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• Player guide | David Squires’ wallchart | Mail Emillia

Sarina Wiegman has plenty of history with the Dutch national team. Born in the Netherlands herself, she represented the country as a player from 1987 to 2001, earning over 100 caps. She was appointed the assistant coach of the national team in 2014 before eventually getting promoted to head coach two years later. And in 2017, she led Oranje to a European title, winning every match along the way.

England fans, I want to hear from you this evening! Let me know your thoughts on the team selection, who you think will be the biggest threat for England and the Netherlands, as well as any score predictions.

• Uefa due to deliver Palace ruling this week

• Palace expected to go to court if barred

Crystal Palace’s hopes of playing in next season’s Europa League appear to have been dealt a major blow after Lyon overturned their relegation to Ligue 2.

The seven-time French champions’ demotion over financial issues was imposed last month by the country’s football’s watchdog, the DNCG. But Lyon, who are owned by John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings, have earned a reprieve after an appeal hearing in Paris on Wednesday and are expected to take up their place in next season’s Europa League after finishing sixth last season.

Tournament’s lowest-ranked team are not ready to come home from Euro 2025 just yet

Tourists visiting St Gallen’s famous medieval abbey library are sometimes startled to discover that one of its star attractions is a well-preserved Egyptian mummy.

Shep-en-Isis has lain in a glass coffin there for more than 200 years after being removed from her tomb on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor and, eventually, gifted to the north-eastern Swiss city. Just lately, though, there has been quite an argument about whether she should leave her adopted monastic home and be returned to Egypt.

• Commission found he used other people’s accounts to bet

• Striker’s contract with Cheltenham expired last month

The former Shrewsbury and Cheltenham striker Ryan Bowman has been banned for three and a half years for breaches of Football Association betting regulations. The 33-year-old admitted having placed 6,397 bets between 15 June 2022 and 13 September 2023, according to the written reasons of an independent commission that heard the case.

Of those bets, 108 were found to relate to matches or competitions involving Exeter during his time at that club, and 243 were found to relate to matches or competitions involving Shrewsbury when he was with the Shropshire side.

• Reds looking for permanent replacement for Matt Beard

• Manchester City sign Germany international Lohmann

Liverpool have held talks with the former Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor about their managerial vacancy.

The Merseyside club have been searching for a new manager since the departure of Matt Beard in February, with Amber Whiteley placed in interim charge for the remainder of last season. Liverpool finished seventh of 12 in the WSL table.

• Madueke not expected to end Arsenal’s interest in Eze

• Sunderland pay about £19.5m to buy winger Talbi

Arsenal have opened talks with Chelsea over signing Noni Madueke. Personal terms have been agreed with the winger, who is increasingly likely to move to the Emirates Stadium.

Chelsea have been revamping their attack and decided they were open to selling Madueke after winning the Conference League in May. The 23-year-old has had a bit-part role during his side’s run to the Club World Cup final and is likely to benefit from a change of scenery. Madueke made a late substitute appearance during the win over Fluminense in the semi-final.

Today’s tell-all is faxing in its offers

Fresh from selling their women’s team to their wholly separate, er, parent company, Aston Villa feel in the mood for waving their wedge about, with Ferran Torres their target. The Spanish site Fichajes says that Barcelona, no strangers themselves to imaginative accountancy flexes, have been sounded out for a £43m move for the forward.

Eberechi Eze to Arsenal seems to have acquired some momentum since the Mill first mulled it over on Tuesday, and the Sun is now touting the Gunners as clear favourites to gazump their rivals Tottenham to the Crystal Palace attacking midfielder’s signature. Palace are holding out for £68m but Arsenal’s sporting director, Andrea Berta, has apparently held talks with Eze’s people as interest is stepped up.

This was further evidence that Sweden should be taken seriously. A squad rich in depth and top-level experience are gathering steam and look a nightmarish proposition for whoever is sent their way in the quarter-finals. They will top Group C by avoiding defeat against Germany on Saturday and, with the obvious exception of Spain, have looked at least as convincing as anyone on show so far this summer.

