Find a Football Team

Sarina Wiegman must quickly find a way to make her midfield click – whether that’s with or without one of her brightest stars

There is no doubting that Lauren James is a generational talent. There is natural ability in abundance. She is also an example of what technically gifted women’s players can be when given elite-level coaching from a young age. She is an example of what is to come, an outlier among her peers, having benefited from her father, Nigel, being a Uefa-qualified coach with his own coaching programme that is, in his own words, “about pure ball mastery and delivery with panache, to ultimately create elite technicians of the game”.

James is effusive about her father’s input into her career, saying on the Nigel James Elite Coaching website that she is “grateful to my dad for all the time, effort and love that he has put into my football by coaching me in order to help me reach the very best level and fulfil my full potential”.

There were plenty of legally unproblematic options available to the club before their former midfielder was charged with rape

“We are courageous in the pursuit of progress.”

“We champion our community and each other.”

The 40-year-old has led Fluminense with experience and passion. Could he do the same for Brazil next summer?

And then there was one. Nobody expected a Brazilian club to reach the Club World Cup semi-finals, and if any team was going to make a deep run in the tournament, it was not Fluminense. After winning the Copa Libertadores in 2023, they narrowly avoided relegation last year and have gone through four managers in less than two years.

Thankfully for them, they are now coached by the charismatic Renato Gaúcho, who told us earlier in the tournament: “It’s no use having a team of 500 million reais, because football is decided on the field.” Throughout the tournament he has encouraged Brazilians to take pride in what their teams have achieved, despite being written off due to the wealth of the European sides.

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.

Spain, looking ominously ruthless, continued their rich goalscoring form to reach the knockout stages of the 2025 European Championship as they put six goals past Belgium on a rain-soaked evening in Thun.

The world champions were twice pegged back by equalisers, but Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir’s side were eventually overpowered and were eliminated by Portugal’s 1-1 draw with Italy on Monday night, a result that also ensured Spain’s place in the last eight.

There was drama in Geneva as Diana Gomes struck late to salvage Portugal’s European Championship hopes. In a breathtaking conclusion to the match, Cristiana Girelli thought she had sent Italy through to the quarter-finals. Francisco Neto’s side piled on the pressure in the final stages, however, and equalised in the 89th minute to ensure their dreams of progress remained alive.

“We were solid, we were brave,” said a delighted Neto. “We played high, pressed our opponents, and played like a team in the European Championship. We’re a team with personality and ambition. It’s not easy when you’re losing, then you score but it’s disallowed again, and then score again! I’m very proud.”

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.

• Personal terms agreed for Sweden forward

• Arsenal want deal done before tour of Asia

Sporting have told Arsenal they want €70m (£60.2m) plus €10m in add-ons for Viktor Gyökeres after rejecting an approach from the London club worth €65m plus €15m. After a standoff that has lasted weeks and driven Gyökeres to distraction, the clubs are in constructive dialogue and close to bringing the saga to an end.

Mikel Arteta has made a new No 9 his priority during a pivotal summer for Arsenal and he has had Gyökeres on his shortlist, together with RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko. If the manager has not had the encouragement he might have wanted over Sesko, the picture has been different and more clear-cut on Gyökeres, with Sporting saying they would sell for €80m – less than the value of his €100m buyout clause – and standing by the position.

• Manager describes 39-year-old as ‘extraordinary player’

• Allegri says Maignan and Leão seem willing to stay

Real Madrid’s captain, Luka Modric, will join Milan after the Club World Cup, the Serie A club’s manager, Massimiliano Allegri, confirmed on Monday.

The 39-year-old midfielder announced in May that he would be leaving Madrid after the tournament. Madrid face Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals on Wednesday, with the final scheduled for Sunday.

Midfielder has shown with Real Sociedad and Spain that he combines calm and control with a capacity to tackle

The way Martín Zubimendi remembers it, the day he was given the chance to be a ballboy for Real Sociedad against Manchester United he was more nervous than when he had to play. Standing at the side of the pitch, he found himself transfixed, the game flying by. So transfixed, in fact, that he forgot it was his job to pass the ball to the players and at one point Claudio Bravo, in goal that night at Anoeta, had to come over and take it off him because he was standing there watching. It was the first time it had happened to him; it would also be the last.

If there is anything that defines Arsenal’s new midfielder, it is that he is so calm, so in control. “He oozes assuredness from every pore,” says the Spain coach, Luis de la Fuente. “He doesn’t get nervous walking a tightrope with no safety net.” When he’s out there, games don’t just go by; they usually go where he wants them to. And as for passes, what he forgot to do that night defines him now: there were 1,752 of them in La Liga last season. No midfielder outside Real Madrid or Barcelona played more.

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.

• Lionesses face the Netherlands after defeat by France

• ‘We’ve spoken about wanting to be proper England’

Georgia Stanway wants the Lionesses to go back to their roots and be “proper England” as they prepare to face the Netherlands at Euro 2025 after their opening defeat by France.

