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• Manager praises squad after opening reign with 2-0 win
• Grealish happy after ‘one of worst summers of my life’

A modest Lee Carsley played down compliments about his tactics and style of play after opening his reign as England’s interim head coach with a dominant 2-0 win over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday night.

Carsley, who is looking to land the job on a permanent basis after taking over from Gareth Southgate, preferred to direct the praise towards his players for beginning their Nations League campaign with a fine performance at the Aviva Stadium. The 50-year-old enjoyed victory in his first game thanks to early goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, but he steered clear of accepting that England’s fluidity in possession was evidence of “Carsball” clicking into gear.

• Arsenal 1-0 Rosenborg; Maanum 19
• Hosts give strong display to reach qualifying round two

Jonas Eidevall said he was glad that no English team will have to go through the Champions League mini-tournament qualifying format again, calling it a “relic of the past” and criticising the 72-hour turnaround between the fixtures, with the format of next year’s competition changing.

Eidevall’s Arsenal beat Rangers 6-0 on Wednesday night in a mini-tournament semi-final, and then Rosenborg 1-0 in the final, to progress to round two of Champions League qualifying.

The economic boom that reformed the top flight in 1992 could be about to devour one of its original ‘big five’

It’s 40 years since the greatest season in Everton’s history, when they won the league and the Cup Winners’ Cup and reached the FA Cup final. But it was a strange glory, coming as it did at a time when it was hard to see how English football, devastated by tragedy and disaster, could go on. Everton were – along with Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham – one of the “big five” clubs who led the Premier League breakaway in 1992, an event now widely regarded as having been a necessary step in the rebirth of the game.

But the move also led to football’s embrace of neoliberal economics: Everton’s only trophy since the breakaway is the 1995 FA Cup and, after three straight league defeats at the start of this campaign, they look like spending a fourth successive season battling relegation.

• Billionaire believes club’s structure is untenable
• Talks over buying each other out have not taken place

Todd Boehly has lost faith in his working relationship with Clearlake Capital, the US private equity firm that owns a majority shareholding in Chelsea, and wants to find a resolution that would prevent civil war breaking out at Stamford Bridge.

As claims that the club’s owners do not see eye to eye gain momentum, it is understood that Boehly is confident that investors are ready to provide him with sufficient capital to complete a full takeover. There have been strong denials that the American billionaire is hoping to sell his 38.5% stake, which is split equally between him, Hansjörg Wyss and Mark Walter.

• Zirkzee sparks 5-2 win for Dutch against Bosnia
• Germany thrash Hungary 5-0 with Füllkrug on target

The Netherlands endured some nervy moments but in the end proved too strong for Bosnia and Herzegovina as they began their Nations League campaign with a 5-2 triumph at the Philips Stadion on Saturday.

Joshua Zirkzee scored on his first start for the Dutch to give the hosts a 13th-minute lead in their League A Group 3 encounter but they were caught by a swift counterattack 14 minutes later that saw Ermedin Demirovic equalise.

New head coach captured imagination of the faithful with the style and spirit against Turkey. Now for Montenegro

Craig Bellamy’s body of work as a manager may contain only 100 minutes of action, tantamount to a mid-morning omnibus edition of EastEnders or Emmerdale, but the early signs suggest his journey in charge of Wales is a soap opera worth watching.

A sodden Friday evening offered a night of great promise in Cardiff, a communal transmission of a much-needed new energy. There was no grand pre-match introduction for Bellamy, who instead let his players broadcast the beginning of this exciting new story; much the same team but, as promised, a radical shift in style. They attacked in a kind of 2-3-5, not 3-5-2.

• Scottish defender won two titles and FA Cup with Reds
• Jamie Carragher pays tribute to ‘giant of a player’

Ron Yeats, the former Liverpool ­captain who helped to rebuild the club’s fortunes under Bill Shankly in the 1960s, has died at the age of 86.

Liverpool confirmed that Yeats, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, died on Friday evening. “We are mourning the ­passing of our legendary former ­captain Ron Yeats,” a club statement on X read. “The thoughts of everyone at Liverpool Football Club are with Ron’s family and friends.”

Ben Doak showed promise against Poland but Clarke’s cupboard is barer than many admit as he heads to Lisbon

If Steve Clarke’s Scotland regime is to spiral beyond the point of no return, it will do so on the manager’s own terms. Seven of the players who started the now infamous defeat by Hungary – the performance offended Scottish fans, not the result – did likewise as Poland visited Hampden Park on Nations League business. The figure would be higher, but for the international retirement of Callum McGregor and the decision of Ché Adams to remain with Torino for reasons that remain a matter of considerable discussion.

Fans who want Clarke to rip it up and start again ignore two core facts. The manager is understandably loyal to a group of players who have generally served him well. There is also no batch of fresh talent waiting in the wings, a matter that will become perfectly obvious to Clarke’s eventual successor.