Make no mistake, they will have to pass far tougher tests than the obstacle posed by a limited Poland. The tournament debutants will play for pride in their meeting with Denmark and almost grasped a huge chunk of it here when Milena Kokosz cracked a stupendous strike against the post in added time. In truth, though, Sweden could have doubled their tally at a minimum. They were relentless, thrillingly so at times, and the only concern for Peter Gerhardsson may be that his players were not more clinical.

The £60m Brazilian scored both goals but showed no emotion as Fluminense were his first club in his homeland

This time last week, João Pedro was on a Brazilian beach; now he’s in the Club World Cup final, handed a standing ovation by old fans and new. The 23-year-old forward had been on holiday in Rio de Janeiro when they called to say his £60m transfer to Chelsea had been completed and could he come straight here.

Two days and a single training session later, he made his debut in Philadelphia, more than 4,000 miles north of home, a promising glimpse of a future. Four days after that, he was given his first start in New Jersey. It took 18 minutes to get a glorious goal. By the time he headed off, an hour in, he had another.

Plus: more non top-flight teams playing in Europe, alumni of semi-finalists and England captains in one team

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“The Lionesses will be out of Euro 2025 after two games if they lose to the Netherlands on Wednesday and France avoid defeat against Wales,” laments Sarah Cassidy. “Would that be the earliest a defending champion has been eliminated at a major international tournament?”

In a less deathly group, England’s 2-1 defeat by France on Saturday would have been a wake-up call rather than a final warning. But that’s what it was, and if England lose to the Netherlands their title defence will probably be over after two games. Even a draw would leave them needing favours from other teams.

Kick It Out makes ‘moral case for change’ as it finds staffs do not reflect the ethnic makeup of their local communities

Premier League and EFL clubs were required this year to report details of their workforce diversity data for the first time under a new Football Association regulation. This was aimed at promoting greater equality of opportunities, but even people working in football are hard-pressed to find the numbers.

The clubs published the results of their internal surveys on 1 June, other than Manchester United owing to a website glitch corrected a few days later, but the silence from the sport regarding the findings has been deafening. None of the FA, Premier League or EFL commented on the data or published a summary of the findings, indicating that the drive for greater transparency has its limits.

It wasn’t a particularly pretty victory and it was aided by some questionable refereeing decisions, but Germany made it two from two with a 2-1 win against a tricky Denmark side in what Klara Bühl called “a victory of mentality and passion”.

Having been denied twice – correctly – by VAR in the first half, decisions were more favourable in the second. Amalie Vangsgaard had given Andrée Jeglertz’s Denmark a shock first-half lead, but Germany were awarded a soft penalty, again by VAR, which was converted by Sjoeke Nüsken before Lea Schüller was able to sweep in the winner despite Emma Snerle being on the ground having taken a ball to the face from a teammate’s clearance.

• Lionesses likely to be out of Euro 2025 if they lose

• ‘Tomorrow for once we will not be friends,’ striker says

Vivianne Miedema has insisted she will “not be friends” with her partner Beth Mead on Wednesday as the Netherlands striker vowed to do everything in her power to send her team to the knockout stages of Euro 2025 and eliminate England.

The Manchester City striker has been in a relationship with the Arsenal forward Mead, her former Arsenal teammate, for three years and Miedema was asked about the prospect of them facing each other in the pivotal Group D match. “If it’s not a nice moment for Beth, it’s not a problem for me,” Miedema said. “Tomorrow for once we will not be friends. I will do everything I can to win tomorrow. If I have to do something that is not good for Beth, then I will do it.

Coach, who is leaving this summer, reopened an old wound but have fights with the media brought the squad closer together?

It was the tournament where the Netherlands were going to show they could survive the group of death. That they were not too old and that Vivianne Miedema and Daniëlle van de Donk could still shine at the highest level.

Then it all turned into the Andries Jonker show. At the start of the year the coach was told that his contract would not be extended and that he would leave after the European Championship. He was not happy about it. The 62-year-old made it quite clear what he thought about the decision.

Get to know every single squad member at the tournament. Click on the player pictures for a full profile and ratings

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

• Women’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

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

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

• Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas rejects allegations as conspiracy

• Claims include almost $500,000 for women’s team

The president of the Republic of the Congo’s football federation (Fecofoot) has been accused of embezzling $1.3m (£960,000) of Fifa funds, including almost $500,000earmarked for the country’s women’s team.

Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas may be charged with money laundering and forgery offences after being summoned to attend a hearing in Brazzaville this week. He was arrested at the end of May by the central intelligence and documentation office (CID), a department of the ministry of the interior. Mayolas and Fecofoot’s general secretary, Badji Mombo Wantete, have denied the allegations and described them as a “conspiracy”.

• Police say it appears Liverpool player was driving

• Jota and his brother died when Lamborghini crashed

Spanish police suspect Diogo Jota was driving over the speed limit when he and his brother were killed in a car crash last week.

The 28-year-old Liverpool and Portugal forward died with his 25-year-old brother André Silva when the Lamborghini in which they were travelling careered off a road in the province of Zamora last Thursday.

• Announcement follows Infantino appearances with Trump

• New York will be Fifa’s second office in US

Fifa’s relationship with the US president, Donald Trump, now has a physically tangible marker, with soccer’s world governing body announcing it has opened an office in Trump Tower in New York City.

The announcement of the new office came on Monday evening, after Fifa placed the Club World Cup trophy on display in the lobby of the skyscraper in an event attended by several Fifa dignitaries including its president, Gianni Infantino, and the Brazilian great Ronaldo as well as Eric Trump, the son of the US president and executive vice-president of the Trump Organization.

• Chelsea manager pleased with João Pedro contribution

• Moisés Caicedo an injury doubt for final on Sunday

Enzo Maresca did not hide his pride after Chelsea set up a final against either Real Madrid or Paris Saint‑Germain after defeating Fluminense with two brilliant goals from João Pedro.

Maresca’s team encountered few problems as they maintained their push for Club World Cup glory after producing an impressive performance to defeat the last non-European team left in the competition.

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Like a group of lads nervously assembling at an airport pub before jetting off on yet another bonfire of a stag do, Manchester United’s first-team players – well, at least some of them – this week shuffled back into whatever the training ground is called these days, with a few even attempting what was known in the 1990s and the 2000s at Carrington as a smile! New signings Matheus Cunha and teenage left-back Diego León were present and accounted for, while Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were not, but there was plenty of performative back slapping and canteen handshakes in front of the club’s in-house Social Media Disgrace cameras, which rather fortunately, are going to be the only behind-closed-doors cameras present for United’s 2025-26 season.

I didn’t feel respected or anything and I said to myself: ‘I need to put myself into places where I’ll be recognised for doing well.’ I think a lot of English players, they don’t realise … they would rather stay in the Championship their whole life if they could, whereas I don’t think like that” – London-born winger Tyler Burey speaks to Will Unwin about his journey from Carlisle United to Bosnia and Herzegovina champions Zrinjski Mostar, who start their Bigger Cup qualifying campaign on Tuesday against Virtus of San Marino.

Following Monday’s letter from Noble Francis, I looked back at the Mexican results to get through to the Concacaf Gold Cup final. I see that in the quarter-finals they beat that well known North American, Central American and Caribbean country, Saudi Arabia. Games without frontiers” – Peter Broadfoot.

Being once an Offaly native surely Barry Glendenning knows that the M1 becomes the A1 as soon as it passes the border north – of course the M1 in the north goes from Belfast to … Dungannon?” – Frankie Dodds.

Under the guidance of a former Manchester United assistant, Minnesota United are finding MLS success with a surprising tactic

Not many soccer players are as passionate about dead balls as Anthony Markanich. Then again Minnesota United, under the 33-year-old first-time head coach Eric Ramsay, don’t play soccer like most teams.

“All the guys get really excited about set pieces, especially myself,” Markanich gushed last Friday after scoring a goal off a long throw-in by the center back Michael Boxall for the second time in a week. “I told Boxy I love when he has the ball for throw-ins and stuff – I get so excited about that.”

With only 16 players in the squad after contracts and loans ended, reliance on temporary measures beckons again

The vast scale of the overhaul required at Everton this summer had David Moyes worried. The start of pre-season has indicated why. The squad that reported on Sunday for a training camp in St Andrews contained 15 senior players in its ranks and numerous holes to fill. Progress is being made behind the scenes to repair the damage of the Farhad Moshiri years, but there is no easy fix.

