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• US network made largest bid at this week’s auction

• Amazon Prime will have first pick of Tuesday matches

The US media and entertainment giant Paramount Skydance has won the auction for the rights to broadcast most Champions League matches in the UK from 2027 to 2031 in a major shake-up of the domestic rights market.

The Guardian has learned that Paramount, whose subsidiary company Paramount+ owns the rights for Champions League games in the US, made the largest bid in this week’s auction and an announcement is due. Amazon Prime is poised to land the first pick of Tuesday matches in major European markets in the new streaming deal sold by Uefa.

• Wales and Northern Ireland could meet for finals place

• Ireland to host Denmark or North Macedonia if they win

Wales and Northern Ireland will do battle for a place at the 2026 World Cup if they navigate playoff semi-finals of differing toughness in March.

The pair would fight it out in Cardiff for a ticket to next year’s showpiece if Wales win a home tie against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Northern Ireland prevail in a fiendish trip to Italy, who are out of form but will be strongly favoured. It is a particularly appetising draw for Craig Bellamy’s Wales, who are flying after defeating North Macedonia 7-1 on Tuesday and are two home victories from a return to the most exalted stage.

Months after close shave with relegation, North End face Blackburn on Friday night with second spot in their sights

There is a refreshingly unfamiliar feel to the Championship top six. None of the incumbents have played in the Premier League this decade, a rarity in the modern-day second tier where those in receipt of parachute payments tend to rule the roost. In fact, of the top 11, only seventh-placed Ipswich have featured in the past seven top-flight seasons.

Preston are one of the few in that group never to have graced the Premier League, this their 11th consecutive Championship campaign. Unfancied and unfashionable in the current climate, they were widely tipped to struggle after a disastrous finish to last season, but under Paul Heckingbottom they sit fourth going into a crunch derby with Blackburn on Friday night and would rise to second with a win.

Measures covering sustainability, squad-cost ratio and controversial spend restrictions are due to be discussed on Friday

Executives of the 20 Premier League clubs are meeting in London to discuss, and potentially decide on, new financial regulations that will determine the future direction of the competition. These measures have been under consideration in some form or another since October 2021, just as the game was emerging from the crisis of Covid.

Former defender on his challenge as sporting director at Ligue 1 club and using Arsène Wenger as an inspiration

Returning to Brittany was the obvious choice for Laurent Koscielny. Having left Lorient for Arsenal in 2010, the former defender is back at the Ligue 1 side as the sporting director.

“My wife and I were keen to come back, it’s a beautiful region, and the people are welcoming and kind,” the Frenchman says of the seaside town, known for its annual Celtic music festival and military naval base.

Gotham are underdogs against a potent Spirit side but they have the talent and resilience to cause another upset

At the close of quintessential NWSL playoffs rife with last-minute goals and upsets, the eighth-placed underdogs Gotham FC will face second-placed Washington Spirit for the trophy. Both teams have won the NWSL Championship once before: the Spirit in 2021 and Gotham two years later. Washington are the likely favourites, but Gotham’s talent cannot be discounted.

As we look forward to Saturday night in San Jose, here are a few key battles that could decide the game.

When you work in the game it is easy to get cynical but this week I’ve been consuming all the #limbs I can find

For the second time in a week, I’m welling up. This time in a cafe on Northcote High Street in Melbourne at 9am. I punched the air when Kieran Tierney curled that one in. But Kenny McLean. From the halfway line. As the ball sails over Kasper Schmeichel my hands involuntarily shoot to the sky. What a moment. The commentary is amazing. Before long I’m watching it on a loop. The unwritten rule of not talking over each other goes out of the window. In fact it’s better. You want the comms to feel like you feel.

On BBC Scotland, Liam McLeod, Steven Thompson and James McFadden absolutely nail it. McLeod: “They’ve given it away.” Thompson: “SHOOT, SHOOT.” McLeod: “He’s gonna shoot.” (McFadden is grinning wildly.) Thompson: “OH HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM.” McLeod: “HAS THAT GONE IN? OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO THAT’S UNBELIEVABLE …” The fixed camera set on Thompson and McFadden is wondrous. Two grown men jumping up and down in unison like 10-year-old boys. They are just so happy.

