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Seven of the eight nations have won the tournament before while Mali take on the role of stubborn outsiders

A comfortable 3-0 victory for the defending champions, Côte d’Ivoire, over Burkina Faso on Tuesday evening completes the highest-powered set of quarter-finalists the Cup of Nations has ever known. Seven of the last eight are former champions; between them they have won 22 Cups of Nations. It is the first time all eight quarter-finalists are in the top 10 African sides in the Fifa rankings.

It’s been a strangely predictable tournament so far, at least after Ghana failed to qualify; the nearest to a surprise in the last 16 was Mali’s win over Tunisia and Cameroon’s victory over South Africa. After the lengthy preamble in a format lacking in jeopardy, the tournament needs the giants to deliver the appropriate payoff.

In Manchester United’s brave new world coaches are more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still to blame if it arrives cold

Turns out he could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994‑95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

Today’s rumours are staring at bare walls

Another day, another Jørgen Strand Larsen rumour. The latest speculation concerning the Wolves striker has Tottenham tussling with Newcastle for his services. With Mohammed Kudus sidelined by injury, Thomas Frank needs attacking reinforcements for his ailing side and Strand Larsen could fit the bill. Newcastle’s interest remains solid though, and they had scouts at Molineux last weekend, the Newcastle Chronicle reports.

Chelsea being Chelsea, Liam Rosenior’s arrival at Stamford Bridge has excited the gossip peddlers, and there’s talk in Spain of a cheeky move for Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Spanish outlet Fichajes claims: “Sources close to the club suggest that Chelsea could be preparing a multimillion pound offer to try to convince Real Madrid, assuming the deal must be a permanent transfer.” Though a move for the former Liverpool full-back wouldn’t particularly fit Chelsea’s transfer MO.

• WSL2 side beat off competition for winger’s signature

• She started career at City and has been on loan at Everton

The England winger Katie Robinson is poised to complete a shock move from Aston Villa to Bristol City, the Guardian understands, as the Women’s Super League 2 club make a significant signal of their ambition.

The 23-year-old, who made her England debut in 2022, has – according to sources – completed a medical to return to the club where she started her career before establishing herself at Brighton. Robinson has five caps and was the youngest member of England’s squad at the 2023 World Cup, where they reached the final. Bristol City have fought off competition for her signature.

The 41-year-old is at home with young players and, crucially, he is familiar with the demands of Chelsea’s owners

By Get French Football News

Liam Rosenior looks up at the towering Strasbourg Kop. He shouts and pleads as he points to his players, demanding the fans applaud them. Met with hostility, boos and jeers in the stands, he cuts a lone figure, one at pains to sow unity at a divided club. Strasbourg had just won the game, beating Le Havre 1-0 earlier this season, but the club’s fans were in no mood to celebrate.

Behind an image are a thousand words, or three banners in this case. One called for the club president Marc Keller to leave Strasbourg; another criticised the bizarre Ishé Samuels-Smith back-and-forth transfer; and the one to which Rosenior took particular exception concerned his captain, Emmanuel Emegha. It read: “Emegha, pawn of BlueCo, after changing shirts, hand back your armband.” Emegha had agreed a deal to join Chelsea a few days earlier, once again confirming to Strasbourg fans that they were subservient to “big brother” Chelsea in the multi-club hierarchy.

CFG have ditched Mumbai City and losing the glamour will hurt the game in the world’s most populated nation

The world’s biggest multiclub network shrank from 13 to 12 in the last week of 2025 but few blame the City Football Group for walking away from Mumbai City and India after six years. The reason for divesting their shares which gave them 65% ownership was addressed, not that anyone needed enlightening in a statement. “CFG has made this decision after a comprehensive commercial review and in light of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the future of the Indian Super League (ISL).”

Uncertainty is an underestimation. The 2025-26 ISL season was supposed to kick off in September. However, with a 15-year Masters Right Agreement between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner ending in December and no new agreement or partner in place, it never started. Most assumed that it would be a short-lived delay but here we are, in 2026, and there is still no football. A meeting took place in Delhi on Tuesday and produced a start date of 14 February, just six weeks short of a year since Mumbai’s last ISL game. How it works, if it works, remains to be seen.

Plus: goals (not) on film and was Liverpool’s substitution chain at Spurs the longest in football?

