Welcome to Sideline Moves, Insider Sport’s weekly roundup spotlighting the key moves shaping the business of sport.
Every Friday, we bring you the latest executive appointments, strategic hires, boardroom shifts and behind-the-scenes deals from across the global sports industry – all in one place.
Manchester City appoint Maresca as Guardiola’s successor
Manchester City appointed Enzo Maresca as their new manager on Monday 29 June, ending the search that began when Pep Guardiola stepped down in May after a decade at the Etihad.
Maresca has signed a three-year contract running to 2029. City agreed a compensation package with Chelsea worth more than £17m to release the 46-year-old, who left Stamford Bridge on 1 January and had been out of work since.
The Italian returns to Manchester City for a third spell. He served as Guardiola’s assistant during the 2022-23 treble season and previously led the club’s elite development squad. He described the chance to manage the side as “a brilliant opportunity”, citing the club’s structure and stability.
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak framed the appointment as continuity rather than a break, and BBC Sport reported that Guardiola had knowledge of the decision before it was finalised. Chelsea, meanwhile, marked the confirmation with a statement setting out its version of Maresca’s mid-season departure.
LFP Media names Bramly to run French football’s commercial arm
LFP Media, the commercial subsidiary of France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel, has appointed Olivier Bramly as CEO.
Bramly, 51, succeeds Nicolas de Tavernost, who left in February and has since become chairman of the board at Stade Rennais. Director General Martin Aurenche departed the same month.
The selection ran through LFP President Vincent Labrune, three club presidents – Olivier Létang (Lille), Marc Keller (Strasbourg) and Waldemar Kita (Nantes) – and CVC Capital Partners, which holds 13% of LFP Media after investing €1.5bn in French football. L’Équipe reported the decision was unanimous, despite differing views during the process.
Bramly arrives from Evision in the Middle East, where he led media and entertainment operations. He spent 15 years at Eurosport from 1999 and ran Fox International Channels for France and francophone territories from 2015. His immediate task is the distribution of Ligue 1+, the league’s in-house platform now holding worldwide rights to Ligue 1 and Ligue 3, against a backdrop of years of media-rights turmoil involving beIN Sports, Canal+ and DAZN. His contract is still to be finalised, with his start expected immediately afterwards.
Black Knight completes Exeter Chiefs takeover
Black Knight Rugby completed its takeover of Exeter Chiefs on 30 June, buying 100% of Exeter Rugby Group Ltd and taking Bill Foley‘s Cannae Holdings into rugby union for the first time.
The purchase followed a members’ vote and a 60-day due diligence process. It ends chairman and CEO Tony Rowe‘s long-running personal financial backing of the Gallagher PREM club, which he carried from the second tier to English and European champions.
Rowe stays on as chief executive and joins a three-person executive board alongside Foley and Cannae CEO Ryan Caswell. The deal covers the full programme at Sandy Park, including the academy and the Exeter Chiefs Women side in PWR.
Exeter joins a portfolio that already includes AFC Bournemouth, FC Lorient, Moreirense, Auckland FC and the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. RFU CEO Bill Sweeney and PREM Rugby CEO Simon Massie-Taylor both cast the arrival as a signal of where the English club game is heading, after Red Bull‘s purchase of Newcastle and James Dyson‘s stake in Bath.
British Cycling installs Gibbons as interim CEO with Dutton off to the BOA
British Cycling has appointed board member Lee Gibbons as interim CEO, effective Monday 13 July, as Jon Dutton leaves to become chief executive of the British Olympic Association.
Gibbons has sat on the British Cycling board since December 2023 and spent nine years running adidas’s sports marketing division. He holds the role until a permanent chief executive – recruitment for which is in its final stages – is in post. The governing body said a new board chair will be announced soon.
Dutton, British Cycling’s CEO since April 2023, was named BOA chief executive in January, succeeding Andy Anson. He led the body through the Paris 2024 Games, where Great Britain’s riders won 11 medals, and oversaw the 2024 strategy launch, the Lloyds lead-partner deal, and the late-2025 launch of commercial arm British Cycling Ventures, which is pursuing private-equity investment – a process the incoming CEO will inherit.
Snapshot Moves
- Nottingham Forest confirmed Vítor Pereira‘s exit on 2 July, with former Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner agreeing terms to become Evangelos Marinakis‘s fifth head coach in under 12 months.
- Rotherham United appointed Alex Bruce as head coach on a deal to 2028, working under head of football Steve McClaren after the club’s relegation to League Two.