“We know as a team that we underperformed. We know as individuals that we underperformed,” Stanway said. “I didn’t want to do the press conference today because I’m fed up of talking now. It’s time that we focus on putting things right on the grass.

• Centre-back is recovering from knee operation

• ‘I feel better in my mind and ready to support the girls’

“There’s more than just England under consideration when it came to that decision,” said Millie Bright on stepping away from the Lionesses ahead of their European title defence. “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.”

Chelsea’s Bright was discussing her decision to step back from this summer’s Euros for her mental and physical health with the former England international and close friend Rachel Daly. The pair have recently launched a podcast that leans into the chemistry they have as friends.

There is no shortage of contenders but who will finish as the tournament’s top scorer in Switzerland?

The race to be stop scorer at the Women’s Euros 2025 in Switzerland is a fascinating one. Spain, the world champions, have several players who can top the list: Esther González, Clàudia Pina and Salma Paralluelo. The beaten finalists in Australia and New Zealand – England – count Alessia Russo as their main threat but also have Beth Mead, Chloe Kelly, Lauren James and Lauren Hemp who can chip in with goals.

Germany and France also have high hopes of going all the way this summer and have, among their ranks, Lea Schüller, Jule Brand, Klara Bühl, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Sandy Baltimore and Kadidiatou Diani.

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

• Idrissa Gana Gueye extends Everton contract

• ‘Proud’ Callum Wilson says goodbye to Newcastle

Crystal Palace have agreed a deal to sign Borna Sosa from Ajax for about £3m, with the Croatia defender due to have his medical on Monday.

The 27-year-old, who made 20 appearances on loan at Torino last season, is expected to provide competition for Tyrick Mitchell at left wing-back but is also capable of playing on the opposite flank. Palace signed Ben Chilwell on loan in January but he has returned to Chelsea.

• Sporting No 9 agrees terms as talks over fee continue

• Zubimendi in from Real Sociedad despite Madrid interest

Arsenal are closing in on the signing of Viktor Gyökeres from Sporting after agreeing personal terms with the Sweden striker. Negotiations are continuing over a fee for the 27-year-old, with Arsenal hoping to strike a deal for less than the £68m asking price.

Gyökeres has made no secret of his desire for a new challenge, having scored 54 goals for Sporting last season, and is understood to have made clear he wants to join Arsenal despite interest from elsewhere in the Premier League, including Manchester United.

• Musiala suffered fibula fracture and ankle dislocation

• PSG’s Donnarumma criticised for ‘reckless’ collision

Bayern Munich have said Jamal Musiala faces a “lengthy” recovery from a leg fracture after his collision with Paris Saint-Germain’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma at the Club World Cup.

Bayern said on Sunday that Musiala had flown back from Florida to Munich that morning for surgery on the injury the attacking midfielder picked up in Saturday’s loss to PSG in the quarter-finals.

• Semi ticket cut from $474 to just $13 in New Jersey

• Sparse crowds plague tournament outside Real games

• PSG v Madrid semi-final still priced from nearly $200

Fifa cut standard ticket prices for the semi-final between Chelsea and Fluminense at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Tuesday to $13.40 from $473.90 earlier in the past week.

Fifa has used dynamic pricing for the 63-game tournament.

• Right-back pleased football world united to show love

• Former Liverpool teammate an ‘amazing man and player’

Trent Alexander-Arnold has described his former Liverpool teammate Diogo Jota as “someone who lit up a room”. The Liverpool forward died along with his brother, André Silva, in a car accident in Spain on Thursday.

Alexander-Arnold is at the Club World Cup in the United States with Real Madrid having left Anfield at the end of their title-winning 2024-25 season. He spoke to Dazn after Madrid’s quarter-final victory over Borussia Dortmund in New Jersey.

The American could next move for Sheffield Wednesday or Watford while Palace wait to see if dealings fall favourably

A champion skateboarder in his youth, John Textor has never been averse to risk. The American businessman even warrants a mention in Craig Snyder’s book A Secret History of the Ollie as “one of the few who beat eight-time world champion Rodney Mullen in freestyle competitions during the turn of the 70s”, but a serious head injury put an end to his competitive career.

Textor surprisingly turned his attention to football club ownership in 2021 when he bought a stake in Crystal Palace after making his fortune in digital technology and the next week could prove decisive for his latest venture.

The US lost a final but gained competitive options at multiple positions, which should make some entrenched yet absent stars nervous.

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

In the end, the status quo went unchanged. Mexico won its second consecutive Concacaf Gold Cup trophy in a heated final with the United States in Houston’s NRG Stadium on Sunday. The oddly angular cup will be tucked into Mexico’s federation trophy case next to El Tri’s first Concacaf Nations League title, lifted in March. The program was unquestionably on top of Concacaf before the Gold Cup – now that it’s over, they still are.

