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Which countries have qualified for the 2026 World Cup and how did they do it? Here’s a very handy ‘Explainer’ from Andy Martin. Twenty-nine of the 48 places have now been filled but some big names – Cameroon and Nigeria for example – will need to come through a playoff.

That red card for Ronaldo against the Republic of Ireland was his first in 226 appearances for Portugal. And the man himself certainly didn’t see it coming having come out with these famous last words before the match. “I really like the fans here. The support they give to their national team is lovely. For me, it’s a pleasure to come to play here again. I hope they don’t boo too much to me tomorrow. I swear that I’m gonna try to be a good boy.”

• Former Spanish federation president struck by three eggs

• Rubiales claims the assailant ‘was my own uncle’

The disgraced former Spanish football federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales had eggs flung at him, allegedly by his uncle, during the presentation of his new book on Thursday in Madrid.

Rubiales, convicted of sexual assault for a forced kiss on the player Jenni Hermoso after Spain won the Women’s World Cup, appeared to be struck on the back by an egg as the man Rubiales claimed was his uncle threw three in the direction of the 48-year-old.

The Chelsea defender on Barcelona, the benefits of taking a breather and joining a campaign to tackle winter loneliness

“This will be a forever thing,” says Millie Bright. “It’s one of the things that gives me purpose. It gives me life outside of football and will give me life after football.”

The Chelsea centre-back is talking about the impact that giving back to society, to fans or to a single individual has on her. She is hugely passionate about it, displaying fresh energy when she discusses her off-pitch work, including Chelsea’s new The Magic of Blue campaign, aimed at highlighting the issue of winter loneliness. The campaign will host collection points for the donation of gifts and warm items at men’s and women’s matches, including at Stamford Bridge next Thursday for the Women’s Champions League game against Barcelona.

Match officials are speaking out against alleged intimidation as teams highlight controversial decisions

After a series of incidents involving insults and alleged intimidation that have plunged Portuguese football into turmoil, the country’s referees are breaking their silence and protesting.

Match officials are speaking out against what they describe as intimidation from clubs and officials, staging pre-match protests in a rare act of defiance. The Portuguese football federation (FPF) has held emergency meetings with referee representatives, but clubs continue to highlight controversial decisions.

Morgan Rogers has the shirt but the England head coach has lit a fire under star names by leaving them on the bench

It didn’t exactly feel like a thrilling three-way shootout for the role of England’s top gun No 10. At least, not for the opening hour anyway. Wembley was a sodden place at kick-off, the rain falling in huge slow flakes, the kind of rain that puts a lid on the world. And for long periods this was a strange, bloodless experience, a World Cup qualifier with very little qualification at stake beyond the dwindling hopes of Serbia.

By the end, however, there was at least a sense that something had happened here. You have to hand it to Thomas Tuchel, currently cresting a wave as England’s first master of negging, founding member of the don’t really give a toss school of international management.

England’s keeper and a 19-year-old French forward are part of our selection of players who are essential to their clubs

Unless his arms suddenly enjoy a miraculous growth spurt the T rex jibes will never fully be banished, but Jordan Pickford has been one of the Premier League’s most reliable goalkeepers for some time. His long passing and shot-stopping have always been of decent standard, but, over time, he’s developed his short game, able to keep the ball moving and begin attacks by picking out teammates at closer range. His handling is tidier, meaning mistakes are fewer, and he is no longer as affected by his emotions as he was in his youth.

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.

• Champions League-style model among the options

• Dynamic pricing ruled out for Euro 2028 tickets

The Football Association has thrown its weight behind plans to revamp the European qualifying format for major international tournaments amid fears the process has become stale.

Uefa is concerned that fans and broadcasters are no longer engaged by current routes to the World Cup and European ­Championship. Expanded tournaments have removed a ­considerable element of jeopardy and there is an acceptance that ­fundamental changes must be implemented to reignite interest.

• Forward led chant after Leeds won promotion in April

• Wilder signs him to help struggling Championship club

Patrick Bamford has joined Sheffield United seven months after leading derogatory chants about their manager, Chris Wilder.

