Find a Football Team

Will Arsenal regret Nwaneri move? Have Sunderland traded brilliantly again? We run the rule over every team’s business

The foot injury sustained by Mikel Merino made the last few days of the window a bit more interesting for Arsenal supporters, although in the end there was no big signing. Deadline-day links to Sandro Tonali of Newcastle and Leon Goretzka came to nothing, and Arsenal missed out to their north London rivals Tottenham on the 18-year-old Scotland striker James Wilson. They did sign the England Under-19 defender Jaden Dixon from Stoke but will Mikel Arteta regret allowing Ethan Nwaneri to join Marseille on loan with Merino poised to be out for at least two months? Ed Aarons

Our cartoonist on the Swindon Town manager’s fiery response after his captain was suspended at short notice

• Buy a cartoon | David’s favourite work of 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

• Palace did not sign Everton winger after he had medical

• McNeil’s partner criticises ‘cruel’ football world

Dwight McNeil’s partner has claimed Crystal Palace provided no explanation for pulling out of a move to sign him from Everton on transfer deadline day and accused them of toying with the winger’s mental health.

McNeil stayed at Everton after Palace decided not to proceed with a £20m deal at the last minute on Monday, despite the 26-year-old having completed his medical and agreed terms on a four-and-a-half-year contract. It is understood the collapse of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s £30m move to Milan, after the France striker failed a medical, prompted Palace to change their offer to an initial loan with an obligation to buy at the end of the season.

• ITV Sport opts for studio in Brooklyn

• BBC will stay in UK until at least quarter-finals

ITV has gained an early advantage over the BBC before their ratings battle at this summer’s World Cup by securing a studio in Brooklyn with views of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge. ITV Sport will be basing all of its World Cup coverage, to be presented by Mark Pougatch and Laura Woods, from its New York studio, whereas the BBC team of Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates will be in Salford until at least the quarter-finals.

The BBC’s decision to stay in the United Kingdom was based on a combination of financial and environmental factors, with the corporation committed to limiting air travel in an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint.

Organisation formed by journalist Miriam Walker-Khan is taking the next step in making sure South Asian women and girls feel welcome in football at all levels

There was a different kind of energy in an upstairs room at Stamford Bridge after escaping the buzz of the match-going crowd before Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat of Chelsea in the Women’s Super League 10 days ago. There was a celebratory, empowering energy, but also a determined and hopeful vibe.

The room was full of people celebrating the third anniversary of Brown Girl Sport, the award-winning online platform and community that aims to highlight the stories of South Asian women and girls in sport in order, according to its website, “to smash stereotypes that Brown women don’t do, care or know about sport”.

• FA plans sent to clubs are subject to consultation

• FA determined to grow Cup’s ‘commercial potential’

The Football Association has proposed radical changes to the Women’s FA Cup, including seeding four teams and dispensing with a draw after the last 32. The plans would introduce a “road-to-Wembley bracket” from the last 32, which would map out those teams’ route to the final, in the style of a World Cup.

The changes could come in next season, although final plans have not been agreed, according to communication sent to the clubs by the FA in an email on Monday, which repeatedly emphasised a need to increase the competition’s revenue.

Today’s rumours are retreating to the dark

Karim Benzema’s move to Al-Hilal has cast fresh doubt on the future of Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr. The 40-year-old was missing from Monday’s 1-0 Saudi Pro League win at Al-Riyadh, the day Benzema’s move from Al-Ittihad to Al-Hilal was confirmed. Ronaldo is reportedly dissatisfied with how Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which also has a stake in Newcastle, is controlling the affairs of Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr, unhappy that a rival club have signed his former Real Madrid teammate. Sounds plausible?

Dwight McNeil was all set to sign for Crystal Palace from Everton before Jean-Philippe Mateta’s switch to Milan fell through. The Eagles lodged a very late £20m bid for the former Burnley schemer, but reportedly moved the goalposts after failing to offload Mateta, preferring a loan deal with an option to buy instead.

• ‘We have the most goals, the most clean sheets’

• Liam Rosenior predicts ‘physical’ Carabao Cup second leg

Mikel Arteta has laughed off a suggestion from Paul Scholes that Arsenal would be the most boring team to win the Premier League, insisting his side are considered “the most exciting in Europe” in other countries.