If anything is changing, it’s the momentum in Mexico’s favor. The 2-1 victory over the United States men’s national team was the first time the Mexicans vanquished their arch-rivals in six years – minus one day.

Spurs signing Klinsmann or selling Waddle were bolts from the blue. Now, transfer influencers track private jets and almost nothing is unknown

Which transfer fee blew your mind? It was probably Spurs signing Gazza for £2m in the summer of 1988. TWO MILLION. No one is worth that kind of money. The following year, I distinctly remember running into the living room – Spurs had just signed Gary Lineker. I was preparing for the season ahead, invisible football at my feet, commentating to myself: “Gascoigne, to Waddle, in for LINEKERRRR.” The next moment I switched on the TV and someone (let’s say Ray Stubbs) was telling me that Spurs had sold Waddle to Marseille. I was bereft. There was no warning. For me, or for Lineker it turns out.

I heard the striker talking about the transfer recently on the excellent What Did You Do Yesterday? podcast hosted by David O’Doherty and generic broadcaster Max Rushden (perhaps the second-best podcast he hosts).

His loved ones’ lives are changed for ever and at one level this is not a sports story. But Jota’s footballing talent, heart and will should be cherished, amid the grief

Bad moon, bad times and a river that will be overflowing for some time yet. It is impossible not to feel a deep sense of pain, sadness and shared heartbreak at news of the sudden death of Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva in a car crash in Spain. Jota was 28, father to three young children and a husband to his long-term partner, whom he married 11 days before his death.

Things that happen in sport are often described, with due dramatic licence, as tragedies. This is not a sports story. But it is the most terrible human tragedy. Those who have suffered similarly can empathise. But it is above all a private horror, an event that will alter the lives of family and friends for ever.

After Donald Trump banned Iranians from entering the US, one of the co-hosts, there are different views on what should be done

“It’s offensive for any football fan to be prevented from participating in the World Cup, not just Iranians,” Ali Rezaei of Tehran’s Borna news agency says. In March, the national team became the second to qualify for the 2026 World Cup that will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. In June, Donald Trump authorised the dropping of bombs on Iran and hit the country with a travel ban. As things stand, while the national team will be able to enter the US next summer, fans – and perhaps media – will not.

Residents of Tehran and other cities may have had enough to deal with of late, but still, being barred from entry stings, even if Iranians have long found it difficult to get into the US. “If the US government has issues with the Iranian regime for any reason, it should not result in discrimination against Iranian citizens,” Behnam Jafarzadeh, a writer for the leading sports site Varzesh3, says. “If someone hasn’t committed any illegal activity, why should they be punished? It’s not just about the World Cup – the policy needs to change in general.”

It’s the time of year when out-of-contract players go from club to club to prove themselves worthy of a new deal

Players are returning for pre-season up and down England and Wales. There will be little time for catching up about holidays and families before each has their fitness tested and boots are laced to see whether they remember how to kick a ball. Among the regular faces and new signings, there will be some interlopers in the form of the mystical trialist.

“It is life or death,” says Gboly Ariyibi, who has had trials at six clubs. Football League and National League teams are offered out-of-contract players from all angles, regularly needing to pick through up to 20 to decide whether any deserve the chance to prove themselves for what remains of the budget. From agents suggesting clients to players putting forward a friend in need of work, managers and heads of recruitment are inundated with names and clips sent on WhatsApp by those hoping for a golden ticket.

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.

This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

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 has created a fixture planner so you can keep track of all the results. Print it out and fill it in

• Buy one of David’s cartoon in our Print Shop

• David’s new book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

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.

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Like Dr John Hammond and his scientists in Jurassic Park, Gianni Infantino and his fawning Fifa lickspittles have spent recent years so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should. The upshot is that a preposterously lucrative tournament described by its creator as “a big bang” has been crowbarred into an already jam-packed calendar. And the largesse of its in-no-way unethically sourced prize-money for those participating now threatens to destroy several already under-threat footballing ecosystems around the world.

I want to talk about my mate. My buddy. The bloke I loved and will miss like crazy. I could talk about him as a player for hours, but none of that feels like it matters right now. It’s the man. The person. He was such a good guy. The best. So genuine. Just normal and real. Full of love for the people he cared about. Full of fun. He was the most British foreign player I’ve ever met. I can’t believe we’re saying goodbye. It’s too soon, and it hurts so much. But thank you for being in my life, mate – and for making it better” – Liverpool’s Andy Robertson remembers his friend, Diogo Jota. And Miguel Dantas reports on how the deaths of Jota and his brother André Silva have shaken Portugal, where mourners are gathering in Gondomar for the funeral on Saturday.

Diogo Jota, an opponent that you’d have in your team in a heartbeat, and that’s from a Toffee” – Ian Taylor.

Regarding Chinese third-tier club Changchun Xidu and the superstitious paper charms (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). Are they effective if you want to put off a co-worker competing for the same promotion? Asking for a friend” – Steve Mintz.

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

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

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.

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

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.

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

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

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 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.