• League Managers Association wants action on diversity
• Two black managers among 92 clubs in English leagues

The League Managers Association (LMA) has called for an end to the “bias” in recruitment which it believes is fostering a lack of diversity among head coaches in the English football pyramid.

Among the 92 clubs in the top four tiers of English football, there are currently just two black managers: Nuno Espírito Santo at the Premier League side Nottingham Forest and Darren Moore at Port Vale in League Two.

• Brazil 1-0 Ecuador, Díaz rescues Colombia in Peru
• Uruguay held by Paraguay in Suárez farewell

Rodrygo scored the winning goal in the first half as Brazil defeated Ecuador 1-0 in Curitiba to end a four-game winless streak in World Cup 2026 qualifying.

The 23-year-old Real Madrid swinger scored with a shot from outside the box in the 30th minute, which was deflected by a defender and went in off the right-hand post. Victory boosted the Seleçao’s qualifying campaign after they had lost to Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina at the end of 2023 after a 1-1 home draw with Venezuela.

Seeking an early goal to settle their nerves, the hosts almost got it when Vinícius Júnior closed down keeper Hernán Galíndez, whose clearance ricocheted off the forward and into the side netting. After Rodrygo’s opener, Moisés Caicedo was denied a leveller, first by Alisson’s save and then by Gabriel Magalhães, who cleared his follow-up shot off the line.

• Bradley Barcola scores in first minute at Parc des Princes
• Sandro Tonali makes first Italy appearance since ban

Italy went behind after 12 seconds but came back to beat France 3-1 in a highly entertaining Nations League Group A2 opening game on Friday.

Bradley Barcola found the net in the opening minute when he caught Giovanni Di Lorenzo napping and raced into the area before curling a shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma. Italy levelled after half an hour with Federico Dimarco volleying home a deft backheel pass from Sandro Tonali, and the sides went in level at the break after a pulsating opening half.

The Sweden attacker outlines the hopes of the ambitious Women’s Championship club seeking a WSL place

“I’ve always had this fire within me to make things better,” Kosovare Asllani reflects on a warm afternoon at London City Lionesses’ training ground. “That comes from my family always supporting me with that. But I also think that the generation before us took the fight and it’s our responsibility to continue it.”

This sense of duty is clearly intrinsic to Asllani’s character. Relaxed in her new surroundings, she jokes that she could talk forever, “just like we’re having coffee”. The seasoned Sweden international has never been afraid to talk about her life and issues in a sport that has transformed significantly since she first kicked a ball for Vimmerby IF. “In just a few years, we’ve made big changes but we’re not there yet,” she says.

• Morgan to end playing career after weekend’s match
• US forward: ‘I don’t think coaching is in my future’

Alex Morgan said that her role after football is still to be determined but that her future lies “in investing in women’s sports”, after announcing that she is pregnant and will end her professional playing career after Sunday’s game against North Carolina Courage.

Asked whether she might be considering a coaching career, the San Diego forward said: “I have not taken any coaching licenses. I’ll just say that: I don’t think coaching is in my future.

The day after Craig Bellamy smiled and apologised to a Turkish translator for rambling his way to the end of an answer, his passion for the Wales job spilled over on to the pitch. In the buildup there was an understandable, first-day-at-school nervous energy to Bellamy, his chosen uniform pristine white trainers and a black bomber jacket, and no wonder his excitement given the buzz his team emitted throughout this entertaining draw. As first impressions go, this was a resounding if imperfect performance against a Turkey team who played more than 35 minutes with 10 men after Baris Yilmaz was sent off.

Wales supporters have probably never enjoyed a 0-0 this much. Officially, this was a Nations League opener against a team four places above them in the rankings but, really, it was Bellamy’s first examination as a manager. There was still a touch of the old Bellamy – the fourth official, Sigurd Kringstad, was man-marked at times – but he was rightly chuffed with this showing given his first training session with his players was only on Monday. “Believe me, this is the worst we’re going to be,” Bellamy said afterwards. “The more we learn, the more time we spend together, learning the finer details, there’s way more to come.”

• Police in states of Saarland and Hesse are investigating
• Alleged activity linked to possible sports betting fraud

Police in Germany are investigating potential match-fixing in lower-league football after a newspaper reported that the scores of allegedly fixed games may have been sold online for betting purposes.

The Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper reported on Friday that message logs detailed the apparent sale on the “dark web” of information on up to 17 games ranging from the third division to regionalised fifth-tier competitions.