Scholes, the former Manchester United midfielder, pointed to the lack of goals from Arsenal’s front four this season and reliance on set pieces as evidence for his claim. Viktor Gyökeres is the club’s top scorer in the league with six, and Arsenal have scored 17 goals from set pieces – three more than any other club.

• Captain made jibe after Manchester City comeback

• ‘We had 11 players available – unbelievable but true’

Cristian Romero has said it is “disgraceful” that Tottenham are operating with such a threadbare squad in an apparent dig at the club’s January recruitment strategy.

The club captain is no stranger to outspoken social media posts and he dropped another one on Monday evening shortly after the closure of the mid-season transfer window.

As the winter transfer window closes, here are the patterns which have emerged across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues

Were there an Early Bird Award for prompt recruitment, Eintracht Frankfurt would be making space in their trophy cabinet. Before the transfer window even opened they had announced the signings of Younes Ebnoutalib and Keita Kosugi, reportedly for a combined £13m, while Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab and Arnaud Kalimuendo followed within a week. Throw in the arrival of Love Arrhov from Brommapojkarna, a deal agreed last May but effective on New Year’s Day, and they had five new names in the squad in time for their first game after the Bundesliga’s winter break, a 3-3 draw with Borussia Dortmund. Ebnoutalib, an imposing 6ft 3in striker signed from second-division Elversberg, scored in that game, assisted by Kalimuendo, who arrived on loan from Nottingham Forest. In fact, it has been a promising start for their January arrivals: Amaimouni-Echghouyabe opened his account the following week against Stuttgart, while Kalimuendo has scored against Bremen and Hoffenheim. Unfortunately, Frankfurt won none of those matches. Even so, there are reasons to hope their signings can help revive a listless season. Will Magee

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

• Women’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

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

• Men’s transfer interactive – all the January deals

Core X programme is working to lift match officials from underrepresented communities into the professional game

“If you can’t manage personalities on the field and you can’t articulate your decisions, refereeing might not be for you,” says Dan Meeson, Professional Game Match Officials’ development director. We are in the cafe area of the Burleigh Court hotel, tucked away on Loughborough University’s campus, where a promising group of officials are being put through their paces by the elite refereeing body as they try to reach the top level.

The 29-strong group forms part of the Core X programme, designed to elevate into the professional game match officials from historically underrepresented ethnic communities who operate at semi-professional level. The programme, launched in 2023, runs in collaboration with the Football Association and is supported by the advocacy group Bamref. It accounts for more than three‑quarters of Black, Asian and mixed-heritage referee promotions into the professional game.

The Gunners had home comforts while the other teams had to travel long distances and cope with inferior facilities

Arsenal are world champions. It’s a weird thing to say about the team fourth in the WSL, albeit with a game in hand, and who failed to qualify automatically for the Champions League quarter-finals and face a two-leg knockout phase playoff. However, the 3-2 defeat of the Copa Libertadores champions, Corinthians, by the Uefa Champions League holders secured their global title. If Arsenal had lost – and at times it felt as if they were trying to – it would have been quite the spectacle given how much the tournament favoured them. Arsenal were in season and match fit, unlike Gotham FC and Corinthians, and not only did Fifa stick the tournament in England, it placed it in London and the final in Arsenal’s ground. The Gunners were in their own beds and benefiting from the elite facilities at their training ground and the backing of their fans, while the three other sides (the Moroccan champions AS Far completed the quartet) had to travel long distances, stay in hotels and manage with inferior facilities. A rethink is needed if this tournament is going to be taken seriously, with timing and location top of the agenda. Suzanne Wrack

• Fifa president sorry for comment about arrests

• Infantino says it is time to look at readmitting Russia

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has apologised over remarks he made about British fans and defended the decision to award a peace prize to the US president, Donald Trump.

Infantino said at last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos that the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 had been special because “for the first time in history no Brit was arrested”.

Habib Diarra and Chemsdine Talbi sat behind opposing dugouts during the acrimonious Africa Cup of Nations final last month, as Senegal defeated Morocco in Rabat.