The 32-year-old striker, a free agent since leaving Leeds, has signed a ­contract with the Championship strugglers until January. His seven-year career at Elland Road was ended by mutual consent in August.

Three playmakers emerged from bench to combine for the second goal while Nico O’Reilly enjoyed a promising debut

Thomas Tuchel would have contradicted himself if he had dropped Morgan Rogers for Jude Bellingham. It would have sent out the wrong message. It would have gone against everything Tuchel has been building during the last three camps, undermining the collective ethos that has made England happy again and given them fresh momentum to carry into next summer’s World Cup.

The Spaniard talks about her move to coaching, Barcelona and the injuries that ended her career early

A 22-year-old Natalia Arroyo stood alone in what she describes as a “sad shower” and gutturally cried. It was the moment she knew her playing career had ended. The Spaniard had lain on the grass shortly beforehand, her anterior cruciate ligament torn again. It was “super emotional”, she says, but she was done.

Arroyo, speaking at the expanded training base of an Aston Villa side who last Saturday secured a notable win at Manchester United, joined Barcelona at the age of nine, though at the time there was no real relationship with the main club. She graduated to the B team, captained that side and was one of three 16-year-olds to force their way into the senior set-up. That experience has taught her how to integrate players.

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If you haven’t seen the clip of Iliman Ndiaye snatching a soul at Everton’s training ground with some sort of reverse bouncing nutmeg, it’s a good watch. In executing a move so nasty that it would have been better suited to a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition match, the skill immediately shut down what was meant to be a lighthearted kickabout to end what had been – up to that point – an illuminating interview on how amateur players can earn a second chance at making it after being released by professional academies.

Football took me but it never abandoned me because I never abandoned my dream. I went from place to place. The love of football carries you. I couldn’t always see where it was taking me. But today I have the answer” – Serbia coach Veljko Paunovic takes time out from his preparations to kindly get his chat on with Sid Lowe and do a nice set of snaps outside Wembley.

Nice to hear that Kevin Mac Allister isn’t going to be left home alone by Argentina (yesterday’s Football Daily). Hopefully, if he goes to the Bigliest Most Peaceful Cup next year, he’ll read up on how to get about the host cities – wouldn’t want him to end up lost in New York” – James Humphries.

Big Website reports that 1,024 players in the Turkish league have been suspended due to alleged involvement in a betting scandal. It would be fantastic if that number could be bumped up to the same level of typical pedantry associated with Football Daily – that is, 1,057 readers. By my math, that’s about 33 more pedants. If I volunteer to be banned from playing professionally in Turkey (not a huge sacrifice at my age and, um, skill level), are there 32 more folks willing to join in my search for symmetry?” – Mike Wilner.

As a daily reader and Florida resident, can I proactively complain about the upcoming week-plus of published letters about which highway one uses to get to various locations in your island nation (yesterday’s Football Daily letters)? I mean, I was caught in a traffic jam on I-4 at 2am on a Tuesday night driving through Orlando once, but that’s the whole story. There’s no rewarding moral to the tale. (I-4 connects Tampa on the Gulf Coast to Daytona on the Atlantic via Orlando/Walt Disney World, and can have traffic issues at any time)” – Rasteen Nowroozi.

Apropos Wythenshawe FC (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), I recall many years ago playing for a Sunday, very social side, Turnpike Lane Hibs, on Clapham Common. One morning a bloke introduced as ‘Danny’ turned up to play. I have no idea who brought him along. Apparently he was an actor; he had a useful left foot. (Yes, Daniel Day-Lewis)” – Jason Steger.

Together with some colleagues and friends, I play a game of football each Friday afternoon. Our oldest player is pushing 80, while the youngest are in their late-20s. To ensure a good time for everyone, we have a simple rule of thumb regarding the quality of player: you can be fast or skilled, but preferably not both. We occasionally have players who violate this rule, but usually manage to drag them down to our level over time” – Lars Esbjerg.

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

Mary Earps received the boos she feared on her return to Manchester United, 501 days after leaving, then departed defeated. Marc Skinner’s team cuffed aside Paris Saint‑Germain courtesy of Fridolina Rolfö’s expert second-half header.