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“After St Mirren beat Celtic in the Scottish League Cup, I wondered where it actually is,” writes Dan J. “The answer is (as everyone bar me knew) Paisley, right next to Glasgow airport. Which got me wondering, which team is closest to an airport? I reckon Glentoran, next to Belfast City, and Eastleigh, virtually in Southampton airport, are in with a shout. And Charlton if you are happy to swim part of the way. Any closer ones?”

We had so many answers to this question, so thank you to one and all. Let’s start with a ground that is but a thunderclap away from the nearest airport. “The Icelandic football club Valur is near Rekjavík airport, which is mostly a domestic airport, but also has some international flights,” writes Kári Tulinius. “The distance from the fence around the airport to Valur’s fence is about 150 metres. From training pitch to the nearest piece of airport tarmac is 230m, and from corner flag to the end of the runway is 380m. All of these distances were measured with Google Maps.”

West Ham are drifting towards the most gutless of relegations. The London Stadium was half empty on another dismal night, encapsulating the apathy gripping this miserable club, and it is hard to see a way out for Nuno Espírito Santo’s accident prone side after a combination of ­misfortune and dismal defending left them seven points below Nottingham Forest in 17th place.

There was a disallowed goal for Crysencio Summerville when West Ham were leading 1-0 at the start of the second half. Nuno had charged around his technical area, a big grin spread across his face, but he was watching in despair moments later. Forest replied straight away, Nicolás Domínguez heading in an opportunistic equaliser, and they boosted their survival hopes when a clumsy attempt at a clearing punch from Alphonse Areola sparked the video assistant referee review that ended with Morgan Gibbs-White scoring the winning penalty in the 89th minute.

• Resolution has been delayed by packed fixture schedule

• Manager says defender may be sold for the right price

Oliver Glasner expects to decide in the coming weeks whether he will sign a new contract at Crystal Palace and has said Marc Guéhi could be sold this month if his “threshold” is met.

Glasner is the bookmakers’ early favourite to be the permanent replacement for Ruben Amorim at Manchester United. The Austrian’s contract expires this summer and the ambitious 51-year-old is understood to be open then to joining United or another big club.

Our cartoonist on a typically sedate start to 2026 at two of the Premier League’s biggest football ‘projects’

• But this cartoon | David’s favourite work of 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Once they seemed an unstoppable force but a huge gap between the Nordic leagues and Europe’s elite has emerged in the past 20 years

For a brief period in the early 2000s, Scandinavian clubs seemed unstoppable in European women’s football. Umeå lifted the Uefa Women’s Cup in 2003 and again in 2004, using a blend of technical skill and tactical intelligence. The Swedish side were a powerhouse and attracted top talent from around the world, including Marta, widely regarded as the greatest ever female player.

That dominance feels very distant. In 2025, a Norwegian, Swedish or Danish club winning the Women’s Champions League is almost unthinkable. Vålerenga were the only Scandinavian team to reach the Champions League league stage this season and they did not qualify for the knockout phase.

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

• Women’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

Every deal in the WSL, NWSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

Price tag for winger’s move to Manchester City would make headlines in any other country but not in England

Antoine Semenyo, it seems likely, will soon join Manchester City from Bournemouth for a fee of £65m. Given how well Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden have played from the right this season, it is not immediately obvious why City need him, but the modern game is the modern game, the rammed calendar makes large and flexible squads essential and Pep Guardiola may have some esoteric plan for the Ghanaian anyway. But perhaps what is most striking about the deal is the fee – or, more precisely, how little attention it has drawn.

English football has become inured to big transfers. The fee feels about right. Semenyo is 25. He has four and a half years left on his contract. He is quick, skilful, intelligent and works hard. He is disciplined, but has the capacity to do the unexpected. Of course a player of his ability costs that much. Yet £65m would make him the third-most expensive player in Bundesliga history. He would be the seventh-most expensive in Serie A history, the 14th-most expensive in La Liga history. Only nine non-English clubs have paid a fee higher than that. Even in Premier League terms, Semenyo sneaks into the top 25.

This summer’s tournament is seen as a culmination, but in truth it’s the next World Cup where the USMNT may have the most success

When the US was confirmed as a future World Cup co-host on the eve of the 2018 tournament in Russia, the USMNT were still stuck under the rubble of their shocking failure to qualify. Mauricio Pochettino was just establishing himself among European club soccer’s managerial elite, taking Tottenham to the Champions League final a year later.