Has this been the best international break in living memory? For Ireland and Scotland fans, it will take some beating. Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Paul Watson and Seb Hutchinson to look back on it all, and ahead to the return of the Premier League

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On today’s pod, the panelists extol what must be one of the most drama-packed international breaks in years. Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Paul Watson and Seb Hutchinson enjoyed every minute of it from last-minute winners and multi-goal pile-ups to minnows on the verge of qualification.

Special report: A leading agent and two Olympians fell out when their talent agency was sold, leading to ‘three years of torture’ which came to a sudden end after the emergence of text messages sent to a phone registered to Barnett

A high-court claim that had pitted the leading sports agent Jonathan Barnett against his former business partners, the Olympic medallists John Regis and Jennifer Stoute, was withdrawn after an extraordinary three-year legal battle.

A partnership of which Barnett was a member, the sports agency Stellar Athletics LLP, pursued a claim against Regis and Stoute for £1.2m after they left in 2021. It was settled by the ­parent company, CAA ­Stellar, in April 2024, shortly after Barnett himself resigned from the company.

FA crackdown has led to the suspension of 149 match officials and more than 1,000 players in push to restore public faith in the game

Everything in Turkish football, it seemed, was going too well. Galatasaray have been flying in the Champions League, powered by Victor Osimhen. Arda Güler is soaring at Real Madrid with goals and assists. Even the men’s national team, under Vincenzo Montella, have looked their most promising in years.

But it would not be Turkish football without drama and drama is what the hardline president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu, has delivered.

Our cartoonist reflects on Tony Popovic’s team’s recent friendlies against Venezuela and Colombia

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Our editors’ favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in

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• Forward makes claim about dressing room incident at Montpellier

• ‘It was hard to see it as merely a simple error,’ says Matildas star

Matildas star Mary Fowler has claimed she experienced racism while at Montpellier in 2022, when she was given bananas while others in the squad received flowers at the end of her final season with the French club.

The explosive revelations are contained in her memoir Bloom, which was released this week and details the extensive challenges she has faced in her young career, including a pattern of self-harm she has worked hard to overcome.

Five who were at Hampden Park or watching from afar share their reactions to the end of a 28-year wait

• Tell us: have you bought tickets for the World Cup?

Scotland have qualified for the men’s football World Cup for the first time in 28 years after beating Denmark 4-2 at Hampden Park. Five Scotland fans who were at the game or watching from afar share their reactions to the result.

Alessia Russo’s second-half double secured a 2-1 comeback victory for Arsenal against Real Madrid in the Women’s Champions League.

The hosts enjoyed plenty of opportunities during the first half but the former Arsenal player Caroline Weir sent the visitors ahead on the stroke of half-time with a brilliant volley.

Manchester United succumbed to the first defeat of their inaugural Women’s Champions League campaign, a result that sent Stephan Lerch’s side above United into third in the table.

The temperature in Wolfsburg may have been close to freezing but the players on the pitch did their bit to warm up the 3,817 spectators in the stadium. Five first-half goals raised the dial as momentum swung before the hosts opened up a gap after the break.

• Backlash came amid Rwanda’s support for M23 militia

• Club says deal ‘exceeded the original goals’

Arsenal’s controversial sponsorship partnership with Visit Rwanda will end in June, the club have announced.

The deal, reportedly worth in the region of £10m a year, began in 2018 and has come under scrutiny amid Rwanda’s support for the M23 ­militia in conflicts taking place in the eastern part of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. In February, Arsenal were accused of delivering an “outrageous” snub to the ­Congolese ­government by not meeting the ­foreign minister, ­Thérèse ­Kayikwamba Wagner, to ­discuss the deal.

The Arsenal and England forward is backing new global campaign because talent and teamwork should decide the game – not the climate

I’ll never forget stepping out on to the pitch in Switzerland for the Euro 2025 tournament. The air felt heavy – not with pressure or expectation, but with heat. It was more than 30C (86f) that day. It makes your lungs sting, makes you feel like you’re running through water.

