Author Archives: bigfivefc

Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola, Jonathan Barnett…we often see these names and others associated with the biggest moves in the winter and summer transfer windows. Certain agents have become as known as the players that they represent, yet little is known about their income. Whereas many player salaries across large leagues are public information (or atContinue reading “Agents: How Do They Get Paid”

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano, Neymar, Adriano Correia Claro, Radamel Falcao…what do these players have in common? Yes, they all played in La Liga. Yes, they all starred for (arguably) the three biggest teams in La Liga: Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid. And yes, with the exception of Radamel Falcao, they all playContinue reading “A Taxing Profession – Soccer Stars and Tax-Avoidance Schemes in Spain”

For the last ten years, American soccer fans and MLS officials have voiced aspirations of being competitive with the world’s top leagues. This desire to compete against top leagues can be seen through a number of initiatives, from the MLS vs. Liga MX All-Star games to bringing top talent Europe to the United States, albeitContinue reading “Is the MLS Salary Structure Hampering Its Competitiveness as a Global Soccer League?”

Italy’s Serie A had some incredible stars playing in the league last season. From Cristiano Ronaldo to Romelu Lukaku to Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Diego Godin, Italian soccer has recently attracted major talents from outside leagues. Five years ago, attracting talents from outside leagues was an issue. Serie A teams were consistently losing players and transferContinue reading “Italy’s Special Tax: How Italy’s New Resident Workers Tax Keeps Serie A Competitive”

Premier League Chelsea @ Tottenham (-0.5, -1; -112) Chelsea has had a great start to the season and plans to continue its undefeated run this weekend. Lukaku has been in-form up front, the team has had strong wing play, the midfield has rotated nicely to ensure fresh legs for Jorginho, Kante, and Kovacic, and theContinue reading “Weekend Predictions – September 17-19, 2021”

As top teams prepare to shift to playing both league and European competitions (starting September 15), fans may be interested to know what teams are in which Europa League groups and how the groups may breakdown. I can’t do a Champions League Predictions preview and leave out the other major European tournament (the Europa ConferenceContinue reading “UEFA Europa League 2021/2022 Group Stage Predictions”

Angel Correa has been nothing short of phenomenal for Atletico Madrid in this first month. In three games with the club, he has three goals and an assist, with a total goal participation rate of 80% on the season. Additionally, the timing of his goals has been crucial: he opened the scoring and then gaveContinue reading “Player of the First Month – Angel Correa, Forward, Atletico Madrid”

Because of the recent international break, potential COVID quarantine restrictions, and the combination of both league and European games happening in such close proximity to each other, there will be no game predictions this weekend. There is too much uncertainty surround who is eligible to play and whether teams will rest key players that wereContinue reading “UEFA Champions League 2021/2022 Group Stage Predictions”

I wasn’t going to do predictions for the WCQ because I wanted to stick to club soccer and the big five leagues, but I went 9-0 on the Weekend #3 predictions, so we’re going to keep it going while I’ve got the hot hand. UEFA Netherlands @ Norway (Over 2.5) First game of the WorldContinue reading “Predictions – World Cup Qualifiers 9/1 – 9/5”

Paris Saint-Germain has had quite a summer: signing Messi, Wijnaldum, Donnarumma, and Ramos on free transfers, along with spending 70 million euros on Hakimi. PSG splashed cash all over the place, the bulk of which went towards these free transfers’ wages. Wijnaldum and Hakimi are reportedly earning 10 million euros per season net, Ramos willContinue reading “Financial Fair Play, Paris Saint-Germain, and Unlimited Spending”