E118: The business of European football with Phil Carling

Today we’re talking about the business of European football with one of the most experienced and respected people working in the industry today. Phil Carling started his career as Arsenal’s first ever head of marketing before moving to head up the commercial department of the FA. Since 2004, Carling has been head of football for the sports marketing agency Octagon, managing their clients relationship with clubs, leagues and governing bodies around Europe and beyond. So Phil was my first call when the story broke revealing a plot among some of Europe’s big clubs to launch a European Premier League initially at least endorsed by Fifa and underwritten by $6billion of JPMorgan’s money. This is the latest of many threatened rebel competitions to have appeared over the course of the last three decades. I want to why the story has become such a regular feature of sports business conversation, why this one appeared now, what happened to the previous incarnations and where was Phil Carling the first time he heard rumours of a European breakaway. Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.