While suspension deprived Diarra of his starting place for the victors, Morocco’s Talbi was an unused substitute. But, on a freezing Wearside night, they were reunited as Sunderland teammates and duly revelled in taking their frustrations out on Burnley.

• Mateta to rejoin squad following medical concerns

• Palace fail with loan bid for Everton’s Dwight McNeil

Jean-Philippe Mateta will be reintegrated into Crystal Palace’s squad after the France striker’s deadline-day move to Milan collapsed, but he faces competition for his place from the new club-record signing Jørgen Strand Larsen.

The Norway striker’s move from Wolves was confirmed just before the 7pm deadline on Monday for an initial £43m plus £5m in bonuses, with Palace having already broken their transfer record this month in signing Brennan Johnson from Tottenham for £35m.

• Player stunned Solanke’s first goal stood at Spurs

• ‘It’s not fair because we work so hard’

Rodri has joined the chorus of dissatisfaction at Manchester City towards referees, saying they must remain impartial in the face of what he perceives to be general ill-feeling towards his club.

The midfielder was stunned when Tottenham’s goal for 2-1 against City on Sunday was allowed to stand. It was scored by Dominic Solanke, who appeared to kick through the leg of the City defender Marc Guéhi, sending the ball partly off him and into the net. Solanke later scored a sensational volley to earn Spurs a 2-2 draw and leave City six points behind the Premier League leaders, Arsenal.

At the end of a wild occasion, this the definition of the game of two halves, it was difficult to state the case for Manchester City’s Premier League title-winning aspirations with any confidence. The manner of their second-half capitulation saw to that. If they were impressive before the interval, they were so brittle thereafter, blown off course after Tottenham stirred. Pep Guardiola was beside himself with frustration on the touchline.

The City manager has now seen his team drop seven points since the turn of the year with goals they have conceded in the second half of matches. After a fourth draw in six league matches, a run that has included the defeat by Manchester United, City find themselves six points behind the leaders, Arsenal.

Ousmane Dembélé becomes our seventh winner as he beats Lamine Yamal into second and Vitinha into third on our list of the best players on the planet

• Premier League dominates list | How every judge voted | Our methodology | The top 100 female players for 2025

• 2024 edition | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012

The Frenchman, who has been named the best male footballer in the world by the Guardian, has benefitted from PSG’s focus on the team rather than individuals

What makes a good player great, and a great player the best? This question has been occupying me since 2014, when the Guardian first asked me to contribute to its inaugural Next Generation feature. My job was to look for a France-based talent born in 1997 who could go on to have a stellar career.

After a great deal of research, I narrowed it down from my shortlist of five by asking questions not about the players’ football ability, but about other attributes: resilience, adaptability, decision-making, creativity, work ethic, response to feedback and willingness to learn. Qualities we cannot see, and are harder to measure.

Aitana Bonmatí has been voted the best female player on the planet by our panel of 127 experts ahead of Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo

• 2024 list | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Meet the judges | See how every judge voted

• Subscribe to Moving the Goalposts, our free newsletter

The margin may have got smaller but the brilliant Spanish midfielder makes it a hat-trick of No 1 finishes

They say the best things come in threes, and Aitana Bonmatí has written herself into the Guardian’s top 100 history as the first player to finish at the top of the tree for a third consecutive year.

Last year the majestic midfielder emulated her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas by winning for a second year running, but the 27-year-old has now gone one better, establishing herself once again at the top of the women’s game.

Max Rushden is joined by Barney Ronay, John Brewin and Seb Hutchinson as Arsenal enjoy a healthy lead at the top of the Premier League thanks to a stirring second-half performance from Spurs against Manchester City. On the podcast today; what happened to Manchester City in the second half against Spurs? An extraordinary finish from Dominic Solanke probably saves Thomas Frank’s job once again. Elsewhere, Arsenal make light work of a potentially tricky away trip to Elland Road, Carrick’s great start to life at Manchester United continues and a remarkable turnaround for Chelsea. Plus, Liverpool turn it on against Newcastle, and your questions answered.

Kick off your afternoon with the Guardian’s take on the world of football

Every weekday, we’ll deliver a roundup the football news and gossip in our own belligerent, sometimes intelligent and – very occasionally – funny way. Still not convinced? Find out what you’re missing here.