• Forward not in coach’s plan after move to Saudi Arabia
• Bergwijn ‘disappointed’ Koeman did not talk to him first

Steven Bergwijn has hit out at the Netherlands coach, Ronald Koeman, for shutting the door on his international career because of a move to Saudi Arabia. The 26-year-old forward was accused by Koeman of lacking “sporting ambition” after leaving Ajax for Al-Ittihad on Monday, and will not be considered for selection.

Bergwijn, who has played for the national team since 2018 and was part of the squad that reached the Euro 2024 semi-finals, saw Koeman’s critical comments – made in a news conference on Tuesday – on television and was hurt by them.

Every deal in the WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Division 1 Féminine and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfers 2024: all the moves in top five leagues
• Sign up for our free women’s football newsletter

• Former Man Utd and Chelsea star signs for Western Sydney
• Euro 2012 winner becomes second big-name ALM arrival this winter

The signing of Champions League winner Juan Mata by A-League Men club Western Sydney Wanderers has been hailed as “priceless”, as international football’s A-list expressed their enthusiasm for the former Spain international’s late-career move.

The Euro 2012 winner, who played 41 times in a Spanish side known as one of the greatest ever, was announced as a Wanderers player on Thursday night. Although he is a long way past his peak at Valencia, Chelsea and Manchester United in the previous decade, Mata’s reputation ensured the announcement made global headlines.

There’s trouble in San Jose and Atlanta, Houston and Minnesota are rolling and Miami are showing there’s life beyond Messi

Welcome back to the Guardian’s MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone. Please address your complaints to the desk of Garth Lagerwey, who really has nothing else on his plate. He’ll have time to address each complaint, I’m sure, because he definitely doesn’t have a roster to retool, a manager to hire, and a brand-new front office vacancy to fill.

Now, as a reminder, these aren’t your standard, run-of-the-mill power rankings. We’re still ranking teams from worst to first. But along with the rankings, we’re diving deep into a handful of teams from around the league who are doing particularly interesting things.

• Football department scrutinising style of play
• Manager safe for now with injuries and signings in mind

Erik ten Hag’s game model has to start impressing Manchester United’s Ineos-led football department or he is in danger of being removed, with the style of play this season viewed as underwhelming. United entered the international break having won once and lost twice in the Premier League in a disappointing start.

There is recognition inside the club that Ten Hag has been undermined by injuries and needs time to integrate his five summer signings, but also serious concern regarding how he sets up the side. The Dutchman’s game model is being scrutinised by United’s football department, which is overseen by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and led by Dan Ashworth, the sporting director, and Jason Wilcox, the technical director. A major part of Wilcox’s role is to monitor how the first team play.

The FA’s answer to Luis de la Fuente may look like a hungover Alan Shearer but it would make a lot of sense to give him the job

Enter: the Carsley-verse. Look back just a couple of weeks and the Football Association’s decision to install an internal temporary replacement for the men’s senior manager, thereby delaying any permanent decision while relegitimising the architecture of the existing pathway structure, still felt like an act of such mind-numbing dullness that even reading these words now is likely to induce a form of narcolepsy, insomnia, haunted dreams, night terrors.

Cut back to this weekend and that trial appointment has already achieved one significant thing, specifically lending a mild air of jeopardy and intrigue to an otherwise unwanted back-to-school September international break.

With the second-tier season starting on Sunday we offer a club-by-club guide, including predicted finishing positions

Last season: 5th Predicted finish: 3rd

Never mind the action on the pitch; every weekend, 10 million fans are plugged into a whole different ballgame – FPL. So how do you get to the very top?

One Saturday afternoon last February, a letting agent from Slough called Sundeep Jaswal sat down to watch Sheffield United play Aston Villa on TV. A lifelong Liverpool fan in his mid-50s, Jaswal had no interest in rooting for either team; but he did want one player, Villa’s Ollie Watkins, to perform as well as possible. Every year since the late 2000s, Jaswal had entered the Premier League’s annual points-gathering competition, Fantasy Premier League, or FPL, which runs concurrently with the top-flight English season and rewards armchair managers such as Jaswal for their foresight when it comes to anticipating which professional footballers will play well from week to week. For many football fans, the fantasy has come to assume as much importance as the reality. Jaswal was one FPL manager among 10,904,158 registered as entrants in last season’s competition. He had backed Watkins, that February afternoon, and when the striker scored a goal and set up two more, Jaswal climbed up the global ranks to become the top fantasy manager in the world.

No 1! It put him above professional coaches and sporting insiders. It put him above number-crunching mathematicians and city traders. It put him above podcasters, bloggers, livestreamers and other content creators who have devoted entire new-media careers to breaking down the action in real-life Premier League matches, but only as this action pertains to the strange, data-driven contest being conducted on smartphones and desktop computers on the margins. When Jaswal rose to the top, he was looking down on actual footballers who have FPL teams they tend to with care. (Sometimes these pros pick themselves to feature. Sometimes, they don’t.) All around the UK, Ireland, the US, Egypt, Nigeria, Malaysia and Kenya – the nations with the highest recorded levels of FPL obsession – colleagues compete with colleagues, partners vie with partners, parents try to crush their kids.