Few could have imagined that he’d be leading the USMNT into the 2026 World Cup, and perhaps fewer believe he’ll stick around for the next cycle. Nevertheless, after a 2-1 win over Australia in Commerce City, Colorado to end the October window, Pochettino noted he’s building a team with 2030 in mind, too.

Police leaders defend position after being recalled to give further evidence in second hearing to home affairs committee

Police chiefs facing scrutiny over a decision to ban fans of an Israeli football team from attending a match in Birmingham have insisted the move was not politically influenced.

West Midlands police (WMP) leaders defended their position at the home affairs committee on Tuesday after being recalled to give further evidence over the decision to ban fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv from attending a Europa League match against Aston Villa on 6 November.

• Mason was appointed in June on three-year contract

• West Brom 18th in the Championship after latest loss

West Brom have sacked Ryan Mason as their head coach after a stoppage-time defeat at Leicester on Monday left the club 18th in the Championship. It was the team’s 10th away defeat in a row and ended the 34-year-old’s tenure after seven months.

Mason was appointed on a three-year deal after holding a variety of roles at Tottenham, including interim manager and assistant to Ange Postecoglou. West Brom said two members of Mason’s staff, Nigel Gibbs and Sam Pooley, had also left.

• Bournemouth’s Semenyo due for medical on Thursday

• Academy graduate Alleyne recalled amid injury crisis

Manchester City will be without Rúben Dias for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury, exacerbating Pep Guardiola’s defensive injury crisis and leading the head coach to admit the club may enter the transfer market. The Crystal Palace captain, Marc Guéhi, is of interest.

City are contemplating a bid for Guéhi and are close to completing a move for the forward Antoine Semenyo, who is due for a medical on Thursday after playing a final game for Bournemouth on Wednesday at home against Tottenham. City have agreed to pay Semenyo’s almost £65m release clause.

European media giant aims to emulate success of sports podcast network Goalhanger, founded by Gary Lineker

The YouTube media business co-founded by Gary Neville has been bought by one of Europe’s biggest commercial radio companies, in the latest sign of the streaming platform’s increasing influence in sports broadcasting.

Global, which already owns the likes of LBC and podcasts including The News Agents, has taken a majority stake in The Overlap, co-founded with Scott Melvin by the former Manchester United defender, who remains one of the channel’s most prominent figures.

Ousmane Dembélé becomes our seventh winner as he beats Lamine Yamal into second and Vitinha into third on our list of the best players on the planet

• Premier League dominates list | How every judge voted | Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

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The Frenchman, who has been named the best male footballer in the world by the Guardian, has benefitted from PSG’s focus on the team rather than individuals

What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature. My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career.

After a great deal of research, I narrowed it down from my shortlist of five by asking questions not about the players’ football ability, but about other attributes: resilience, adaptability, decision-making, creativity, work ethic, response to feedback and willingness to learn. Qualities we cannot see, and are harder to measure.

Aitana Bonmatí has been voted the best female player on the planet by our panel of 127 experts ahead of Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo

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The margin may have got smaller but the brilliant Spanish midfielder makes it a hat-trick of No 1 finishes

They say the best things come in threes, and Aitana Bonmatí has written herself into the Guardian’s top 100 history as the first player to finish at the top of the tree for a third consecutive year.

Last year the majestic midfielder emulated her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas by winning for a second year running, but the 27-year-old has now gone one better, establishing herself once again at the top of the women’s game.

On the podcast today: five minutes after the Monday edition of Football Weekly had finished recording, news broke that Ruben Amorim had been sacked by Manchester United. Twenty-four hours later, today’s assembled panel react to the news.

How do we view his tenure? And what happens next? Darren Fletcher is at the wheel for now, with Oliver Glasner the long-term favourite.

An elite Manchester United panel and your questions on today’s Guardian Football Weekly … 

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The club are in a decent position but there is dissatisfaction with the ownership and the new head coach must not get caught in the crossfire

The way Chelsea are run will come as no surprise to Liam Rosenior. He has longstanding relationships with three of the five sporting directors and will know from his time at Strasbourg, who are part of the same ownership, that the head coach’s best chance of surviving is not to make the mistake of rebelling against the structure.