Try our other sports emails: there’s weekly catch-ups for cricket in The Spin and rugby union in The Breakdown, and our seven-day round-up of the best of our sports journalism in The Recap.

Living in Australia? Try the Guardian Australia’s daily sports newsletter

Get our roundup of women’s football for free twice a week, featuring the insights of experts such as Ada Hegerberg and Magdalena Eriksson

Join us as we delve deeper into the wonderful world of women’s football in our weekly newsletter. It is informative, entertaining, global, critical – when needed – and, above all, passionate. Written mainly by Júlia Belas Trindade and Sophie Downey, expect guest appearances from stars such as Anita Asante, Ada Hegerberg and many more.

Try our other sports emails: as well as the occasionally funny football email The Fiver from Monday to Friday, there are weekly catch-ups for cricket in The Spin and rugby union in The Breakdown, and our seven-day roundup of the best of our sports journalism in The Recap.

Living in Australia? Try the Guardian Australia’s daily sports newsletter

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

The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action

Subscribe to get our editors’ pick of the Guardian’s award-winning sport coverage. We’ll email you the stand-out features and interviews, insightful analysis and highlights from the archive, plus films, podcasts, galleries and more – all arriving in your inbox at every Friday lunchtime. And we’ll set you up for the weekend and let you know our live coverage plans so you’ll be ahead of the game. Here’s what you can expect from us.

Try our other sports emails: there’s daily football news and gossip in The Fiver, and weekly catch-ups for cricket in The Spin and rugby union in The Breakdown.

Living in Australia? Try the Guardian Australia’s daily sports newsletter

João Pedro stepping up for Rosenior, Arsenal frontmen show their teeth and stretched Liverpool are fighting on

João Pedro is enjoying life under Liam Rosenior. The versatile Brazil forward was excellent after coming on at half-time against West Ham. João Pedro, who has five goals in his last five games, helped Chelsea complete their comeback from 2-0 down by scoring his side’s first and then creating Enzo Fernandez’s stoppage-time winner. Chelsea chose well when they beat Newcastle to the signing of the 24-year-old from Brighton last summer. João Pedro was excellent at the Club World Cup, but despite dealing with fitness issues has still has 12 goals in all competitions this season. Capable of playing as either a No 9 or a No 10, the Brazilian was important for Enzo Maresca but has improved since the Italian’s departure. “I’ve had very, very good conversations with him already, probably four in my office,” Rosenior said last week. “I think he’s sick of my office, where I’ve said to him ‘If you play with intensity with your quality, the quality comes out’.” Jacob Steinberg

Pep Guardiola’s side would be on top of the league had they not consistently struggled to hold leads

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

The focus had been on Arsenal. They had not won in three Premier League games before this weekend and it was reasonable to ask how secure their position at the top of the table was. But the impact of their wobble was not that their lead was eaten into, but that they missed opportunities to extend it, because those in the chasing pack were also dropping points.

In their six league games since the New Year fixtures, Arsenal have dropped seven points. But City in the same period have dropped 11, as have Aston Villa and Liverpool. Fulham have dropped 10, Everton have dropped nine, Brentford and Newcastle have dropped eight, Chelsea seven and Manchester United six; hardly anyone in the top half of the table has closed the gap on Arsenal at all, which is why, after Saturday’s comfortable win at Leeds, their lead remains at six points.

Manager dismissed despite sublime late equaliser against Gladbach and the next appointment will be telling

Every little detail suggested it would almost immediately find its way into the annals of legend. It started as a last-ditch attempt from a set piece, in the fourth of five minutes of stoppage time, with the clock ticking towards the climax at seemingly twice its normal pace and the goalkeeper, Mio Backhaus, wandering up for the corner in desperation rather than genuine hope of his Anatoliy Trubin moment.

It was pinball; Marco Grüll’s delivery was headed out, nodded back towards goal by Isaac Schmidt and heading out for a goal-kick, only for Senne Lynen to stretch and just about keep it in, slicing it up in the air, before it fell to Keke Topp. The 21-year-old’s sublime finish appeared to have been cut and pasted from a different sequence entirely, a sumptuous left-foot volley on the swivel that arrowed past Borussia Mönchengladbach’s goalkeeper, Moritz Nicolas, hitting the net and lifting the roof off.