Harrogate player says he might have gone to medical school but for football and took a 50% pay cut to pursue his dream

Harrogate Town’s James Belshaw loves diving around in Yorkshire mud at training as he lives out a dream that was slipping away in his mid-20s. But in addition to being the club’s No 1, he is the person players and staff turn to for advice on mortgages, investments and everything in between. He certainly knows how to save.

Belshaw’s CV could walk him into most industries; 10 A*s and two As at GCSE, three As at A-level and two degrees, in history and business markets and management. He also has an impressive ability to rattle off the names of Football League clubs. After graduating from Duke University in North Carolina, Nottingham-born Belshaw rejected the chance to join Chicago Fire, eventually going part-time in the sixth tier in England, while managing a software engineering company, and will face Cheltenham in League Two on Saturday.

The American has won Olympic medals and World Cups. But she was also committed to making her sport better for her colleagues

The moment that may best encapsulate Alex Morgan’s time as a player happened back in March. You could hardly be blamed for missing it, though. As was often the case in a long career that Morgan abruptly announced will end this weekend, much of her impact came away from the play itself.

This moment started with the speed that was Morgan’s calling card as a youngster. Just 10 minutes into the USWNT’s quarter-final matchup against Colombia in the W Gold Cup, Morgan darted to pressure a loose Colombian backpass, nicked the ball to her teammate Lindsey Horan, and then continued her trajectory as Horan played a through ball into the box. Here, Morgan’s veteran nous took over; she positioned her body perfectly between herself and the pursuing defender, drawing a clear foul that set up a penalty kick to break the 0-0 scoreline.

The Spain manager on winning Euro 2024, the psychology of modern coaching and the genius of Lamine Yamal

Luis de la Fuente is sitting in a small, unremarkable white office on the second floor of a quiet corner of the Spanish Football Federation’s Las Rozas HQ, running through the qualities sought in superstar managers these days. “Obnoxious, rude, disrespectful, arrogant … it seems like the only way they take you into consideration is this thing they call ‘charisma’,” he says. “I don’t know what that is but if you’re those things they say: ‘He’s got charisma!’ Well, then, I don’t want charisma. We’ve shown that being normal can work, too. You don’t have to be winding people up all day.”

His story is a little different, the tale of a man who was 61 when he took over the Spain team, not so much low profile as almost no profile. A former full-back at Athletic Club and Sevilla, described as quiet, discreet, unknown, initially he was a little awkward in public – in conversation, by contrast, he is warm, enthusiastic, enjoyable company, charismatic in fact – and he didn’t have elite experience. His only senior coaching job had been 11 third-tier games a decade earlier. Turns out, it was better that way, Spain’s way.

Victor Osimhen has secured a move away from Napoli and signed a loan deal to Galatasaray. The Nigerian striker will go on loan to the Turkish club until June 2025, although Napoli extended his contract to June 2027

Luis Suárez will play his last match for Uruguay on Saturday (BST) in a World Cup qualifier against Paraguay. Uruguay's leading goalscorer reflected on his 17 years with the national team in a press conference after tearfully announcing his retirement and described winning the Copa América with La Celeste in 2011 as 'the nicest moment' in his career

The former Cardiff and Leeds defender Sol Bamba has died at the age of 39. Bamba, who earned 46 caps for Ivory Coast, captained Leeds and helped Cardiff win promotion to the Premier League. The defender also had stints at Leicester and Middlesborough and following his playing career, returned to Cardiff as he moved into coaching.

• Former Leeds and Cardiff defender Sol Bamba dies aged 39

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says he was amazed at the inconsistency in refereeing during Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday. Declan Rice was sent off just after half-time, after the winger appeared to kick a loose ball away following the referee's whistle. Arteta says the referee has the right to make that call, but questioned why he let other similar incidents go, including one where João Pedro kicked the ball away in the first half but was not penalised.

• Brighton’s João Pedro pegs back Arsenal for point after Declan Rice sees red

Sven-Göran Eriksson, England’s first overseas manager and winner of multiple honours at club level, has died at the age of 76. Eriksson’s managerial career spanned more than four decades, beginning in Sweden and taking him all around the world. Eriksson became one of the most highly-regarded managers in Europe and was soon targeted by England to be their manager, a role he was particularly proud of. He led England to three major tournaments and afterwards continued to manage at a host of clubs and countries. Eriksson revealed in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and died on Monday morning at home surrounded by family

Leon Arnasalam was playing at the Foot Forward Transition Cup for the host team, Foot Forward, when he stunned the opposition with his skills to score a superb goal

• Nicko Sensoli’s goal earns historic 1-0 League D victory
• Ronaldo’s 900th career goal helps Portugal beat Croatia

San Marino have beaten Liechtenstein 1-0 in the Nations League’s fourth tier, securing their first-ever competitive victory after 34 years of trying.