Everton’s senior contingent will rise to 16 now that Idrissa Gueye has followed Michael Keane in signing a new contract, a week after becoming a free agent. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, laments having 32 senior players on the books at Manchester City and could afford to omit Jack Grealish from his 27-man squad for the Club World Cup. There is no level playing field in the Premier League.

London-born winger is rekindling his joy for the game in an unlikely location and is about to live out a lifelong dream with Zrinjski Mostar

At the end of last year Tyler Burey was playing out of position in defence for a team doomed to relegation from the Football League. Seven months later he is preparing to make his Champions League debut after leaving England behind, seeking to rediscover his love for the game in an unlikely location.

Burey moved to Igman Konjic, a club in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in January on a short-term deal and impressed to such an extent that the country’s title winners, Zrinjski Mostar, signed him on a two-year contract. On Tuesday they visit Virtus of San Marino in the opening leg of their Champions League first qualifying round tie, allowing Burey to live out a lifelong dream.

New signing made a bright Club World Cup debut and now eyes Fluminense, one of his former sides, on Tuesday

Estêvão Willian was not the only Brazilian attacker to offer a tantalising glimpse of the future during Chelsea’s win against Palmeiras in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup. There was also a bright cameo from João Pedro, who came on for Liam Delap just after Estêvão’s equaliser early in the second half and proceeded to change the game with his brawn and intelligent link-up play.

It was an eye-catching performance from the forward given that his £60m move to Chelsea had been announced two days earlier. What had the 23‑year‑old been doing during his time off? Lifting logs and existing on a diet of raw steak, presumably. The aggression from João Pedro was startling. He was raring to go after a couple of training sessions with his new teammates and, while he was not involved in the winning goal, his bustling forward play was a vital part of Chelsea reasserting their dominance after Palmeiras pulled the score back to 1-1.

The allegations England’s captain had casually stolen the jewellery on the eve of the 1970 World Cup sparked a diplomatic frenzy

It remains one of the most notorious and unresolved episodes in World Cup history. Now diplomatic cables have emerged in Colombia shedding fresh light on the diplomatic frenzy caused by the arrest of Bobby Moore, then captain of the reigning champions, England, days before the start of the 1970 tournament in Mexico.

The previously unseen documents show how Moore’s trip to the Fuego Verde jewellery shop in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, sparked a desperate campaign from the British Foreign Office to free the West Ham centre-back. The enormous pressure exerted on Colombia by the Foreign Office may have swayed the judge’s decision in the case, a new podcast series El Capitán y el Brazalete de Esmeraldas (The Captain and the Emerald Bracelet) concluded.

Africa’s major women’s tournament starts in Morocco with Spain’s World Cup-winning coach under pressure to deliver

The historic task of one host staging Africa’s two major competitions this year, the women’s and men’s Africa Cup of Nations – Wafcon and Afcon – within six months of each other could really have been given to only one country: Morocco. It has arguably the best football facilities on the continent and has made itself the tournament-hosting sweet spot for the Confederation of African Football (Caf).

Three years ago a very successful Wafcon was staged there and the North African country then agreed to organise the next two tournaments, as no other nation on the continent offered to shoulder the responsibility. The 2025 edition kicks off on Saturday evening, with the hosts playing Zambia in the opening game.

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After years of drift and false starts, the US men’s team is carving out identity and intensity under their new coach – just in time for a home World Cup

There is something cosmically funny about all of this. Late last summer, the United States men’s national team went out and hired the most qualified manager it could find. The one with the most impressive coaching resume by far of anyone US Soccer had ever employed on the men’s side. The most expensive, certainly. By a multiple. The man brought in to arrest the tailspin the USMNT had slowly slipped into after the 2022 World Cup. To finally unlock that elusive next level. To help a golden generation, or at least a shiny one, come good at last. To salvage something, anything, from a World Cup played mostly on home soil a year from now. Not to squander it all.