In the England camp, we had done everything to prepare. Ice vests before training, hydration breaks, modified warm-ups – things that just weren’t part of football life a few years ago. At our base in Zurich we even had cryotherapy and Slush Puppies to cool our core temperatures. During training, there were ice-cold towels, extra rest moments and constant reminders to hydrate. You could feel how carefully the staff planned every detail. But when the whistle blew, no protocol could change the fact that the climate itself has changed.

The Spaniard’s style of possession football is not easily defined by stats and data. We tried to do so anyway

• Tell us: have you bought tickets for the 2026 World Cup yet?

Sergio Busquets didn’t expect to last this long. More than a decade ago, he predicted he’d retire by his early 30s. But when he finally announced in September that he’ll hang up his boots at the end of Inter Miami’s season, he did so as a 37-year-old defensive midfielder who still somehow never leaves the pitch for one of the best teams in MLS.

He could be playing his final game this weekend, if Miami lose their conference semi-final against FC Cincinnati on Sunday.

Caribbean island nation is the smallest to reach the finals tournament after appointing the wily coach and drawing on diaspora

The delay in Dick Advocaat becoming Curaçao’s head coach might have been ominous but instead it was the foundation for glory. Frustrated by the national federation’s financial problems, he deferred starting until January 2024, when the problems were resolved and players paid, paving the way for a historic World Cup qualifying campaign.

Curaçao will be the smallest nation – by land area and population – to play at the World Cup after their 0-0 draw in Jamaica on Wednesday. The Caribbean island has a population of 156,000, sinking the previous record holders, Iceland, which has about 400,000 inhabitants. Last month Cape Verde were confirmed as surprise tournament debutants but the African nation is almost 10 times bigger by area than the former Dutch colony, indicating the level of achievement by Advocaat and his squad.

Spain defender on embracing a new city, the wrench of leaving Barça and her group of fellow Spaniards

“The excitement is always bigger than the fear,” says Jana Fernández as she tries to explain a summer of upheaval when she left Spain and Barcelona to move the UK and London City Lionesses.

“I didn’t know it was going to be this soon, but I knew I was going to come here. I’m someone who wants to discover new things. I’m so curious about life and new cultures. It’s not about just a club, it’s about being part of a community, a style. I just arrived like: ‘Give it to me, I’m ready for it.’”

The US coach took charge of a team in flux and initially looked like he would feed that uncertainty. But his foundations are starting to look solid

• Tell us: have you bought tickets for the 2026 World Cup yet?

The symbolism felt a tad heavy-handed, as if a scriptwriter had slightly overcooked the plot.

That the United States men’s national team should utterly humiliate Uruguay 5-1 ,the very opponent who dumped the Americans out of the 2024 Copa América in the group stage on their home soil, precipitating an all-out crisis. That the first of the USMNT’s goals on Tuesday, and the assist for the second, should come from Sebastian Berhalter, whose father, Gregg, was fired as US head coach after said Copa. That Berhalter’s successor, Mauricio Pochettino, should reclaim the program’s honor against his mentor, his “second father”, his “football father”, his “inspiration”, Marcelo Bielsa.

Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book on the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out in the spring of 2026. You can preorder it here. He teaches at Marist University.

Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner denies the allegations, which prompted a recently-concluded MLS investigation that could not corroborate them

• Read a summary of our investigation here

From a box above the field at PayPal Park in San Jose, Ernst Tanner looked on. It was 10 June 2023, and his Union team were losing a physical match 2-1 to the San Jose Earthquakes. Jamiro Monteiro, a player Tanner had brought to the Union in 2019 before trading him to San Jose, was being substituted. Monteiro, clearly exhausted, trudged to the Earthquakes’ bench as referee Nima Saghafi extended his arm and ushered him along, briefly making contact.

It wasn’t the first time Saghafi had touched the midfielder. In the first half, with Monteiro on the ground after being sent flying by a tackle, Saghafi placed his hand on Monteiro’s back, a small gesture meant to show concern.