Nicko Sensoli scored the only goal of the game in Serravalle, the teenager pouncing on a defensive error and steering the ball past Benjamin Büchel in the 53rd minute. Liechtenstein’s Fabio Luque Notaro had a goal disallowed for offside in the first half and also saw a close-range shot blocked just before Sensoli’s opener.

• Viní Jr, Rodri and Aitana Bonmatí among favourites
• Jude Bellingham and Lauren James on 30-player lists

Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane lead a list of six England players nominated for the men’s Ballon d’Or while the Lionesses trio Lucy Bronze, Lauren James and Lauren Hemp were shortlisted for the women’s award. But the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, who lifted the men’s award last year, was left off the list along with his longstanding rival Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time since 2003.

Shortlists for the respective awards were unveiled on Wednesday night by France Football, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony in Paris on 28 October.

• Virgil van Dijk intends to stay on until 2026 World Cup
• Steven Bergwijn completed move from Ajax to Al-Ittihad

Virgil van Dijk has committed his future to the Netherlands until the 2026 World Cup at least, but the door is shut on Steven Bergwijn after the forward’s transfer to Saudi Arabia, the manager, Ronald Koeman, confirmed on Tuesday.

Koeman, who led the Dutch to the Euro 2024 semi-finals before a loss to England, is preparing for a Nations League clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina in Eindhoven on Saturday and revealed he flew to Liverpool to have face to face talks with Van Dijk.

Changes to the Asia qualifying process offer increased hope for unfamiliar names to reach 2026 finals

For some time now Asia’s World Cup representatives have consisted of four from the quintet of South Korea, Japan, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Sometimes all five make it – as in 2018 and 2022 – and occasionally there is a gatecrasher as in 2010 with North Korea. For 2026, though, there will be eight automatic places on offer for the 18 teams that kick off the third round of qualification on Thursday and some unfamiliar names for global audiences.

For example, two out of the six-team Group B will qualify by next June, meaning that even assuming that South Korea make it for an 11th successive time, at least one of Oman, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq will join the East Asians in North America.

The forward, who has kept faith with Atléti despite limited opportunities, silenced the Cathedral with a dramatic finish

Ángel Correa’s friends like to say that his name is the only saintly thing about him but the man with the scarred heart has a habit of appearing in moments of need, and so it was.

Saturday night at the Cathedral, the storm had passed, the sky had opened and suddenly there he was before them, 48,617 people witnessing him fly through the middle, past Julen Agirrezabala, and roll into an empty net to deliver Athletic Club’s first defeat at San Mames in more than a year. The clock read 91:54. Correa had been on the pitch for only four minutes and he didn’t think he would be there at all, but it was done. Call it a miracle if you like, or something else.

There were signs of disharmony even after Rafael Leão’s equaliser against Lazio as Milan extended their winless start

The cooling break ought to have been a moment of opportunity for Milan, a chance to come together and plan a final assault. They had just pulled level at 2-2 away to Lazio, Rafael Leão driving the ball home from Tammy Abraham’s pass barely a minute after they were both introduced from the bench.

With a little over a quarter of an hour remaining, players gathered around their manager, Paulo Fonseca, to take on water and listen to his instructions. All except for Leão and Theo Hernández, who convened instead on the far side of the pitch.

With 37 goals and only one draw in the French top flight, life without Kylian Mbappé continues apace

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

One of the biggest pieces of news in this first weekend after the closure of the transfer window was Kylian Mbappé’s impressive double, his first goals in La Liga, helping Real Madrid to a 2-0 victory over Real Betis. But while its most readily marketable asset may have departed this summer, that doesn’t seem to have taken any of the shine off Ligue 1’s ability to produce compelling, attacking football.

On matchday three, across its nine games, the French top flight saw 37 goals scored, and only one team fail to find the net. Three teams (Brest, Lyon and Nice) scored four times in a set of results that featured only one draw all weekend. And while the (still very inevitable-looking) Paris Saint-Germain top the table with the division’s only perfect record, four other teams have taken seven points from their first three matches, setting up what looks to be a bumper battle for the European spots, despite a slight reticence for many clubs to spend and a raft of coaching changes as well.

Leverkusen had gone 462 days without a domestic defeat and led 2-0 here before a dynamic-shifting fightback

Once again Bayer Leverkusen put up formidable numbers at the weekend. They outgunned their visitors RB Leipzig in almost every possible metric; 26 shots to the visitors’ eight, 18 corners to two and 62% possession. Yet the number that will stick in the mind is a significantly bigger one.