And what should Mauricio Pochettino add to the US national team’s brew of aptitudes and attitudes but pluck and grit? The very same underdog mentality, the ferocity and fitness, that had once taken the US from global laughingstocks to merely unembarrassing and then to internationally competitiveness.

• Luna scores twice in first 15 minutes in St Louis

• US hold off late push to beat Guatemala 2-1

• Final v Mexico set for Sunday night in Houston

Diego Luna scored twice in the first 15 minutes and the US men’s national team held on for a 2-1 victory over Guatemala in St Louis on Wednesday to advance to the final of the Concacaf Gold Cup.

Luna tallied in the fourth and 15th minutes before Olger Escobar made it 2-1 in the 80th minute.

• Hutton heads home in 3-0 US win over Canada

• Coffey, Ryan also score in fifth straight shutout

• Lavelle shines with two assists in friendly win

Just playing for the US national team was a big opportunity for Claire Hutton.

Then Canada left her a bit too much space at the edge of the six-yard box – and Rose Lavelle found her with a perfect corner kick. The 19-year-old midfielder was ready.

In the social media age, football is a fraction of the Portuguese Übermensch’s appeal and he is untroubled by his paymasters’ morals

The winners of next season’s AFC Champions League Two, Asia’s second-tier club competition, will receive about £1.8m. The winners of the Saudi King’s Cup will receive just over £1m. Prize money for the Saudi Pro League is not disclosed, but by the most recent available figures (for 2022-23) is in roughly the same area. Weekly attendances at the King Saud University Stadium, where top-tier ticket prices start at about £12, range between 10,000 and 25,000, although of course you also have to factor in pie and programme sales above that.

And so you really have to applaud Al-Nassr’s ambition in handing an estimated £492m to Cristiano Ronaldo over the next two years. Even if they sweep the board at domestic level, if they fight their way past Istiklol of Tajikistan’s 1xBet Higher League and Al-Wehdat of the Jordanian Pro League, if they extract maximum value from merch and sponsorships, you still struggle to see how they can cover a basic salary that comes to £488,000 a day, even before the bonuses and blandishments that will push the total package well beyond that.

With Paris FC promoted, European champions could lose their monopoly in city if out-of-town move goes through

“Ici, c’est Paris” has been the rallying chant of Paris Saint-Germain supporters since the beginning of the 21st century. It has also become an advertising slogan for the club, who appropriated it to the fury of the ultras, who had trademarked it and have launched a lawsuit in response. But fans and marketing consultants, unless they do not fear ridicule, will not be able to use it once PSG carry out their plan to vacate the Parc des Princes, their home since they were promoted to Ligue 1 in 1974.

“It’s over now,” PSG’s president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, told reporters in March. “We want to move.” This was confirmed in a statement on 10 June, the day the newly crowned European champions flew to California and the Fifa Club World Cup. “I like the Parc a lot,” Khelaifi, known in France as Nak, said of the 48,583-capacity arena. “Everyone loves it. But [if we stay], we’re dead. In Europe, all the big clubs have 80,000- or 90,000-seat stadiums. If we want to be at that level for our supporters, the stadium must be expanded.” And because an expansion of the stadium is out of the question, it is likely that “Paris” (as the club love PSG to be called in the media) will no longer play in Paris by the time the decade is over, but in one of two towns of the grande banlieue, Massy or Poissy. We will know which come November 2026.

Drama-biopic starring Steve Coogan will reignite a row that split Irish football fans but there are good signs for its artistic merit

Watching the teaser trailer for Saipan before its cinematic release later this summer called to mind that episode of Friends in which it is revealed Joey leaves his copy of The Shining in a freezer whenever it becomes too scary for him to continue reading. While 23 years may have passed since Roy Keane’s fabled eruption on the eponymous volcanic speck in the western Pacific, it is hard to get past the feeling that the makers of this drama-biopic might have been better off leaving the most seismic row in Irish football history and its accompanying media frenzy hidden among the frozen peas, ice-cream and portions of batch-cooked lasagne. Instead it is about to be sent out into a public domain where it will almost certainly reopen old and, in many cases, still festering wounds.