Made multiple misogynistic comments, including saying “women don’t belong in men’s soccer” about a female MLS referee and telling a gathering of academy players that they “should never worry about a referee, unless she’s a woman.”

Spoke about Black players “like they were subhuman” and suggested that Black referees “lack intelligence and capability.”

Touched a co-worker inappropriately “numerous times,” an allegation for which he was reported to the Union’s HR department.

Hired an underqualified coach who was allegedly abusive toward players on the Philadelphia Union II, the club’s reserve team that is used as a proving ground for young players from its thriving academy.

• League will also move to a single-table format

• Season will start in July and end in May

The MLS board of governors have voted to change the league’s schedule to more closely align with the European calendar, with seasons beginning in the late summer and ending in the spring.

The league announced the change after a board meeting in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday. The league will begin its season in mid-July, take a winter break starting in mid-December, then restart games in the first or third week of February (avoiding Super Bowl week).

The Reggae Boyz are well placed to play on the biggest stage for the first time since 1998 and lift a nation needing hope in a time of adversity

Steve McClaren has spoken of a determination to put “a smile on people’s faces” in Jamaica. Over the next six days the former England manager has a golden chance to do so by guiding Jamaica to the World Cup when they play for the first time since Hurricane Melissa.

The devastating category 5 storm that made landfall on the island on 28 October is known to have killed 45 people there and displaced tens of thousands of households, with hundreds still in emergency shelters. The prime minister, Andrew Holness, said it had caused damage to homes and key infrastructure roughly equal to the value of a third of the country’s gross domestic product.

As Asia’s allocation has now doubled, many nations look to foreign-born talent to push them towards qualification

When the United Arab Emirates line up against Iraq on Thursday for the fifth and final round of Asian qualification for next year’s World Cup, it is likely that over half of the home starting XI in Abu Dhabi will be foreign-born. The UAE are, however, merely another participant in a naturalisation arms race in the continent that has been boosted by the expansion of the World Cup from 32 teams to 48.

Asia’s allocation has doubled from four automatic spots in Qatar to eight in North America, opening up the tournament to a new array of contenders desperate to play on the greatest stage of all. Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Australia have historically dominated World Cup qualifying, with North Korea the most recent outlier in 2010. Those six are the only teams from the Asian Football Confederation to make more than one appearance at the tournament.

As the first female president in Ternana’s hundred-year history, the 23-year-old has ambitions to change the game

“There are still some preconceptions because football has long been a man’s world,” says Claudia Rizzo, “but I think things are changing. Women can bring a different point of view, an added value even in this field.”

At 23, Rizzo has made history. In September the entrepreneur became president of Ternana Calcio, a Serie C club from Umbria, becoming the first woman in the club’s hundred-year history to hold the role. “It’s a huge responsibility, but also an opportunity to bring something different,” she says. “I want to prove that women can lead in football just as they do in any other field.”

Steve Clarke’s history-making team have a ferocious work ethic that should typify what Scotland stands for

It was not a time for calm reflection. Kenny McLean had just lobbed Kasper Schmeichel from the halfway line. Limbs. Unbridled, unfiltered joy.

On one outrageous Hampden Park night McLean, Kieran Tierney and Scott McTominay relegated Archie Gemmill’s stupendous solo effort against the Netherlands in 1978 to merely the fourth best Scotland goal of all time. Zinedine Zidane’s volley for Real Madrid in Hampden’s Champions League final of 2002? A mere tap‑in by comparison.

Troy Parrott’s last-gasp goal and DR Congo’s triumph proved once again why the best soccer is almost never about the soccer

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Last Thursday, Irish football was in a bleak place. They had two games remaining in World Cup qualifying and apparently no hope of making it to North America next summer. Another campaign had collapsed in predictable ways: they couldn’t score, they made bafflingly simple errors, too few of their players play for elite sides and those that do seemed unable to reproduce club form for their country.

Their one possible star, Evan Ferguson, had not been energised by a move to Roma – quite the reverse – and although there was vague talk of a new contract for their manager, the amiable Icelandic dentist Heimir Hallgrímsson, everybody thought he would be off after the game in Hungary and was vaguely dreading another Football Association of Ireland recruitment saga, which would inevitably take months, throw up a series of implausible names and result in the job being given to Hallgrímsson’s assistant, John O’Shea.