Four hundred and sixty-two. That was the number of days since Die Werkself’s previous Bundesliga defeat – before Saturday, when Leipzig finished the job that Borussia Mönchengladbach could not on the season’s opening night. Like Gladbach, Marco Rose’s team came back from 2-0 down at the champions. In contrast, they surfed the momentum, with Loïs Openda adding a firmly struck winner to his equaliser. Leipzig now have the longest unbeaten streak (13) in the Bundesliga. Leverkusen thus tasted domestic defeat for the first time since losing a dead rubber at Bochum in the final game of 2022-23, ending a remarkable run of 43 without defeat in Bundesliga, Pokal and Super Cup.

We look at the key deals (and non-deals) from the latest transfer merry-go-round that will influence incoming coach Mauricio Pochettino

Last year’s European summer transfer window delivered seismic moves for some of US soccer’s biggest names, as Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah joined Milan and Timothy Weah signed for Juventus.

There have been no such headline-grabbing deals for American players on the other side of the Atlantic this year, but the 2024 summer window still offered plenty of intriguing storylines.

Coach on the road to winning Olympic gold with the US, why her final months at Chelsea were so tough and immersing herself in politics

‘Was there a moment that I knew we were going to win gold? Probably the toe save,” says Emma Hayes, after a pause to think. “After the toe save I was like: ‘Oh, your name’s on it. Your name’s on it.’”

That “toe save” came in the 119th minute of the United States’ Olympic semi-final against Germany, the goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher leaping and flicking away Laura Freigang’s point-blank header to preserve their lead. Four days later, Mallory Swanson’s 57th-minute strike earned the US gold against Brazil, just 73 days after Hayes oversaw her first training session.

Nothing will make a journalist doubt himself more than the knowledge that their work will be read by actual football people – but I had to give it a go

I was in the Jardyland bar in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s biggest city, watching Manchester City beat Everton on 10 February when I was appointed interim assistant coach of Argentina. The offer in the WhatsApp was clear: you put together scouting reports on Nigeria and Ivory Coast, who Argentina were supposed to be facing in friendlies in China in March, and we’ll call you assistant coach and explain how we go about preparing for games.

It was almost a decade ago that Matías Manna, now a key member of Argentina’s backroom staff, having read my book Angels With Dirty Faces, had got in touch to discuss a theory he had about the team in the 1950s. This offer he was making was a gimmick, obviously, a joke; I’m not deluded enough to think otherwise. But equally, everybody else is deluded if they think I’m not going to be talking for the rest of my life about my stint as the assistant manager of the world champions when they prepared for their second successive Copa América triumph. Lionel Messi? Yeah, he played under me. Good lad, yeah.

Close to £5bn was spent by Europe’s top five men’s leagues – but which players may prove to be worth the fees paid?

For many Liverpool fans the summer window was too quiet, with no major arrivals and contracts left unsigned. Arne Slot’s impressive start has eased frustrations, and the Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili has agreed to join next summer – but when a new face arrived at Anfield, he was undeniably a bargain. Chiesa was frozen out at Juventus and has had issues with form and fitness, but he has the skillset to succeed in the Premier League and is still only 26. Birmingham City paid £5m more to sign Jay Stansfield from Fulham on deadline day. Chiesa need offer only glimpses of his best to repay his cut-price fee.

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If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, keep toiling for 34 years, and try again. In another 23 years such a statement might be apt for a still-title-searching Manchester United as they conduct yet another cultural reset, presumably under a bespectacled 52-year-old Bruno Fernandes, but for now let it apply to San Marino, population circa 34,000 and Football Daily’s favourite underdogs. Shout it from the rooftops: the team ranked 210th and last in the Fifa world rankings have won a competitive football match for the first time in their history, beating 199th-ranked, lofty Liechtenstein 1-0 in a Nations League doozy on Thursday night. Dreamland.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen and Mark Langdon to discuss Aston Villa’s Champions League ticket prices, Leicester City avoiding a points deduction and the international break

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

On the podcast today: Aston Villa have announced the ticket prices for their home Champions League games and fans are justifiably angry – the club claim they have to do it to comply with PSR; the panel disagree.

In this week’s newsletter we reflect on a five-week summer tour of the US to watch women’s football

As the lights went down on Barcelona’s famous Champions League win back in May, the biggest question in my head was “What now?”. For the first time in two years, we were looking at a three-month football-less gap. Yes, the Olympics were on the horizon but without the involvement of Team GB, opportunities were limited.

Our eyes immediately turned to the US. There was little surprise from friends and family when we announced that a busman’s holiday was the only real solution to the problem of having time off. The NWSL has been a source of interest for years. A visit to Angel City on our return from last year’s World Cup gave us a taste for the league and left us with a desire to learn more.