Rosenior will have to show more political savvy than Enzo Maresca, who talked himself out of the job last week. Yet given the 41‑year‑old is familiar with the working conditions at BlueCo, the investment vehicle that owns Chelsea and Strasbourg, his biggest challenge is unlikely to be managing upwards. Rosenior will know where to train his focus and not to rock the boat. Crucially, he does not inherit a team in crisis. Chelsea are fifth and earned a creditable draw at Manchester City on Sunday; despite the rancour of Maresca’s final days, this is not a situation that calls for a major rebuild.

Sean Ruiz and his team reveal the kit preparations and dressing room routines that make the players tick

Sean Ruiz always leaves his training-ground office door wide open. He is no fan of enclosed spaces, but there is much more to it. The passing Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera spots Ruiz and pops in for a brief chat with a fellow Colombian. Minutes later an under-21s player seeks Ruiz’s counsel on a non-footballing matter.

“It’s a blessing to have these relationships,” Ruiz says. “To see them not just for what everybody else sees: a centre-back, a striker for Wolves. These guys are like family to me. I’m lucky to get to see this side of them, to be there when things are good, when things are bad. We’re not just players and staff here. It’s something more.”

Even the return of Martin O’Neill is unlikely to placate supporters frustrated by poor performances, a lack of investment, and chaos in the boardroom

Any club confirming the end of an error after eight games owes an apology to their supporters. In Celtic’s case, even the admission of an all-time blunder in hiring Wilfried Nancy would be unlikely to placate the masses. Remorse has not been forthcoming anyway. As Martin O’Neill’s return as manager was confirmed, office bearers took it in turn to express disappointment at the Nancy affair. Which was very good of them.

Celtic do not have a monopoly on bad decision-making. It just currently feels as if that is the case. A club who have dominated in Scotland for more than a decade, who have vast resources and more scope to plan than others of much lower stature, should never have been seeking a fourth manager in one season. That they are points firmly towards a lack of strategy and direction. It is a preposterous situation. Celtic are lucky that O’Neill, 73, retains an appetite to work. He also ticks another box, that of being idolised in the stands.

An Old Trafford season-ticket holder on why the club’s real problems go far deeper than the departing head coach

Well, here we go again. The clown car called Manchester United just tooted its horn, backfired loudly and threw its latest driver out on to Sir Matt Busby Way.

Darren Fletcher is now at the wheel, where Ruben, Ole and so many others have been before. A wheel that seems to come off in the hands of those who attempt to grip it.

Win over Cremonese was only made possible after a late injury led to match-winner’s inclusion as a substitute

The man who breathed life into Fiorentina’s survival bid was not meant to be playing at all. Moise Kean returned to training on Saturday after almost a week away attending to a private family matter. The club’s manager, Paolo Vanoli, did not intend to name him in the matchday squad to face Cremonese one day later, but had his hand forced by a late injury to Edin Dzeko.

“I have to tell the truth because that’s how I am – I’m a sincere person,” said Vanoli on Sunday. “When [Kean] came back I told him ‘Moise, out of respect for the group, I’m not even going to put you on the bench’.”

Goalkeeper who swapped city rivals in the summer proved pivotal on his return with a stunning series of saves

“I hope people don’t get angry but he’s my friend.” There wasn’t long until the Barcelona derby and Jofre Carreras had briefly abandoned the warm-up to talk to the TV. There on the touchline, talk inevitably turned to his former roommate, housemate and teammate Joan García, now in goal for their greatest rivals. Carreras’s answer was just about audible over all the noise and then he was off again: he had something else to do before it all started, accepting a shirt marking his 100th game for Espanyol. Behind them as club legend Rafa Marañón presented it, the team captains lined up for a photo of their own with the first Catalan to referee this fixture in 80 years and, way off to the left out of shot, García clapped. Like everything else he did, except actually play, he did so discreetly.

Joan and Jofre, both 24, have known each other “for as long as I can remember”, in Carreras’s words. Over four years, they shared a room at Espanyol’s residency on Carretera de Mataró in Sant Adrià del Besòs and then they shared an apartment. When García collected his award as Espanyol’s best player in 2023-24, and was handed a supply of sausages, Carreras also received an award – two different supporters’ clubs rewarding two different winners on the same day. When García started being noticed beyond Barcelona, Carreras declared his friend the world’s best. And when the summer heat got a bit much – and, boy, did it – García took refuge at Carreras’s. Now though they were opponents. And that, Carreras said, was “a bit strange”.