On the bench in Madrid and out of the England squad, the full-back has no one to fight his corner – so will have to do it himself

“He chose to start from zero. To keep showing up, day by day. It was about respect, courage and a genuine desire to belong. What I saw was a person growing beyond himself. In football, words can build trust, connection, identity. That is what true professionalism really looks like.” Well, at least someone is pleased with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s progress at Real Madrid. Unfortunately, it happens to be Sara Duque, his language teacher.

When Alexander-Arnold filmed a video in hesitant but really very good Spanish for Duque’s Instagram page, it’s fair to say it wasn’t received entirely in the spirit of pride and achievement it was intended. Very quickly, internet auditors started to do the maths. Alexander-Arnold claimed to have been learning Spanish for five months, which meant he must have started in May, when – gasp – he was still under contract at Liverpool. Rat, scum, traitor, etc. Perhaps, judging by how well he spoke at his unveiling in June, he had been under Duque’s tutelage even earlier. All of which brought to mind the old Frank Skinner joke (although others have claimed it) about John Lennon airport. A fitting tribute, seeing as it was the first place he went after making a bit of cash.

Mohamed Salah has drifted from crucial to peripheral in big games, and Arne Slot’s decision to keep picking him is strange

There must be blame. We need heads on the battlements. We need entrails, horses, chains, a public quartering. Basically we just need to feel something. We need, above all, to feel that this is all someone’s fault.

This is how elite football must function now. The Dalai Lama once said that instead of looking to blame others we should look for answers within ourselves, which just goes to show how wrong you can be and is, frankly, very disappointing from the Dalai Lama.

Our cartoonist on how the US president’s actions in office may have put him in line for an award

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• David’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

It starts with singing, banter or enthusiastic goal celebrations – and leads to so much more. Six groups of fan friends share how they met

Like so many football fans, I have my own routines and rituals with which I tie together the home games of a league season. Last year, one such routine involved the older gentleman in the seat to my right. I’d nod hello and, above the strains of pre-match music, ask him what he thought of Norwich’s chances – 23 times I asked, and 23 times he replied along the lines of: “We’ll probably get thumped” or “I don’t see where our goals are coming from.” A shred of contempt would be spared for the referee. Always, the referee was known to him and, always, I’d be forewarned that this or that referee was an “arsehole”, a “wanker”, or – once – “an arsehole and a wanker”.

This neighbour of mine was a retired engineer, a Norfolk boy, and a follower of both first team and academy, home and away. He was just one of thousands with a season ticket at the back of Carrow Road’s lower Barclay stand: a Saturday afternoon companion, a stranger at the start of the last season who became a little less strange as the matches went by. I was able to glean, for example, that after decades of loyal (if pessimistic) fandom, he would soon be moving to Yorkshire with his partner, unable to ignore his dreams of the Dales. He had already decided that he wouldn’t be renewing his season ticket. My first year in this part of the ground was his last.

Assistant coach is using psychological, tactical and physical profiling to help Thomas Tuchel give his England team an edge at the World Cup

Ten years ago, life looked a little different for Anthony Barry. The England assistant coach, whose focus is fixed on helping Thomas Tuchel win the World Cup next summer – nothing less – was playing for Accrington Stanley in League Two. He was in the twilight of a career spent in the bottom two divisions of the Football League and in non-league, and he had taken the first step on the journey that would define him, accepting a voluntary position as the Accrington Under-16s coach.

“It was in the evenings, third of a pitch, asked to do 11 v 11 … flat balls, not enough bibs,” Barry says with a smile. “I was hooked. I’d found what I was destined to do and I thought about what it could become. I’m pretty sure nobody else could see it. But that’s part of dreams.”

Afghan Women United is comprised of players forced to flee their homeland and is another step in beating barriers

“When I step on to the pitch everything else is automatically erased from my mind,” says the captain of Afghan Women United, Fatima Haidari, when asked how football helps her cope with the traumas she has suffered.