When jogging out for the warmup Earps was cheered, but when the crowd swelled for kick-off the jeers came, though for a player whose CV shows nine clubs, 52 England caps, and a Euro 2022 winner’s medal, this felt water off the proverbial for her.

Arsenal needed a performance and a result against a European powerhouse, their form in the Women’s Super League letting them down, but Renée Slegers’s side collapsed, relinquishing a 2-0 advantage and all three points to Bayern Munich far too easily to plunge their Champions League defence into tricky waters.

Slegers called the defeat a “big hit”. The head coach said: “We’re not happy, it’s not good enough, we can’t concede three goals so late in a game against Bayern when we have a 2-0 lead.”

• Kane has £57m summer release clause in Bayern contract

• Lewandowski’s contract with Barcelona expires in June

Barcelona have made Harry Kane their first-choice target to replace Robert Lewandowski. The Spanish champions regard the 32-year-old England captain as the ideal younger replacement for the 37-year-old Pole, whose contract expires in June, and may well be prepared to trigger the clause in Kane’s contract with Bayern Munich that would allow him to leave for £57m in the summer.

Kane has proven a huge success at Bayern since joining them from ­Tottenham for £100m in August 2023, scoring an astonishing 108 goals in 113 appearances. In September, he became the fastest player this century to reach 100 goals for a club playing in one of Europe’s top five leagues. He also ended his trophy drought in May after playing a key role in Bayern reclaiming the Bundesliga title.

• Streaming service charged an additional fee

• League is in Year 3 of 10-year $2.5bn media rights deal

Apple TV subscribers will be able to watch all Major League Soccer matches without an additional subscription beginning next year.

During the first three years of MLS’ 10-year, $2.5bn agreement with Apple, a stand-alone Season Pass subscription was needed to access all matches. During this season, more than 200 matches were simulcast on both MLS Season Pass and Apple TV, including the league’s “Sunday Night Soccer” package. Dropping the separate subscription was announced Thursday at an owners’ meeting.

Brentford were tipped to struggle this season but Thiago’s goals have helped them climb up the Premier League table

By WhoScored

On a crisp November afternoon in Brentford, Igor Thiago did what record signings are supposed to do: score twice. The Brazilian’s double against Newcastle took his goal tally this season to eight in 11 Premier League games, second only to Erling Haaland, and offered further proof that Brentford’s £30m gamble in the summer of 2024 was a wise one.

Brentford fans must have had their doubts last season. After arriving from Club Brugge to replace Ivan Toney, Thiago’s first season was quiet, disjointed and frustrating. Two knee injuries restricted him to just eight appearances, 168 minutes and no goals.

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.

Wolves are yet to win a game in the Premier League this season but their older fans know it could be far worse

By That 1980s Sports Blog

You fear for Wolves. Eleven matches into the season they are without a win, have sacked manager Vítor Pereira and look likely to be relegated after nearly a decade in the Premier League. It turns out that selling your best players and failing to replace them adequately is not a recipe for success. But surely things cannot be as bad as they were during the 1980s, when they went from the First Division to the Fourth Division in three years.

Wolves experienced the perfect start to the decade when they won the League Cup in 1980, beating the reigning European champions Nottingham Forest at Wembley. But all was not well at the club. The decline can be traced back to their decision in the late 1970s to spend £3m on the John Ireland Stand (now the Steve Bull Stand) at Molineux, which left the club financially drained during a time of declining attendances. They were relegated from the top flight at the end of the 1981-82 season and, with debts totalling £2.5m, were minutes away from going out of business that summer.

The head coach heads to Wembley with a tough battle to qualify for the World Cup on his hands as he recalls his career path

Veljko Paunovic’s right hand moves in a wide, smooth arc: up, around and down. “This tends to happen to me a lot,” he says, eyes following his finger as it traces a curve. It is his first day as Serbia’s coach and he is waiting for his players to arrive, entrusted with an “urgent mission” that brings him back again, all the way to when he was a boy. “I tend to close circles, and this could be another. There’s a connection there: my career outside the country, going to Spain, round the world, then returning. And this first game, the link to the legacy left by my dad, to what I inherited from him.”