Werder Bremen’s equaliser felt like a near-miracle. On a day and in a minute that looked like it would be their coach’s last, they had finally, improbably coaxed the sound of the ship horn and The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles from the Weserstadion’s speakers with a goal to snatch a point at the last.

A second-half cameo from 41-year-old talisman helped end strugglers’ long wait for win against Girona

First there was applause and then they started singing, the sound coming from the narrow street outside. In the bars and terraces where Real Oviedo’s fans were still picking over the game – in La Patatina, La Pepica, La Competencia and the rest – some put down their drinks and came to see what was going on. Somewhere among all the people filling Calle Juan Ramón Jiménez, a short walk from the Carlos Tartiere stadium, was a 5ft 5in footballer trying to make his way home, which was going to take a while. Santi Cazorla signed autographs, took pictures and shook a hundred hands, going from the crowds of kids to the little old lady as his son Enzo, who can play a bit too, kicked a Coke bottle across the square it opens on to.

On Plaza Pedro Miñor they have seen him many a day but this wasn’t any day and they couldn’t love him more. The son of an ambulance driver from Fonciello, 15 minutes away, Cazorla is something like their son too: an Oviedo fan who joined at eight and finally made his debut 32 years later. Forced to leave at 18, door closing just as it might have opened and his club collapsing into crisis, twice on the verge of disappearing entirely, he returned a man two decades on. He came on the minimum wage – “I would play for free but you’re not allowed,” he said – and helped take Oviedo back to the first division a quarter of a century later, a lifetime since the last time. Then this Saturday, at 41, he led them to the World Cup.

There were tears after a nonsensical draw with Atalanta but young possession-based team is heading places

For the second time in less than three weeks, Cesc Fàbregas found himself in front of the TV cameras, trying to explain a scoreline that made no sense. “It’s not normal,” he said last month, after Como lost 3-1 to Milan despite “making 700 passes to their 200” (659 to 320, actually, but who’s counting?).

There was more than a hint of deja vu on Sunday as his team drew 0-0 at home to Atalanta while holding 79% of possession and attempting 28 shots. Opta put Como on 5.24 expected goals – the second-highest by any Serie A team in a shut-out since the analytics company started tracking such data 15 years ago. An astonishing number, against opponents who finished third last season and had taken 13 points from their previous five games.

City again needlessly threw points away but Solanke showed what Tottenham, with their long injury list, have been missing

There are times when football is gloriously silly, times when the logic of your eyes and all your experience tells you one thing is happening, and then it turns out the reality is quite different. What seemed at the break as though it was going to be an easy away win unexpectedly became a draw and, as a result, both ends of the table looked quite different at the final whistle to how it appeared they were going to look at half-time.

It was a case of multiple immutable but incompatible laws running into each other. On the one hand, Tottenham are terrible and have picked up only 10 points at home this season. But on the other, City have developed a habit of needlessly squandering points and somehow always do worse than expected against Tottenham. The consequence was a game that simultaneously made very little sense but at the same time was predictable, at least in the way it remained true to those fundamental principles.

The defending NWSL champions had the deck stacked against them in London, but committed ownership is thinking much farther ahead

Gotham FC finished third in the inaugural Champions Cup, but they will be of little value to a team with the ambition of being a global brand.

However, the reality is that the competition was skewed against them. Played in the middle of the NWSL offseason, Gotham had to call players back into their orbit before the minimum 28-day off-season break required by the collective bargaining agreement between the NWSL and the players’ association. Their preseason has been disrupted as a result, with the time off needing to be reallocated before the new season begins. As if that wasn’t enough, to play in the tournament the NWSL side had to travel to London, the home city of Arsenal, who had a big advantage as a result.

• Versatile talent helped US to World Cup, Olympic gold

• Dunn starred in striker, midfield and left back roles

• 2015 NWSL MVP also won three league titles

Crystal Dunn, an Olympic champion and World Cup winner who made 160 appearances for the US women’s national team, announced her retirement from professional soccer on Thursday.