“I train, I play, and a fire inside me is lit, not just because of the power that I feel at that moment as a player, but because I feel I have many other girls with me. It’s like I’m taking their hands. Like I’m playing with them. It’s not just for me, and I feel powerful.”

In an exclusive extract from her autobiography, goalkeeper reveals the painful road to her shock England exit

England felt like such a safe space for me. It was usual to have a team review after a big tournament and after the Euros in 2022 we came together in the Club England meeting room at St George’s Park, the team’s headquarters.

The emotional security that I felt within England was bolstered by the culture and values that had underpinned and contributed to our success. Non-collegiate behaviour was not tolerated. We came back together to the news that Hannah Hampton had been dropped from the squad: her behaviour behind the scenes at the Euros had frequently risked derailing training sessions and team resources.

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In one of his most searing and celebrated monologues from Trainspotting, Mark Renton articulates the utterly dismal experience of being Scottish. “We’re the lowest of the low,” he rails, “The scum of the [bleep]ing earth! The most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilisation.” While the cynical Edinburgh antihero views his national identity through a relentless lens of abject failure, colonisation, and corrosive self-loathing, his bleak perspective seems entirely irreconcilable with the widespread, ecstatic jubilation that greeted Scotland’s dramatic qualification for their first World Cup finals in 28 years at Hampden Park last night. This collective outpouring of joy suggests a profound national paradox: whatever dim view certain Scots might take of themselves, last night’s triumph was met with almost universal warmth and celebration, making it abundantly clear that fans and observers across the international football community hold them in remarkably high regard.

As a 20-year-old student at Leeds University in 1979, I was jettisoned for a year as a foreign language assistant in deepest France to Montbeliard, home of the then legendary FC Sochaux Montbeliard, [Bigger Vase] quarter finalists. As a keen footballer, I joined the local amateur team AS Montbeliard to keep fit, train and play for the season. It didn’t go to plan at first. In true French bureaucracy, I had to complete a registration form with photo, age etc. On the day I was set to make my debut, my trainer approached me, hands around my shoulders: ‘really sorry Steve, you’ve been banned from playing by the local authority.’ ‘Why’, I enquired? ‘On your form you entered current team as Leeds Uni (as in university) and they understand you are a professional playing for Leeds United on a Saturday and then moonlighting for AS Montbeliard’ – seven hours by train from Paris, on the Sunday. I was both flattered and flabbergasted, Uni was rectified, I did even play in a French Cup match, my amateur status proven as I came on as sub, lost the ball and gave away the only goal in a defeat” – Steve Lewis.

Given the astonishing achievement of Curaçao (the island, not the drink) qualifying for the GWC despite a population of only 156,000, it would take a very petty man to use that as an excuse to crowbar in a sarcastic comment about former Jamaica manager Steve McClaren, especially as he’s only just resigned. So, let me be that man. I wonder if he used a parasol?” – Noble Francis (and no other very petty readers).

I am finding it difficult to decide which facial expression I like best from this incredible week of GWC qualifiers: Troy Parrott realising that he secured himself a lifelong supply of Tin, or Kasper Schmeichel realising he is going to get beaten from the half-way line. Pure gold!” – Yannick Woudstra.

Currently working on creating a GWC cocktail whose ingredients include Curaçao with Advocaat, Mexican tequila, a dash of Earl Grey (with raised pinkie) from Blighty, a splash of Schnapps, and some Irn Bru (gawd almighty!). All served in a frosted Norwegian drinking horn, and garnished with a Brazilian coffee bean and the number of your local emergency room. Playoffs will determine if I can add some Chianti and a Guinness head to the concoction. I think I’ll name it The Orange Buffoon” – Mark McFadden.

I know much was made about England’s perfect record of playing eight, winning eight and not conceding a goal. I feel Liechtenstein’s perfect record should also be mentioned: Played eight, lost eight, scored none” – Alan Bolsom.

