaign started in mid-October.
In contrast, 10 million people got the influenza shot in the same period.
President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has been a big supporter of Cuba, hiring Cuban doctors, buying vaccines and construction materials from Cuba and supplying oil to the island.
Meanwhile, Mexico has held up approval for Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 boosters, both of which were designed to work against the COVID variants currently circulating. While those shots have been approved for use in the United States since September, they may not be available for Mexicans until 2024.
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Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Gabe Newell has been ordered to attend an in-person deposition relating to Overgrowth developer Wolfire Games' antitrust lawsuit against Valve despite his request to do it remotely.
As reported by GI.biz, the Valve CEO had requested the remote deposition due to concerns regarding COVID-19, but the court said he presented "insubstantial evidence to suggest that he is at particularised risk of serious illness".
The order, which was filed on November 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, included a statement from Wolfire Games which said Newell "is uniquely positioned to testify on all aspects of [Valve's] business strategy" and an in-person deposition "would allow [it] to adequately assess Newell's credibility".
It does offer some precautions to alleviate Newell's COVID-19 concerns, however, including that all courtroom participants must wear masks during the deposition. Newell must remove his mask when answering questions though.
Wolfire Games CEO David Rosen is leading a class-action lawsuit representing game developers against Valve, which asserts that the near dominance of Steam on the PC games market increases the prices of games due to Valve's service taking a 30% commission from the sale of each game.
Rosen said that his motivation for the lawsuit is that gamers and game developers are being harmed by Valve's conduct.
Image Credit: Olly Curtis/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
Released on Thursday, the data shows a 16 per cent increase in community infections in the fortnight to November 18, compared with the previous reporting period, for those who have tested positive for COVID-19 via PCR testing.
Since the beginning of October, COVID-19 numbers have increased by 94 per cent. NSW Health releases its epidemiological report only fortnightly.
The total number of people presenting at emergency departments in the past fortnight was also higher than for the previous two weeks, NSW Health said, but the proportion who required admission remained stable, indicating that the severity of the virus circulating in the community remained unchanged.
Self-reporting of COVID-19 positive RAT results ceased at the end of September, with authorities turning to the NSW Sewerage Surveillance Program to test fragments on SARS-CoV-2, to gain an insight into virus spread. The latest data indicates the concentration of COVID-19 in Bondi, Liverpool and Quakers Hill is higher than in other parts of Sydney and rising.
Rising rates of COVID detected in Sydneys wastewater (black line). NSW Health
The variant EG.5 now accounts for more than half of all variants in the state, but the proportion of samples in which BA.2.86 has been detected is increasing.
The nations emergency response to the pandemic formally ended on October 20, with the countrys chief health officer declaring that there was no longer a need for the virus to be considered a communicable disease incident of national significance.
following approval by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
The new XBB.1.5. vaccines target a sub-variant of the Omicron strain and have been approved for use as both primary and additional doses, with Pfizers version approved for eligible people aged over five years, and Modernas for those over 12.
The vaccines offer modestly improved protection against COVID-19 strains circulating in Australia, according to a federal government statement.
Kirby Institutess Associate Professor Stuart Turville. James Brickwood
University of NSW Associate Professor Stuart Turville, who works out of the Kirby Institute, said that while the new vaccines were not specific to EG5, EG5 and XBB.1.5, they were very closely related and the vaccines would offer significant benefits.
A dynamic of our immune system is that it is often better the longer you leave it [to get a booster]. There have been studies done that have shown if you have a really short distance between your booster, it doesnt offer the best protection, he explained.
A lot of people naively think I need to have a booster every three months, or I need to have (a booster at the) distance that is available to me because they think that keeping the antibodies up is the best thing.
But what protects you the best is that you give your body a break, and what that does is it cools the jets a bit, and then your immune cells actually beautifully mature over that time, and then you are producing quality rather than quantity, and the antibodies left actually do a really, really good job.
ATAGI does not, at this stage, recommend a second 2023 booster for healthy people under 65.
Turville said that ATAGIs vaccine advice was fluid and encouraged individuals to monitor for any changes.
He added that while COVID-19 may no longer be front page news, there was a lot of scientific activity in the background surveilling what the virus was doing.
People need to be confident that there are really smart measures that we have learnt over the last three years that are consolidated, and theyre very sharp and purposeful, to feedback to us so we understand what the virus is doing, Turville said.
Oral antiviral treatments Lagevrio and Paxlovid remain approved for people who are vulnerable to severe disease as they can help slow COVID-19 infections.
The federal government recommends that those eligible start antivirals as soon as possible after symptoms begin. The advice has not been updated since July.
Those who may be eligible for PBS-subsidised antiviral medication are people over 70 years of age, those who are 50 and who have a comorbidity, as well as First Nations people over 30 who have one additional risk factor for developing severe disease.
People who are severely immunocompromised, and who are over 18, are also eligible for antiviral medication. These include people who have blood cancer, who are a transplant recipient, who have undergone chemotherapy or radiotherapy in the past three months, who have congenital heart disease or who have cerebral palsy or Down Syndrome.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. .
Nov 22, 2023 10:43 PM IST
An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study has found that the spate of sudden deaths reported post-Covid among young adults in India could be because of past Covid hospitalisation, family history of sudden deaths, binge drinking, and intense unaccustomed activity. It should set at rest the harmful narrative based on anecdotes and rumours that Covid-19 vaccines caused these deaths.
Covid-19 was first reported in late 2019, infected hundreds of millions of people, caused close to seven million deaths and led to economic distress across the world. Scientists developed vaccines within a few months of the outbreak. These vaccines saved the lives of hundreds of millions of people. However, vaccine sceptics have been picking on random deaths and listing anecdotal evidence to campaign against Covid-19 vaccines. This defamation campaign had sought to blame the many sudden deaths as the outcome of Covid-19 vaccines.
The ICMR study is a good beginning that debunks such campaigns with peer-reviewed scientific evidence. Our response to diseases has to be based on scientific evidence. Science has to be the guiding light of public policy. India has one of the worlds largest vaccination programmes. Once common diseases such as smallpox, measles, and polio have been brought under control with vaccines. Yet, there is a high prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in the country. Indias challenge is to bring more and more people under the ambit of vaccination. The pharma industry may try to influence health policy, but that is a matter of regulation and oversight, not a reason to discredit or deny vaccines.
An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study has found that the spate of sudden deaths reported post-Covid among young adults in India could be because of past Covid hospitalisation, family history of sudden deaths, binge drinking, and intense unaccustomed activity. It should set at rest the harmful narrative based on anecdotes and rumours that Covid-19 vaccines caused these deaths.
Covid-19 was first reported in late 2019, infected hundreds of millions of people, caused close to seven million deaths and led to economic distress across the world. Scientists developed vaccines within a few months of the outbreak. These vaccines saved the lives of hundreds of millions of people. However, vaccine sceptics have been picking on random deaths and listing anecdotal evidence to campaign against Covid-19 vaccines. This defamation campaign had sought to blame the many sudden deaths as the outcome of Covid-19 vaccines.
The ICMR study is a good beginning that debunks such campaigns with peer-reviewed scientific evidence. Our response to diseases has to be based on scientific evidence. Science has to be the guiding light of public policy. India has one of the worlds largest vaccination programmes. Once common diseases such as smallpox, measles, and polio have been brought under control with vaccines. Yet, there is a high prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in the country. Indias challenge is to bring more and more people under the ambit of vaccination. The pharma industry may try to influence health policy, but that is a matter of regulation and oversight, not a reason to discredit or deny vaccines.
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