A key figure in the United States’ 2019 World Cup win and their 2024 Olympic triumph, Dunn hoisted the NWSL championship trophy three times, with the North Carolina Courage in 2018 and 2019 and with the Portland Thorns in 2022.

• AFC prize pot stagnates amid global women’s football boom

• Tournament is now world’s lowest-paying continental competition

It has been billed as the most successful Women’s Asian Cup to date, yet prize money at the upcoming tournament in Australia will not increase from what was offered by the Asian Football Confederation at the last edition four years ago.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the world’s oldest women’s national team competition introduced prize money for the first time in 2022, distributing US$1.8m among the nations who finished in the top four.

With the year’s first games out of the way, open questions remain for Emma Hayes’ side in each position

The first international window of 2026 has come and gone for the US women’s national team – though you’d be forgiven if it felt like a continuation of a familiar, looping theme.

Once again, Emma Hayes used the window to examine fresh faces among her incredibly deep player pool. Even considering the constant shuffling under Hayes after the 2024 Olympics, this was an especially experimental squad. Per the federation, the lineup for Saturday’s 6-0 thrashing of Paraguay featured the fewest average caps for a starting 11 (9.6) in a quarter of a century. On Tuesday, that record was broken again: a 5.2 cap average across the lineup.

I played out a torturous, all-too-familar dance after the Gunners’ title-race stumble. But if we’re suffering like this in January, how will we feel in May?

I sometimes joke that I’m not sure I actually like football, just Arsenal. Hate-watching rivals aside, if a game doesn’t concern the Gunners it probably doesn’t concern me, such is my one-club tunnel vision. Even then, there are occasions where my love of Arsenal appears debatable. As a friend recently put it to me: “I’ve watched Arsenal games with you. I’m not sure you like Arsenal and yet you’re possibly the most fervent Gooner I know.”

Ah, the torturous dance between joy and torment. I relived it again last Sunday evening, when Arsenal lost to Manchester United. On paper, it should have been simple enough to compartmentalise: you can’t win them all and we’re still four points clear at the top of the league table and looking strong in all three cups. And yet, for the first time this season, I succumbed to true result-induced head loss.

The joy of the game is that big moments are rare – the climax of the UCL group phase felt like too much of a good thing

It’s half an hour after attempting to watch 18 football matches at the same time on the final match day of the Champions League group stage, so it’s still a little early to tell whether I think it was a brilliant night of football or not.

The information overload from a TV, laptop and phone means I may need a couple of weeks to really process it – by which time of course this will all be forgotten and we’ll be wondering whether one point from three Premier League games is enough for Thomas Frank to keep his job.

A country where safety is under threat from federal violence on the streets is not fit to stage soccer’s showpiece event

Removing the United States as co-host of the 2026 World Cup would hurt for pretty much everyone. Fans would miss out on seeing the sport’s pinnacle in their home towns (or somewhere nearby). Cities and businesses small and large would lose the financial benefits they had banked on. It would be a logistical and political nightmare on an international scale, the likes of which have never been seen before in sports. It would be eminently sad. And it would be entirely justified.

It brings me no pleasure to say this. The United States has been eager to host a men’s World Cup for more than a decade and a half. The desire survived and even grew after 2010’s failure to out-bid Russia and Qatar (in public and behind closed doors) for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. With hosting rights for 2026 later secured alongside Canada and Mexico, the US soccer scene prepared to show off that the sport is now part of the nation’s fabric, 32 years after hosting the tournament for the first time in 1994. Soccer’s growing popularity in America has helped inspire other US sports to try new formats, encouraged us to engage more fully with the world in a sporting context, and has been at the center of conversations about our society and culture. The 2026 World Cup was seen as the best chance for the world to fully experience not just how much the US has improved at soccer, but how much soccer has improved the US.

Farai Hallam trusted his own judgment on Yerson Mosquera incident despite a VAR review and, in doing so, showed the way forward

I refereed professional football for 25 years. We were talking about handball when I started and it remains one of the most discussed topics in the game.

One reason for this is that we’ve had a number of law changes by the International Football Association Board (Ifab) over recent years. All were made in an effort to achieve consistent outcomes for the benefit of the game, but we can sometimes end up with different interpretations of the laws.