Vancouver Rise were crowned Canada’s first champions of the new professional league which has exceeded expectations in terms of tickets sold and viewing figures

In the words of Christine Sinclair, the all-time international top scorer for men or women: “What a difference a year makes.” On Saturday at BMO Field in Toronto, Vancouver Rise became the first champions of the inaugural Northern Super League season. It was a triumphant conclusion to a history-making campaign that has set the ball rolling for professional women’s football in Canada.

In front of 12,429 spectators, Anja Heiner-Møller’s side put on a display of perseverance to claw their way back to win 2-1 against AFC Toronto, the winners of the regular season’s Supporters’ Shield. A half-hour lightning break and deluge of rain did little to stunt the quality on show on the pitch and the enthusiasm off it.

While there are promising signs of Swiss growth, there is some way to go to cement lasting legacy for the tournament

Switzerland were the toast of the continent this summer as hosts of the Women’s European Championship. The national team reached the quarter-finals for the first time and a total of 623,088 were in attendance at the 31 matches, a tournament record. The hope within Switzerland was for a boost at club level similar to what England experienced three years previously. Those heights have not been reached, but there has been a definite bump.

According to Switzerland’s football association, their Women’s Super League has enjoyed a 62% increase in attendances this season, with an average attendance of 787. While that does not compare with the huge spike England’s Women’s Super League had after Euro 2022 – an average attendance increase of 172% the following season – it is still encouraging.

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

Plus: chants celebrating old memories, Trevor Wood from Jersey and ‘a Genghis Khan-like thick moustache’

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“England qualified for the World Cup in perfect style, winning all eight games without conceding a goal,” writes Charlie Wilson. “How many teams have done this?”

This isn’t the first time England have qualified for a World Cup without conceding a goal. They did the same ahead of Italia 90 – but three of their six group games were 0-0 draws and they might not have qualified had Poland’s Rysard Tarasiewicz scored in the last minute of their final game in Chorzow. Instead his heatseeker hit the crossbar and England were through.

Switzerland (A) 5-0

Wales (H) 12-0

Wales (A) 12-0

Croatia (A) 7-0

Croatia (H) 8-0

Switzerland (H) 11-0

Chelsea lose ground in title race at Liverpool while Arsenal struggle to find their shooting boots

When Alyssa Thompson fired in a superb ninth-minute opener, Chelsea looked on course for another routine win. However, Liverpool’s defence held firm and the Reds levelled in the 33rd minute and held out until half-time. The Chelsea manager, Sonia Bompastor, introduced further attacking options in the second half, including Lauren James and Aggie Beever-Jones, but a solid defensive display from Liverpool ensured Chelsea were unable to find a winner as the hosts earned their second point of the season. Although the result did mean Chelsea set a record of 34 successive unbeaten WSL games, clearly all is not well with the defending champions. Last season they had 27 points after nine games and led the way, this campaign they have eight fewer and are three points behind Manchester City. Réshma Rao

Match report: Tottenham 0-0 Arsenal

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Ali Maxwell and Sanny Rudravajhala to discuss Scotland’s incredible last-gasp winning goals against Denmark that took them to the World Cup

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On today’s pod: Scotland sent the Tartan Army into raptures with a stunning late Kieran Tierney goal at Hampden, followed up by a Kenny McLean lob from the half-way line. It finished Scotland 4-2 Denmark and was enough to send Steve Clark’s men to the World Cup next year. There was also the small matter of Scott McTominay’s breathtaking overhead kick in the opening minutes of the game.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Ayisha Gulati and Dr Chris Paouros to discuss Manchester City’s derby win, Chelsea’s setback at Liverpool and all the weekend’s WSL action.

On today’s pod: Manchester City take control of the title race with a commanding 3-0 win in the derby, as United fail to register a shot on target and Marc Skinner calls for January reinforcements, and fewer in-game interviews. Are City now the team to beat?

Elsewhere: Chelsea drop points again after a stubborn Liverpool performance at Prenton Park, with Beata Olsson continuing her excellent scoring run. With Arsenal also held in the north London derby, the panel asks what’s behind their respective creative slumps and whether the title is already slipping away.

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

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 … and go even further back. Here’s our 2025 world picks

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