Everyone of a certain age with a passing interest in football has their own version of what happened in Saipan that they believe to be true, although the details often differ depending on who happens to be doing the telling at any given time. Over the years I have chatted to several former Republic of Ireland footballers who were present at the infamous team meeting where Mick McCarthy held aloft a copy of that interview given by Keane to the Irish Times and asked his captain to explain comments that were scathing in their criticism of the national association’s laissez-faire attitude when it came to preparing for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea in the immediate run-up to the competition.

The individual walk-ons at Club World Cup underline Fifa’s failure to understand that football is a team sport – just ask PSG

It is in the details that the truest picture emerges. Quite aside from the endless politicking, the forever-war with Uefa, the consorting with autocrats and the intriguing broadcast rights and partnership deals, there has been, not a new, but growing sense during the Club World Cup that Fifa doesn’t really get football. There is something cargo-cultish about it, creating outcomes without engaging in processes.

Perhaps that is inevitable with Gianni Infantino’s style of leadership; like all populists, he is big on vision and short on practical reality. It was there in the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams.

Our cartoonist on the opening matches at the Women’s Euros and tributes to Diogo Jota

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Sculptors discuss their craft and the pressure of preserving a player’s likeness and legacy for generations of fans

By Nutmeg magazine

At its heart, football is about community. A feeling of shared identity and purpose. A place where supporters gather to watch their team. The games, goals and moments that live on in the club’s collective memory through a shared act of will. The people responsible for these defining moments – shrewd managers, inspiring captains, prolific goalscorers – are increasingly immortalised in statues.

A sculptor is enlisted to preserve their likeness in a single definitive pose. The subjects take on a size and form, literally larger than life, befitting the impact they had on the club and community that chooses to honour them. According to the Sporting Statues Project, which is run by Chris Stride and Ffion Thomas, there are more than 100 football statues in the UK. The vast majority have been made since the turn of the millennium and there are even more in progress. They have exploded in popularity, becoming the established means of commemoration.

Former Chelsea manager answers your questions on life and work in the US, what she’s looking forward to in this summer’s Euros and pining for roast chicken

Read the first of Emma’s Guardian columns on the Euros

You seem like you’ve taken to the US like a duck to water. But what food or drink from back home are you missing? Antony, Staffordshire
I always miss a roast dinner, roast chicken. And the milk. The milk is different over there so when you have a cup of tea it’s just not the same because the milk is not the same. It alters the quality of the tea so that’s tough for me.

How’s life in America been treating you? Is the infrastructure for women’s football noticeably more developed there? And the million‑dollar question: what happens when your new team face England in the World Cup final in 2027? Tom Stubbs, Brussels
First of all, I love being there. The cultural approach to the girls’ and women’s game is more ingrained in the US because they’ve been doing it for longer in terms of providing opportunities. That’s noticeable. The US approach to women’s sport stands out, not just soccer, but with basketball, too. As for that hypothetical for 2027, well, you’re saying we’re in the World Cup final so I’m excited. If you give me that option today, I’ll bite your hand off. I want to be in the World Cup final competing to win a World Cup so, whoever you’re facing, it’s going to be a top, top side, and I don’t get emotional about it – it’s England but I’m repping the USA so my focus is on the USA.

Former Wales international admits he ‘will have to win the fans over’ on unveiling at National League club

Off the roundabout at the summit of Spring Hill, the billboard on Another Way that usually displays Forest Green Rovers’ next opponents is shouting about their new manager. “Welcome Robbie,” it reads in block capitals. A club famous for doing things differently have appointed Robbie Savage on a four-year contract, enthused by his sole, record-breaking season in the dugout at Macclesfield FC – the 50-year-old led the team to the Northern Premier League title after transitioning from the role of director of football – rather than fretting whether he is qualified for the job.

“I know there will be a bit of scepticism because I’ve only had one year in management,” says Savage. “I know I will have to win fans over. But I’m not scared of that. I got released from the biggest football club in the world [Manchester United] at 19, told I wasn’t good enough. But I’ve always proved people wrong because I’ve got a great work ethic. I spoke to Brendan Rodgers, Martin O’Neill and Sean Dyche and they all said: ‘What an opportunity.’ Everybody wants to help me so that goes to show I must be OK because they’re willing to help.”