• Wicky is the fifth permanent head coach in team history

• Swiss arrives after stints with Chicago and Young Boys

Sporting Kansas City named Raphaël Wicky as the fifth permanent head coach in franchise history on Monday.

Wicky, 48, coached the Chicago Fire from 2020-21 before managing BSC Young Boys in his native Switzerland from 2022-24. He signed a contract through the 2027-28 MLS season with an option for the 2028-29 campaign.

• Last 16: Morocco 1-0 Tanzania (Brahim 64)

• Cameroon await in last eight after beating South Africa

Brahim Díaz scored his fourth goal for Morocco at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to put the hosts into the quarter-finals with a nervous 1-0 victory over Tanzania in Rabat.

Morocco dominated possession but Tanzania had opportunities to cause a huge shock, and it took a fine strike from Brahim to book a place in the last eight.

Our cartoonist reflects on what Socceroos, Matildas and A-League fans are crossing their fingers for this year

• Coach Thierry Mouyouma also sacked by government

• Veteran defender Bruno Ecuele Manga ditched too

Gabon’s government has announced the suspension of the national football team, the sacking of their coach and the kicking of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the squad after three defeats at the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

Gabon’s acting sports minister announced the suspension of the national team on television after they finished last in their group and were eliminated from the tournament in Morocco.

The manager is no longer the most important person at a football club – perhaps it is time for those above them to front up to the media

‘Since I joined the club, the last 48 hours have been the worst because many people didn’t support us” and “I came here to be the manager, not to be the coach” will ultimately be the managerial epitaphs of Enzo Maresca and Ruben Amorim.

Maresca instigated a chain of events at Chelsea that resulted in his departure, while open sourness between dugout and hierarchy at Manchester United rapidly descended in a civil war that ended with Amorim’s abrupt sacking on Monday.

Coach stopped toeing the line at Stamford Bridge with one eye on the Manchester City job, frustrating his employers

It was late on New Year’s Eve when Chelsea’s patience ran out. They knew that Enzo Maresca was attempting to engineer an exit from the club and now they were ready to call his bluff. Midnight was approaching and the fireworks at Stamford Bridge were about to erupt.

A baffling story soon had a familiar, predictable ending. Maresca, who is not the first manager to run out of friends at Chelsea, had taken the provocations too far. There was surprise when he told staff that he did not want to conduct his post-match press conference after the disappointing 2-2 draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday night. The official explanation was that Maresca was too unwell to talk in public, despite having just spent the evening coaching on the Stamford Bridge touchline, but the friction was palpable and it was never going to sit well with the Chelsea hierarchy when it took less than 24 hours for reports to emerge that the sickness line was a red herring and their head coach had actually decided not to meet the media because he needed time to consider his options. It was further confirmation that this was someone who wanted to be sacked. Maresca dared Chelsea to act and will have been the least surprised person in the world to find himself unemployed less than a day into 2026.

Football provided direction, belonging, purpose and validation. Letting go of that has meant confronting the void left behind

Accepting retirement from professional football has felt like stepping into a landscape shaped by loss and uncertainty. Even when the decision is rational, even when the body is signalling that it’s time, there is something profoundly emotional about acknowledging that an era of your life has ended.

To me, it felt very much like grief. The shock, sadness, anger, confusion and numbness mirror the emotional responses that accompany any major loss I’ve experienced. But instead of mourning the loss of a loved one, you are mourning the loss of a part of you – a big part. For years football provided direction, belonging, inspiration, purpose and validation. A sense of being part of something bigger.

Set pieces on the rise, fans transformed to customers and conspiracies seen in every decision – is football losing its fun?

English football has always mirrored the passions, conflicts, identities and inequalities of the age. After the golden 1960s, the decay of the 1970s and ensuing disasters of the 1980s came the cap-sleeved, rebounding self-confidence of the 1990s. The 21st century so far has taken in globalisation and wanton commercialism. After that rabid, often reckless push for continued growth, society and the game alight on the uncertainties that encapsulated 2025.