Growing up, there were three games Paunovic recalls his father talking about most, matches that resonate in his mind. Blagoje Paunovic, a defender who played 39 times for Yugoslavia and became a coach, told his son about being invited to play in Pelé’s farewell at the Maracanã in 1971 (“He said people saw Yugoslavia as Europe’s Brazilians”), the European Championship final against Italy in 1968 and the game that took them there, against the world champions. That day in Florence, Blagoje’s Yugoslavia beat England; this Thursday at Wembley, Veljko begins against the same country.

Plus: more football records that were rapidly broken and Home Nations players from the crown dependencies

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“In September, Lithuania became the lowest Fifa-ranked country (143rd) to score against the Netherlands, who were ranked seventh,” writes Pete Tomlin. “That means a difference of 136 places between the two countries. I have two questions upon hearing this – which is the lowest-ranked team to score against England (since the rankings began in 1992) and what is the biggest difference between teams where the lower-ranked team has scored? I was thinking of the respective rankings at the time the matches took place rather than current rankings.”

The Netherlands, who won that match 3-2 in September, will meet Lithuania in the return fixture on Monday. The respective rankings are now sixth and 146th so the gap will be 140 places if Lithuania manage to score in Amsterdam.

65 North Macedonia 1-1 England, November 2023

75 Albania 1-3 England, March 2001

87 Macedonia 1-2 England, September 2003

91 England 2-2 Macedonia, October 2002

116 Northern Ireland 1-0 England, September 2005

118 Malta 1-2 England, June 2000

120 England 5-3 Kosovo, September 2019

122 San Marino 1-7 England, November 1993

131 England 5-1 Kazakhstan, October 2008

Matt Le Tissier England, 8 caps, 1994-97 (b Guernsey)

Maya Le Tissier England, 10 caps, 2022- (b Guernsey)

Graeme Le Saux England, 36 caps, 1994-2000 (b Jersey)

Kieran Tierney Scotland, 50 caps, 2016- (b Isle of Man)

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.”

• 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.

Weston McKennie remains at Juventus due to a manager change, and the US remain vulnerable to outside elements

When Weston McKennie signed for Juventus in 2020, it had only been 30 days since Andrea Pirlo was made the Italian club’s manager. A few weeks ago, Luciano Spalletti was appointed as Juve’s fifth manager since McKennie joined – or his seventh, if you count the interim head coaches. It’s not a new situation for the American. But according to US men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino, it’s why McKennie isn’t with the US during their upcoming friendlies with Paraguay on Saturday and Uruguay on Tuesday.

Pochettino could have selected McKennie, trusting that Spalletti is the first Juventus manager in years to be instantly convinced of the multifunctional Texan’s value. Rather than the usual routine of a manager trying to push McKennie out of the club, only to realize that there’s a reason only three players in the squad have been at the club longer, Spalletti has given McKennie starts in all three matches he’s overseen. The 27-year-old has played all but five available minutes in that span.

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.

This match was as dismal as last season’s Europa League final and in a routine league game nerves are no excuse

Never underestimate the haplessness of this Manchester United. Never underestimate the haplessness of this Tottenham Hotspur. Never underestimate the capacity of the Premier League to uncover drama in the least plausible situation. The embers of a game of little quality seemed cold and dead but somehow burst into glorious flame in the final six minutes plus stoppage time.

What it means is anybody’s guess, other than that these are two sides who remain deeply flawed. The shadow of Bilbao and last May’s Europa League final was unavoidable; in purely technical terms, that game was just as bad as the first 84 minutes of this one, but it at least had a sense of edge. Nervousness is permissible if there is something to be nervous about. Such scrappiness in a routine league meeting is far less explicable.

The Real Madrid midfielder is part of an attack-minded squad but the manager will be watching him carefully

One snub was enough. Another and it would have started to look vindictive from Thomas Tuchel, who is far too wily not to know that winning the World Cup is probably going to require help from Jude Bellingham, even if it is also on the midfielder to fit into the tactical structures and squad hierarchies required with England now that he is back in Tuchel’s warm embrace.

The manager wants Bellingham’s edge, his fire, but it is about using it in the right way. Individual quality matters but England know from bitter experience that there is a price to pay when celebrity takes over. Still, a point has been made.