Former Wolves manager on dealing with the sack, controlling his emotions and why he won’t talk about his football ‘philosophy’

“The journey’s been pretty high speed,” Gary O’Neil says as he opens up on a whirlwind start to his managerial career. “When you’re in work it’s different because there’s always another massive game coming, whereas this has really given me time to have a deep dive into everything. The real benefit is the chance to breathe.”

Sometimes there is an upside to life slowing down. O’Neil has had time to reflect and ask himself tough questions in the seven months since his sacking by Wolves. Why did it unravel after such a promising start? O’Neil is hungry. He has devoted a lot of time to studying set pieces and speaking to experts in the field given that a poor record at dead balls played a big part in Wolves’ struggles this past season.

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Football Daily would prefer not to have to think about Copa Gianni at all but we have a certain professional obligation to do so and have never knowingly been found shirking in the face of our responsibilities. To keep things simple, we prefer to view the tournament as a stand-alone competition that’s taking place between the end of the last season and the beginning of the next one, but the fact that it’s being contested by clubs instead of countries leaves plenty of room for debate. Watching Kingsley Coman “sprint” on to a through-ball from Harry Kane during Bayern Munich’s defeat by PSG as if he was running in knee-deep wet cement, we were presented with the sight of a player in next season’s kit who was quite clearly exhausted by the exertions of the one that may or may not have ended before the tournament in which he was playing started. Does the goal he didn’t score go down in the official xG column of last season, next season, or neither?

There’s me being able to walk down the stairs after I’ve played 90 minutes of football, there’s me in the future when I have children being able to walk around properly, being able to bend down and pick up toys, there’s me being able to do normal life things like put on socks without being in pain and, for the first time in a long time, I genuinely didn’t think about the response of the public because that just wasn’t a priority” – Millie Bright reveals how she is feeling better in her mind after taking the decision to miss Euro 2025 and prioritise her recovery from a knee injury.

Sometimes Mauricio Pochettino wants it to be a penalty, sometimes he doesn’t. There’s just no pleasing some people. Extra moaning points for Poch insinuating that the officials were swayed by the pro-Mexico crowd for a game that USA USA USA were playing at home. P.S. A doff of the cap to Mexico for that uber cool black and gold kit …” – Noble Francis.

With a tip of the cap to The Usual Suspects … the greatest trick Infantino ever pulled was turning me into a Chelsea fan for two hours rooting against Infantino’s home team making the finals” – Harry Webb.

I can’t have been your only reader who paused between Friday’s tea time email and big website’s MBM coverage of the Jurassic reunion opening gig, to turn the dial of my retro digital transistors to the political satirical radio broadcast, Deadringers. I – and what I suspect to be 1,056 others – nearly choked on my fermented tofu when I heard a repeat of your dinosaur banter about the aforementioned group of monobrows. I assume the requisite phone calls were made – i.e. your people calling their people, etc – and payment made (four pack of budget Tin) before Tom Baker’s closing remarks” – Nicholas Tipple.

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The group stage has featured some great games and indelible moments, thanks mostly to the participants who took things seriously

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Inside the corporate monstrosity hides something that’s actually quite lovely and joyful and organic. It’s burrowed down real deep, beneath layers and layers of maximalist nonsense. But it’s in there somewhere, a good soccer tournament, cloaked by all the avarice and bombast, in spite of itself and those responsible for it.

It’s true: the Club World Cup and its new summer format haven’t been all bad. The group stage, which concluded on Thursday, offered fun and competitive teams. It served up a few genuinely enthralling games, especially in the clashes between the European and South American sides. The fans of some teams – the indefatigable singing and chanting of Boca Juniors’ and River Plate’s barras; the churning sea of red hopping up and down for the Urawa; the clapping and singing Wydad fans; the drumming and dancing Brazilians crisscrossing the nation in the wake of their four thriving clubs – injected the proceedings with exactly the kind of summer tournament folklore and fever you should hope for. We’ve even seen some kit design excellence – thank you, Botafogo.

I recently spent time coaching 80 girls at FC Midtjylland, the team where I began my career but had to leave in my teens as they had no women’s team

I will be on a plane on Monday with Denmark heading to Switzerland to take part in my fourth Euros, but before the tournament I went back to where it all began for me, to Danish side FC Midtjylland. I was there to spend time coaching 80 girls from the age of eight to 13.