To catch the 20 Premier League clubs in live action this season, and this writer completed the full set on Tuesday witnessing Arsenal’s second-half demolition of Aston Villa, has been a study in that uncertainty. From the grumbling of fans, to the ever-fragile egos of managers, to players slugging through the gristle of 90 minutes of hard-pressing slog, a leading question comes to mind: is anyone actually still enjoying this?

Our cartoonist looks back at the big stories and memorable moments as we wave farewell to another year in football

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With the club game hurtling along a Premier League-trodden path, women’s football is at a crossroads

Where will women’s football in England be in a decade’s time? How can we possibly begin to imagine the scale of the interest, attendances and participation then? How will the game on the pitch have developed, with each generation training and playing in better and better environments and at younger ages? It’s near impossible to make even educated guesses.

Women’s football in England is at a crossroads. The Women’s Super League and Women’s Super League 2 are now run independently of the Football Association, leading to increased outside investment, the rise of multi-club ownership groups, and the million-pound transfer barrier being broken twice in one summer. Minimum standards in the WSL and WSL2 have also been extended or raised and, while there is always talk of maintaining the connection between players and supporters, the women’s game is hurtling along a Premier League-trodden path at a fierce pace.

We look at 10 players likely to create headlines next month, including the ‘new Kevin De Bruyne’

• Men’s transfer interactive: January 2026 edition

While Semenyo would doubtless prefer to be in Morocco at the moment, one of the advantages to Ghana’s failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations has been that the 25-year-old is in the same country as all the clubs who have expressed an interest in signing him. With a contract at Bournemouth containing a £65m release clause that becomes active for the first two weeks of January, Manchester City appear to have won the race for the player who has scored 20 Premier League goals since the start of last season. Chelsea and Tottenham have now moved on to other targets but could Liverpool or Manchester United attempt to steal a late march on their rivals? They need to get a move on if so.

From jaw-dropping tricks to scorpion kicks, flicks, solo efforts and more – enjoy our pick of 2025’s best goals

The very definition of top bins: James Edmondson pops one right in the stanchion at Slough Town to help Macclesfield Town into the third round of the FA Cup.

Forest great was loved in Nottingham but underappreciated in Scotland before going on to thrive as a coach

On the eve of a Celtic European tie 25 years ago, Stiliyan Petrov cut an increasingly agitated figure. The young midfielder, soon to shoot to prominence under Martin O’Neill, was finding it impossible to snatch the ball from a rotund, wizened coach during a possession drill. Petrov’s teammates were cackling with laughter. John Robertson’s brilliance was understated enough in Scotland. Word of his talent in the game was never likely to reach Petrov as he grew up in Bulgaria.

Petrov is part of a recent generation who owe a debt of gratitude to Robertson the coach. More of them later. When news of Robertson’s death filtered through on Christmas Day, the prevailing sense was that his country had lost one of a kind. He was also an individual who, for reasons associated with his own modesty, really never received the kudos he deserved in the land of his birth.

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While Football Daily spent most of New Year’s Day shivering, sweating and staring at hallucinatory rodents while questioning the wisdom of embarking on our first Dry January since 1989, it didn’t escape our blurred vision that Chelsea chose to ring in 2026 by firing Enzo Maresca. While he may have grown up the son of a humble Italian fisherman, the head coach had gotten a little too big for his waders, eventually being tossed into an ocean of opaque criticism he had levelled at unspecified members of the club hierarchy. Like a frail old man bobbing around the Tyrrhenian Sea while trying to reel in a 500lb bluefin tuna with a spool of dental floss, Maresca had picked a battle he was always going to lose – and on Tuesday Chelsea unveiled the Italian’s replacement.

So Chelsea are so confident that Liam Rosenior is the answer that they have given him a contract until 2032. Odds on him still being there in six years’ time? There’s more chance of Accrington Stanley winning the FA Cup (and they got knocked out in the first round). Are football club owners mad or just desperate?” – John Myles.

It’s quite sad to see Thomas Frank under increasing pressure at Spurs (for not solving all the problems that have dogged them for the last 40 years at a club that finished 17th last season, one place above relegation). Still, the one thing that should help him in this challenging period is that there isn’t anyone available with extensive experience of being an interim manager at Spurs. Oh. Meanwhile, Martin O’Neill returning as Celtic manager (now they don’t have to play Hearts again obviously), after spending only 37 days as interim and yet somehow outlasting the subsequent full-time manager, is both utterly predictable and yet simultaneously farcical. The skeleton of Jock Stein must be roaming the Scottish countryside in search of a pair of eyeballs to roll …” – Noble Francis.

