Karim Adeyemi moves from Dortmund in £19m dealNewcastle close on £34m Aladji Bamba from MonacoBarcelona have signed German winger Karim Adeyemi from Borussia Dortmund on a deal until 2031 while Newcastle are set to make Aladji Bamba their fourth summer signing.The La Liga club will pay around €22m (£19m) plus add-ons for the Germany international and the package includes a sell-on clause. Continue reading...
Spain’s World Cup-winning captain may require surgeryLeeds in advanced talks with City to sign James TraffordRodri could face an extended period of time out with a back injury, which may require surgery.The 30-year-old Manchester City midfielder returned to his finest form at the World Cup following two injury-plagued seasons. Having captained Spain to Sunday’s 1-0 final win over Argentina in New Jersey, Rodri was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. Yet he may now require an operation on a back issue that is set to rule him out for the start of the season. Continue reading...
Ukrainian club were in fourth tier in 2021 but, despite war with Russia, will contest European qualifiers for first timeIt is time for set-piece training at LNZ Cherkasy’s smart, shiny training facility. “Arsenal!” one player says with a laugh as the grappling at a corner begins, the joke spreading among others clustered in the six-yard box. That is a level everyone here must aspire to but they are edging nearer. This week a club from what used to be one of Ukraine’s football backwaters will make its European debut in a wartime success story with few modern-day parallels.“We are making history,” the LNZ striker Mark Assinor says after the jostling has stopped and the session wound down. “But there’s been a change in mentality here and I think this is only a starting point for the club.” Continue reading...
The joy, love, hope and fun provided by fans outweighed the commercialism, extortionate prices and ugly politicsThis summer has been so vibrant and full of life. I had my doubts but, as the World Cup approached and Boston got ready to host its first game, I started feeling the excitement and enthusiasm in the air. That mainly had to do with the huge numbers of Scottish fans who arrived for their match against Haiti. They were a delight, what with their shenanigans of putting cones everywhere, walking around in kilts and carrying bagpipes, jamming with the other buskers on the streets. They were such a fun bunch. I found myself getting hooked. Seeing people from so many different countries, kitted out in their jerseys, gave you the feeling that something was happening. Friends and colleagues who don’t follow the sport were as excited as me. I attended three games and my only complaint is the extremely expensive ticket prices. The fans who came only had wonderful things to say about American hospitality – but everyone agreed that the political situation in the country is terrible. It was heartening that the visiting fans were able to separate the administration from the people living here. Moon, Boston Continue reading...
With just over 1,400 days to go until 2030 kicks off, the co-hosts are facing a series of challenges familiar to their South African predecessorsMorocco’s World Cup adventure came to a halt with their quarter-final defeat by France. But taking a break, even for a brief post-season summer, is no option for officials of the FRMF, the country’s football federation.The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon), in its newly expanded 16-team format, begins in Rabat on Sunday, a week after the World Cup final in New Jersey, and Morocco then hosts the Under-17 Women’s World Cup in the autumn. Continue reading...
Midfielder signs a one-year deal with extension optionLeague investigation centers on the transferInter Miami have signed Casemiro as a free agent, but Major League Soccer is investigating the South Florida side for potential tampering in the process of acquiring the Brazilian midfielder.Casemiro has signed what amounts to a one-year contract with Miami, beginning now and ending at the conclusion of the 2027 “sprint season” that precedes the league’s switch to a fall-to-spring calendar in 2027-28. There is an option for an extension that would see the Brazilian stay in Miami through the 2028-29 MLS season. Continue reading...
Former Hearts coach railed at ‘disgusting’ VAR decisionSFA punishment means ban for start of new seasonDerek McInnes, the new Rangers manager, is poised to begin the season in the stands after being handed a four-match ban for his comments on Celtic’s controversial penalty at Motherwell last season.The then-Hearts manager described the VAR decision to give Celtic a stoppage-time spot-kick – which proved crucial in the Scottish Premiership title race – as “disgusting”. On Wednesday the Scottish Football Association announced McInnes would receive a four-match ban, with one game suspended until the end of the season. Continue reading...
Almost 700,000 ticket registrations were analysedClub worked with local police economic crime teamMore than £1.2m in assets have been seized and 432 lifetime bans issued as part of a clampdown by Liverpool FC and Merseyside police on ticket touting. In the first operation of its kind between a Premier League club and their local police authority, Liverpool’s investigations team worked with the force’s economic crime team to analyse almost 700,000 ticket registrations last season and to focus on the laundering of criminal proceeds from illicit ticket sales.The joint investigation has led to £1.2m in assets related to organised ticket touts being detained with several cases taking place under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Two people have been convicted and another is due in court next month. The assets seized will be split between Merseyside police and the Home Office. Continue reading...