Our cartoonist on anxiety at the Emirates as Michael Carrick oversees another thrilling win

• Buy this cartoon | David’s favourite work of 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

On a soaked Brixton pitch, the club launch their latest programme as part of a widening mission that now stretches from Glasgow’s soup kitchens to Gaza relief

You would not expect to find coaches from the Celtic FC Foundation in Brixton. But even the torrential rain in south London has not stopped them and four local teams from turning out to help launch a programme that will provide girls and young women from underprivileged backgrounds in the local area with a chance to play football.

It is one of several initiatives established since the foundation began working in London to mark Celtic’s 125th anniversary in 2013. Another, based in Hackney, called Breaking Barriers helps integrate refugee and asylum-seeking communities through the sport.

The Leicester City chair plays down talk of another relegation but knows the mood among fans is fraught

Leicester City are hurting but Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, looking towards the pitch at the King Power Stadium, insists he shares supporters’ frustrations. He acknowledges the warm glow of their extraordinary Premier League title win almost a decade ago has long faded. He watches every game, which sometimes means tuning in from Thailand in the early hours. An 8pm kick-off in England is a 3am start in Bangkok.

“I want to see the real passion of the players and the performance,” the chair says. “When it is not there, I can’t sleep, so it’s love and pain. Leicester is like my son. So I have to do it right. Of course, a son can be naughty, a son can fail the exam, a pain in your head. The son can be top of the class, graduate, have a bad girlfriend or good wife, you never know. So I feel the same, but the love is there. The responsibility is there. The first thing for me is to identify the problem and fix it.”

Multi-club owner’s Women’s Champions Cup sponsorship creates a conflict of interest, whatever her motivation

You can imagine the meltdown across social media, if Stan Kroenke, Todd Boehly or the Glazer family were to enter into a partnership with the Football Association. Well, women’s football in the United States already took a similar unusual step in November 2024 when US Soccer announced “a historic gift” of $30m (£22m) from Michele Kang, the owner of one of the country’s biggest women’s clubs, Washington Spirit, over a five-year period.

US Soccer labelled the donation as philanthropic – the largest women’s football in the country had ever had – and “non-profit”. Then, in December 2025, US Soccer unveiled the Kang Women’s Institute, a platform “designed to accelerate advancements in the women’s game through science, innovation, and elevated best practices”, and there was surprisingly little public condemnation. Overwhelmingly, the women’s game around the world appeared to celebrate the businesswoman’s generosity rather than questioning this arrangement, because of Kang’s repeatedly stated aim of trying to grow women’s football.

Guests with a ‘pitch view’ room at the Blackpool FC Stadium Hotel can’t watch the game – our writer checks in for a trip into the dark

Seems perfectly reasonable that anyone booking a “Superior Room with Pitch View” at the Blackpool Football Club Stadium hotel, located inside the Bloomfield Road Stadium, would expect a hotel room with a view of the pitch. And that is exactly the case – except, bizarrely, when Blackpool are actually playing, with some hotel guests scuppered recently by the smallest of fine print when booking: “Due to the EFL rules and regulations, bedroom curtains have to be kept drawn throughout a match.” Failure to do so could result in a £2,500 fine. Ouch.

Across the 14 years that I have worked for the Guardian, there have been a few occasions when I have been tempted, perhaps after a stressful shift, to go and lie down in a dark room. I just didn’t think that this could be an actual assignment. But off I go to Blackpool to investigate this special type of 3pm blackout, and shortly before kick-off between Blackpool and their League One relegation rivals Northampton, I find myself pulling a very heavy curtain across a panoramic window facing the Bloomfield Road pitch and the Blackpool Tower beyond. That’s my daylight done for the day.

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

For a man who is raging against the dying of the light, Cristiano Ronaldo is doing a good job of throwing a blanket over the fire. And by throwing a blanket, what Football Daily really means to say is throwing a hissy fit, a wobbly, a tantrum. The legendary footballer, reduced to something of a tap-in artist these days in a league of – at best – questionable quality, seemingly threw his toys out of his Bugatti on Sunday after deciding that not enough investment has been made in his club, Al-Nassr, in comparison to the other Saudi ones.