More than 20 years ago, I began my own journey there and things looked very different then. There was no women’s team and no women who played football. For me to go back as a role model these girls gives me a lot of energy. There is no better way to ground yourself than to be reminded where you came from.

This stuff is going to get interesting soon

The Arsenal striker mystery may have reached its denouement: who will be unmasked as the man to knock down the ball to an onrushing Declan Rice. The answer appears to be Viktor Gyökeres, who is close to sealing his dream move from Sporting. If Benjamin Sesko is the great, lost Gunner, it’s because RB Leipzig want to charge €100m (around £86m), when Gyökeres will cost £70m and lower wages. Victor Osimhen, another striker in the reckoning, seems likely to convert his loan at Galatasaray to a permanent move, should a £65m fee be paid to Napoli. Yet another candidate, Real Madrid’s rather good Rodrygo, seems poised for a move to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

Chances are that Noni Madueke will be one of Gyokeres’s suppliers as the Arsenal-Chelsea trade route opens up once more. The winger wants Arsenal but Chelsea are open to accepting other bids than the Gunners’ £50m. Also, isn’t he a right winger, where Bukayo Saka plays? Seems Arteta wants a surfeit of players in each position, following the addition of Martín Zubimendi to a packed midfield. Chelsea need to sell £60m of talent to make Champions League regulations after the slapped wrist – and fine – received from Uefa on Friday.

Plus: top scorers for two clubs in one season, very old under-21 players and much more

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Has a team won the Champions League without beating any reigning champions?” asks Paddy French. “And if not, which teams have beaten the fewest champions to win it? And which teams have beaten the most champions in winning the Champions League/European Cup?”

Let’s just clarify that Paddy is referring to reigning league champions, here, not reigning European champions, to which we had a few answers. Even in an era in which many Champions League teams are also-rans from the big leagues around Europe, the answer to the first question is no.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Sam Dalling, Sanny Rudravajhala and Tom Garry for a transfer round-up and the latest from Euro 2025 in Switzerland

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On the podcast today: the panel run the rule over the most interesting stories from the transfer rumour mill. Eze to Arsenal, Kudus to Spurs, Romero to Atlético and, most surprisingly, Barry to Everton.

Best players, best managers, best matches, best goals, biggest flops and biggest gripes: our writers have their say

Mohamed Salah. The numbers don’t lie – 47 goal contributions in the Premier League was an outstanding return from the Egyptian, who seems to be getting better with age. Ed Aarons

Arne Slot’s first season could not have gone any better while Wolves fans drank to Vítor Pereira’s arrival

By winning the league, the Dutchman surprised pretty much everyone. He faced the daunting task of succeeding Jürgen Klopp and inherited the German’s squad, adding only Federico Chiesa, who barely kicked a ball in anger. Not much changed from the previous year, except Ryan Gravenberch became the designated defensive midfielder as Slot’s Liverpool looked to get on the ball as much as possible. Slot was never going to be a personality who generated headlines like Klopp did, keeping his cards close to his chest, but he always comes across as someone who is very personable and has brought the players closer together. Slot made Liverpool an efficient winning machine – rarely thrashing teams, often winning by the odd goal or two – and that allowed them to race to a second Premier League title. No one could compete with the Reds, which was partly down to rivals dropping their standards but most of it can be attributed to the fact Slot made his team superior.

Managers, teams and players who have disappointed over the campaign – including the reigning footballer of the year

Ruben Amorim’s average points tally of a point per league game since arriving at Manchester United in early November puts him just above Malky Mackay’s record at Cardiff and Paul Jewell’s Premier League record with Bradford, Wigan and Derby. While Sporting won the Primeira Liga title without Amorim, United have fallen down the table to 15th since the Portuguese took the reins from the interim coach, Ruud van Nistelrooy. Much of the ire towards United has been directed at the owners but on the pitch Amorim has failed to adapt his squad of expensive, experienced internationals into anything approaching a cohesive unit. The Europa League final defeat by Tottenham showed how much work is left to do.