As we emerge into the sunlit uplands of 2026, can any of us honestly say that we had a 3-0 Wolves win, Chelsea, Celtic and Manchester United managerial exits, plus the audacious midnight capturing of a sitting South American president by the winner of Fifa’s peace prize on our festive bingo cards? Thought not. Happy new year! We’re off to a flyer!” – Allastair McGillivray.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

The head coach (or should that be manager?) fired cryptic shots at his Old Trafford bosses, then was fired himself

• Amorim sacked after power struggle over transfers

Discontent at Manchester United these days is only ever deferred. Ruben Amorim’s departure from the club on Monday was long anticipated and came, in the end, with a weary sigh. He had made a half-hearted protest about the recruitment structure after Sunday’s draw at Leeds, but it felt even at the time like barely more than a gesture. And so another manager, the seventh since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, falls victim to the United meat-grinder.

Everybody at United, fundamentally, is unhappy. And not unhappy in the sense that Alex Ferguson used to be unhappy, when the club was essentially fuelled by his volcanic rages, but enervated, frustrated by the realisation that this is not how things used to be, that this was once the biggest football club in the country and now they keep failing to get the win they need to lift them to fifth.

Today’s newsletter looks at 10 superlative talents who are ready to take the next step in the coming 12 months

Alara Sehitler, Bayern Munich and Germany (19): Sehitler’s transition into Bayern Munich’s first team has come as little surprise and the creative midfielder has established herself as a strong impact player for José Barcala’s side. She has three Frauen Bundesliga goals this season and sparked Bayern’s comeback against Arsenal in the Champions League. After making her senior debut for Germany in November 2024, she will be looking to establish herself as a regular for their upcoming 2027 World Cup qualifiers.

Giulia Galli, Roma and Italy (17): Galli is widely regarded as one of the best young Italian talents to emerge for a long time and became Roma’s youngest player to make her Serie A debut in May 2024, aged 16 and one month. Establishing herself in the senior squad this season, she scored her first club goal in September and has featured in the Champions League. After starring in Italy’s sensational run to the semi-finals of last summer’s Under-17 Euros, the talented forward played a significant role at the subsequent Under-17 World Cup, picking up the bronze boot. She will surely feature at this autumn’s Under-20 World Cup.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jamie Jackson, John Brewin and Nooruddean Choudry as Ruben Amorim is sacked as Manchester United head coach

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On the podcast today: five minutes after the Monday edition of Football Weekly had finished recording, news broke that Ruben Amorim had left Manchester United. Twenty-four hours later, today’s assembled panel react to the news.

Highs and lows for Alexander Isak, Wolves’ sobering survival chances and were Chelsea lucky at Newcastle?

• Premier League scoring charts

Can results be misleading? That is the question. Aston Villa’s winning streak continued against Manchester United, but so did the nagging doubts. They were the lesser team by several measures – fewer shots (12-15), less possession (43-57), fewer big chances (2-3). As usual, the victory was a slender one. But games are not won by stats. They are won by solid teamwork, shrewd management and individual talent – and Villa have all three. Morgan Rogers may be their only star, but he’s delivering like Father Christmas. Unai Emery is wily, battle-hardened, five years ahead of Ruben Amorim. If Rogers profited from Leny Yoro’s naivety, that was probably because Emery had spotted that Yoro is not a right-back, and told Rogers to start wide, cut in and torment him. Talent and management, working together. Tim de Lisle

Match report: Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester United

Match report: Everton 0-1 Arsenal

Match report: Manchester City 3-0 West Ham

Match report: Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool

Match report: Newcastle 2-2 Chelsea

Match report: Wolves 0-2 Brentford

Match report: Leeds 4-1 Crystal Palace

Max Rushden is joined by Lucy Ward, Lars Sivertsen and Mark Langdon as Chelsea and Enzo Maresca part ways, while 2026 kicks off with three 0-0 draws in the Premier League

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on email.

On the podcast today: Enzo Maresca and Chelsea part ways. It seems that it’s a decision that suits both parties? But if the senior people at the club want so much influence over their manager, who will they entice to replace him?

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025