Plus: hat-tricks bridging seasons, a rolling roll call of managers and when Harry Redknapp fielded a spectactor

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“Last month, the Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen played for both sides during a match against the Toronto Blue Jays. Has something like this ever happened in football?” tweets Dylan Hoekzema.

Jansen was playing for Toronto when their game against Boston was suspended in June. Boston then acquired him in July, with the match resuming in August, so he was an active participant for both sides in the same game.

The defender featured for Port Vale at the Valley on Boxing Day in 1932 in a game that was abandoned due to fog, and subsequently joined the Addicks, lining up for Charlton in their 2-1 triumph in the rearranged fixture in April 1933.

In February 1925, Clapton Orient travelled to a match against a Manchester United side that had just sold its star striker, Bill Henderson, to Preston North End. United manager John Chapman had telephoned the Orient manager Peter Proudfoot before they left London, and the two clubs agreed a fee of £1,070 for Pape. They met up at Manchester Piccadilly station just after noon, and Pape – who was a friend of the United captain, Frank Barson, and had relatives in nearby Bolton – quickly agreed terms.

The details were wired to the Football Association and the Football League at around 1.30pm, and although Pape had been named in Orient’s starting lineup for the match, he was confirmed as a Manchester United player with about an hour left before kick-off. Pape was not only allowed to start the match in the colours of Manchester United, but he also scored the team’s third goal in a 4–2 win over his previous employers, as well as hitting the post with a header late in the game.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair and Nooruddean Choudry to discuss the new Champions League format, Lee Carsley’s first England squad and plenty more

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

On the podcast today: the panel take their first proper look at the new formats for European club competitions, how will they will work, whether they are a good thing and how we can be expected to care about this much football.

Jack Grealish on the comeback trail, Iliman Ndiaye offers Everton hope and Declan Rice appears unruffled

While Mikel Arteta fumed at the perceived injustice in Declan Rice’s sending off against Brighton, there was a far more measured response from the England midfielder. Despite admitting he had been “shocked” to see the referee, Chris Kavanagh, show him a second yellow card for obstructing Joël Veltman from taking a free kick, Rice acknowledged that a first dismissal on his 245th Premier League appearance had cost his team victory as they head into the first international break already playing catchup to Manchester City. “I just wanted to apologise to my teammates, which I’ve done, and to the fans,” he said. “When you get sent off, it’s never nice, you get a sense of guilt over you, and I was lucky that my teammates really helped me out and we didn’t lose the game. I’ll learn from it.” Ed Aarons

Match report: Arsenal 1-1 Brighton

Match report: West Ham 1-3 Manchester City

Match report: Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool

Match report: Newcastle 2-1 Tottenham

Match report: Ipswich 1-1 Fulham

Match report: Everton 2-3 Bournemouth

Match report: Chelsea 1-1 Crystal Palace

Homophobic abuse of Manchester United player may be a societal problem but the game can take meaningful action

Women’s football is often seen as a safe space for LGBTQIAPN+ players. However, despite the consistent LGBTQ+ representation in the women’s game, players still face homophobic abuse on social media.

Geyse Ferreira, the Manchester United and Brazil forward, was recently targeted by homophobic attacks after sharing a photo of herself with her partner, Bruna Gois, on Instagram. She described the messages as “deeply hurtful” but vowed not to “remain silent in the face of prejudice”.

This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition visit this page and follow the instructions.

Our cartoonist on travel blogger Noni Madueke, Chelsea outcast Conor Gallagher and Erik ten Hag’s seaside trip

• Get your copy of this cartoon in our Print Shop
• And you can pre-order his new book, Chaos in the Box

The tributes following his death at 39 have spoken for themselves: a mark of the man as much as the player

It’s not often journalists are invited into football players’ promotion parties but Sol Bamba made a beeline for me.

It was May 2018 and Cardiff City had just made history, promoted to the Premier League in Bamba’s first full season at the club. He had just helped the Bluebirds grind out a draw at home with Reading, which was enough to seal second place in the Championship and spark wild celebrations across the city. There was an outpouring of joy and Bamba, in unison with his old mentor Neil Warnock, had made it all possible.

Norwegian’s latest hat-trick sets new speed record leaving Thierry Henry and Harry Kane in his wake

By Richard Foster for The Football Mine

As Erling Haaland nonchalantly lifted the ball over Lukasz Fabianski in the 83rd minute to complete his eighth Premier League hat-trick, he joined an elite trio of players. Thierry Henry, Michael Owen and Harry Kane have all scored the same number of hat-tricks but it took them appreciably longer than the Manchester City striker to reach that mark. This was the Norwegian’s 69th appearance, while Henry achieved the feat in 258 matches, Kane 320 and Owen 326.