Timo Werner is still only 29! Was he born on a leap day or something? To borrow from football cliches, when we talk of Peter Pan footballers, it is usually because they are 35 or something like that, and still full of running. A James Milner type. Timo seems like he should be 37 and in Saudi Arabia or the USA USA USA, not still 29 and at his theoretical peak … oh, he is in the USA USA USA. Someone check his birth certificate!” – Matt Atkinson.

Although Arsène Wenger certainly does not lack creativity when it comes to proposing changes to the rules of the game (see ‘daylight’ for example), I’d like to pose an idea to him: let’s reduce the game time of every match to one half of 45 minutes. This solves the whole problem of injuries due to fixture congestion, probably maximises effective playing time, and – most importantly – gives my favourite team Spurs a chance at actually winning games” – Yannick Woudstra.

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

Manchester City’s ability to rotate players has been central to opening up a nine-point lead over Chelsea

In recent WSL seasons squad depth has become increasingly decisive in winning the league. Success is no longer guaranteed by the best players but by squads able to sustain performance over a long campaign.

Manchester City’s ability to rotate players has been central to their momentum at the top and contributions from players beyond the starting XI increasingly define the competition. City are nine points ahead of Chelsea going into Sunday’s game against them.

The former Aberdeen midfielder, now with Swindon, opens up about the debilitating effect of suffering an ACL injury during her time in Scotland

“People need to know what happened,” Laura Holden says as she reflects on her difficult two years at Aberdeen when injury changed the course of her life. “It’s not all sunshine and roses. There are demons that just get brushed under the carpet without having the light shone on them.”

It has taken the Swindon Town midfielder time and a change of club to process everything that happened in Scotland. Holden joined the Dons in August 2023, determined to establish herself as a key player at one of the biggest clubs in the Scottish Women’s Premier League. But just six matches and 31 minutes into the first season, she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament away at Hibernian.

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.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry and Emily Keogh to analyse the weekend’s WSL games and Arsenal’s triumph in the inaugural Fifa Women’s Champions Cup

On today’s pod: Manchester City take a giant step towards the WSL title with a stunning 5-1 demolition of champions Chelsea, opening up a 12-point lead at the top. The panel assesses a ruthless display from Andrée Jeglertz’s side, Kerolin’s hat-trick and the mounting pressure on Sonia Bompastor after the Blues’ heaviest defeat in years.

Elsewhere, Manchester United move into second with a hard-earned win over Liverpool, Everton finally end their Goodison Park hoodoo against Aston Villa and Tottenham edge past West Ham. The panel also wraps up comeback wins for London City Lionesses and reflects on Brighton’s difficult week.

Álvaro Arbeloa’s team have concerns as they look ahead to the knockout stages, while Jamie Carragher has concerns about the draw

It was billed by broadcasters as “Matchday Mayhem”. Finally, after 17 of the 18 final day matches had finished, came a chaotic denouement. Not even José Mourinho’s long Champions League heritage had included a moment like this, though his wild celebration was familiar. Benfica were beating Real Madrid 3-2, and Mourinho’s former club were already dropping out of the top eight. “I was told [the scoreline] is enough, so let’s close the door,” said Mourinho.

Plus: two sets of fathers and sons involved in one match, more record wins and losses and ‘sixes and sevens’

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Twelve of the 18 Bundesliga teams have a negative goal difference,” notes Damian Cerase. “I suppose this is down to Bayern handing out weekly drubbings, given that their GD is +57 after only 18 games. What’s the greatest disparity in a full season between the number of teams registering positive or negative GDs?”

“At the time of writing in the Bundesliga, all teams haven’t quite played the same number of games but nevertheless 66.6% of the teams have a negative goal difference,” begins Chris Roe. “For a complete season, the highest percentage in the English league system is from tier two in 2005-06 when 17 of the 24 teams (70.83%) had a negative goal difference; no doubt this was in part due to champions Reading, who had a +67 goal difference for the season. This example is narrowly ahead of two Premier League seasons (1998-99 and 2017-18) when 14 of the 20 (or 70%) had negative GD at the end of the season.

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