The first 48-team World Cup had its positives and negatives – do we need to brace for a 64-team future?It was less than 12 months after Gianni Infantino succeeded Sepp Blatter as president that Fifa announced the expansion of the men’s World Cup from 32 to 48 teams. The reaction was mixed. Diego Maradona said he was “delighted by Gianni’s initiative” because it allowed each country to dream of reaching the tournament, renewing their passion for football. Joachim Löw, then in charge of the world champions Germany, said: “I don’t think it’s a good idea to dilute the sporting value … In the long term, the quality suffers.”On the evidence of the first 48-team edition, won by Spain after 104 games across five-and-a-half weeks in North America, it’s fair to conclude Maradona and Löw both had a point. Continue reading...
The European champions’ squad is falling apart … because of the men’s team’s struggles with financial fair playThe joy of lifting all four trophies in 2025-26 has been short-lived for Barcelona’s women’s team as they face a second consecutive summer exodus.If winning the Champions League is not enough to retain players then you have to wonder what is. Seven players have left the European champions so far with 19-year-old Renee van Asten from Ajax the only arrival.This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts will be sent out once a week, on Wednesdays, in the close season but will be back on Tuesdays and Thursdays from September. Continue reading...
26-year-old looking forward to working with Maresca‘To stay this long at the club is a dream’Phil Foden has signed a new four-year contract with Manchester City, saying he is looking forward to “trying to win more” at his boyhood club. The deal, which has an additional 12-month option, ties the 26-year-old to the club until 2030.Foden is relishing working again with Enzo Maresca. The new City manager was Pep Guardiola’s assistant during the 2022-23 treble-winning season. Continue reading...
33-year-old German could be hit with one-year banSouth-coast club denied chance to win promotionSouthampton’s manager, Tonda Eckert, is facing a lengthy suspension from all football activity after being charged with three counts of misconduct by the Football Association.They relate to the Spygate scandal and involve breaching FA rules during covert missions to illicitly observe Championship training sessions involving Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Oxford last season. Continue reading...
Plus: the most World Cup assists, Ballon d’Or winners with fewest caps and what happens to World Cup balls?Mail us with your all of your questions and answers“Adding the World Cup to his résumé means Rodri has now won the World Cup, the European Championship, the Champions League, and the Ballon d’Or,” writes Owen Bagnall. “Has anyone else ‘completed football’ like this?”They have but it’s a small, elite list. Continue reading...
Bhatia backed by father-in-law Lakshmi MittalMinority stake deal values the club at £4.5bnLiverpool’s owner is in talks over selling a minority stake to a consortium led by the former Queens Park Rangers co‑owner Amit Bhatia and backed by his father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal, the billionaire Indian steel magnate. The Guardian understands a sale of 30% of the club is being discussed, with an offer of around £1.35bn on the table.Fenway Sports Group confirmed in a statement to the Financial Times that it had begun negotiations with a group led by Bhatia over a potential minority share sale that would value Liverpool at about £4.5bn. Continue reading...
Explosion in ticketing and hospitality revenue goes along with a Fifa desire to recoup lost TV income in future dealsAs is often the case, it has been left to Donald Trump to say the quiet bit out loud. “We have to do this again and we have to do it while I’m around, you hear that Gianni?” the US president told Fox News in an interview broadcast in the buildup to the World Cup final.An American bid for the 2038 World Cup has been the talk of the hotel lobbies populated by administrators from around the world over the past month, who have watched this country’s seemingly limitless appetite for major events and willingness to pay whatever it takes to attend them. Continue reading...
Fans claim they are being ‘treated as suspects’Club planning to reinstate tickets before season beginsManchester United’s official Fans’ Forum, Manchester United Supporters Trust (Must), The 1958 and five other such groups have complained to the club over supporters being “treated as suspects” after some had season tickets suspended as part of a move to stop the illegal reselling of seats.United last week contacted fans who used six or more devices to access accounts linked to the club or to forward tickets, as in their view this suggested the potential buying of seats to resell. Members are allowed only to forward tickets to other members, or sell them back to United. Continue reading...
Fifa’s gargantuan revenue influx from the tournament, with little left over for locals, will beget more exploitationYou do not, under any circumstance, have to hand it to Fifa.You do, however, have to acknowledge that the 2026 World Cup was successful in all of the ways it was intended to be successful. The soccer was interesting and competitive and dramatic, albeit mostly not great – not that this really a necessary ingredient for a compelling sporting product. People came and watched in overwhelming numbers. There was fun and folklore; underdog surprises; heroic storylines that might have been hackneyed had they been works of fiction. The whole thing made vast sums of money for its organizer. More money, by an order of billions, than even Fifa itself had projected, per the Guardian’s reporting. Continue reading...
Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!The Geopolitics World Cup is already fading from view, replaced by a thin July gruel of pre-season friendlies and transfer tales. But there’s still time to cast another look back over the 48-team, 104-game, 308-goal leviathan that has dominated the last six weeks of our lives. Without further ado, here are 48 reasons to cherish this year’s World Cup (minus the Geopolitics). Continue reading...