It was also the second time that Haaland has scored successive league hat-tricks, after his three goals against Ipswich the previous week. In his first season he opened his hat-trick account against Crystal Palace on 27 August 2022 and then repeated the trick four days later against Nottingham Forest. Only six players have ever scored hat-tricks in consecutive Premier League matches.

Liverpool spent the summer looking for an elite deep-lying midfielder. Many didn’t realise they might already have one

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

One of Liverpool’s main objectives in the summer window was to sign a new central midfielder. The Reds revamped in the middle of the park 12 months ago, bringing in Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch following a number of high-profile exits.

Yet it felt as though there was a piece missing to the midfield puzzle. Liverpool sought to rectify the issue in their pursuit of Martín Zubimendi, but the player’s reluctance to swap sunny San Sebastian for Merseyside was a blow to the club. Unbeknown to many, though, the answer to Liverpool’s midfield problem was already on the books.

With Marcus Rashford and Casemiro struggling, the same worrying questions are back for Manchester United’s Ineos regime

Already, the new Erik ten Hag/Ineos project is on the back foot. This 3-0 shellacking by Liverpool could have been far more humiliating – and damaging. Two defeats from three Premier League outings is a dismal way to sign off before the international break, as Ten Hag and company seek to regroup a mere 16 days after the season’s start.

Trying to write this collapse off as a blip is fanciful because on show was a failure in basic competence, from front to back, epitomised by the catastrophes engineered by a hapless Casemiro that led to goals.

Erling Haaland has been voted the best player in the world for 2023 by our 218-strong panel, with Jude Bellingham finishing second

• 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012
• Meet the judges | Best female footballers to launch in January

Aitana Bonmatí, Sam Kerr and Salma Paralluelo top the list of female footballers in the world in 2023 according to our judges

• Putellas tops 2022 list | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | Meet the judges
• Spain and Barcelona lead the way after year of success
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The Norwegian is only 23 but his devastating goal record has seen him voted as the No 1 player in the world by the Guardian’s expert panel

When Pep Guardiola tearfully claimed Manchester City could not replace the departing Sergio Agüero in May 2021, he didn’t just create a meme. Guardiola was soft-launching a global audition for his team’s new attacking talisman. An unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Kane in the summer of 2021 came between two title-winning seasons where Ilkay Gündogan (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (15) were the club’s top league goalscorers. Guardiola’s slick creative machine needed a new front man, and they found him in Erling Haaland.

Like Agüero before him – and in contrast to many of City’s most successful Pep-era signings – Haaland arrived as a bona fide superstar, a plug-and-play addition to an already stellar lineup. Whether he was a bargain is another question. The release clause paid was €60m (£51.2m), but some reports suggest Haaland’s five-year deal could cost the club in the region of £300m. And while there was an ominous logic to the move for City’s rivals, questions remained.

Aitana Bonmatí the clear winner of the Guardian’s best 100 female footballers in the world with 15 Spaniards on the list

• The 100 best female footballers in the world 2023

After Alexia Putellas reigned in 2021 and 2022, her Barcelona and Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí has been crowned the top female footballer of 2023 by the Guardian’s panel of 112 experts. The World Cup winner triumphed by a clear margin, finishing more than 500 points ahead of second-placed Sam Kerr.

Injuries and a World Cup meant there was a definite changing of the guard feel to this year’s list, sadly emphasised by the fact last year’s top two – Putellas and Beth Mead – missed a large chunk of our 12-month voting period with ACL injuries.

From Warren Zaïre-Emery to Endrick, we select some of the best players born in 2006. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Next Generation 2023: 20 of the best Premier League talents

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2007, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 … and look at the editions from further back

• Next Generation 2023: 60 of the best talents around the world

Five years ago we picked 80 of the most talented players in the world to follow their progress in a cut-throat business

It is the time of year when we check in on the Next Generation players we picked in 2018 to follow for five years, to assess their progress amid success, setbacks, injuries, trophies won and transfers made.

Next Generation started in 2014 with the aim of showing the difficulties that even the best prospects in the Premier League (we pick one from each club at first-year scholar age) and the rest of the world (we choose 60 born in a specific calendar year) face on their way towards the top.

A defensively minded midfielder who is incredibly strong (he used to be a wrestler) but with an excellent touch to go with his physicality. Made his debut in the Swedish top flight as a 16-year-old last year and captained Sweden as they reached the quarter-finals of the Euro Under-17 tournament in England this summer. Has taken an unusual path to the top. He left the top-flight side IFK Göteborg for sixth division Angered MBIK as a 14-year-old as he felt that he was not getting the right support for his football education. Another Gothenburg club, Häcken, snapped him up in 2017 and he made his senior debut that season. Has signed a new contract with the club from Hisingen until 2021 despite interest from Real Madrid and Benfica and trials at both Manchester clubs.