Gianni Infantino has a new idea, and like most of his ideas it’s not one many are going to like, except maybe Donald Trump

A perfectly friendly-looking American guy, sharp suit, early 50s is wandering around Miami. He tells me that in the past 10 years the city has turned into a “magnet for dreamers, doers and visionaries, a launchpad where ideas take flight, where connections spark movements, where legacies are born”.

I nod sagely, pretending to know what that means before clicking the X in the top right of the YouTube tab. The man in question is in fact the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, encouraging me and other leaders of industry to pay lots of money to attend the America Business Forum. The website tells me “America Business Forum comes to the United States for the first time” – which begs the question where they’ve held it previously. I’m no chief executive, I don’t keep a diary, but I’d have put America right up there as a location to hold a forum on American business.

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

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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.

Admittedly in the Champions League’s shadow, the Europa Cup does offer fresh opportunities for the game to develop

It may be news to some, but there is a new competition kicking off in Europe this week. With qualifying complete, the business end of the Women’s Europa Cup gets under way on Wednesday. It will mark another milestone in women’s football, a side of the sport that is constantly evolving and developing.

Starting with the round of 16, teams will embark on a journey of two-legged knockout ties that lead to the inaugural final. The winner will also be decided across two legs, due to take place in May and June next year.

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.

The defending Premier League champions spent big over the summer, but it’s hard to see how the new players fit

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

What was it supposed to look like? Amid all the talk around Liverpool and their disappointing form at the start of this season, that is perhaps the hardest question of all to answer. What were they trying to do? If it had worked, how would this team have played?

The champions spent £424m (about $550m) on new signings in the summer, but if all had gone well, they would have spent an additional £40m ($53m) to land the Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guéhi. The England international would, at the very least, have given an extra option at the back (the injury to Giovanni Leoni has diminished their defensive options further), allowing Arne Slot to rest Ibrahima Konaté, whose poor form continued in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday. An early City penalty was a direct result of Konaté getting in Conor Bradley’s way as Jérémy Doku cut in from the left.

Robyn Cowen is joined by Nicky Bandini, Philippe Auclair, Paul Watson and Sid Lowe to wrap up the biggest stories from across Europe including Madrid’s dip in form and the beginnings of an unravelling for Antonio Conte at Napoli

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On the podcast today: in Spain, Barcelona’s high line continues to excite, baffle and frustrate - Sid Lowe joins to discuss how Hansi Flick defends his lack of defence and he also talks about Real Madrid, who have endured a rocky week or so.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Marva Kreel and Tim Stillman to dissect a dramatic WSL weekend and look ahead to the Women’s Champions League

On today’s pod: VAR talk dominates again after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea, with disallowed goals and missed cards prompting calls for more support for referees in the WSL. Should VAR-lite or semi-automated offside be introduced?

Elsewhere, Manchester United suffered their first defeat of the season against a resurgent Aston Villa. Manchester City took full advantage to go top with a hard-fought win over Everton. How long will it be before Marva is allowed to cut her hair?

Everton duo stake England claim, Jaydee Canvot steps up for Crystal Palace, and Benjamin Sesko struggles to settle

Amid the headlines about Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham being recalled for England, there was a little less said about Nico O’Reilly being named in Thomas Tuchel’s squad. Myles Lewis-Skelly paid the price for his lack of game time and now the City man gets his opportunity to stake a claim for a World Cup spot. The 20-year-old now goes into camp having become the latest defender to shut out Mohamed Salah. That’s less of an achievement than it used to be, but O’Reilly still had to show tenacity and patience against this nuggety, late-era version of the Egyptian superstar. The City full-back nicked the ball off his man regularly – much to the delight of the home fans – and got forward to decent effect, too. If Pep Guardiola trusts O’Reilly in the biggest games and he can avoid injury there is no reason to think that the City academy graduate cannot make England’s most open position his own. Tom Bassam

Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool

Match report: Aston Villa 4-0 Bournemouth

Match report: Crystal Palace 0-0 Brighton

Match report: Brentford 3-1 Newcastle

Match report: Nottingham Forest 3-1 Leeds

Match report: Tottenham 2-2 Manchester United

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

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