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• PSG to meet Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in round of 16

• Sounders finish winless at home in Club World Cup finale

It took nearly the entire second half, but relentless attacks on goal paid off for Antoine Griezmann in the 87th minute on Monday.

After teammate Ángel Correa’s shot was blocked by a defender, Griezmann sent a left-footed shot into the net to lift Atlético Madrid to a 1-0 victory over Botafogo in Group B action of the Club World Cup in Pasadena, California.

After disappointing in the past two major tournaments, including an 8-0 defeat by England, the Scandinavians are looking to improve under a new head coach

This article is part of the Guardian’s Euro 2025 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 16 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two teams each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 2 July.

• Spurs have long-held interest in Crystal Palace attacker

• Eze’s contract reported to have a £68m release clause

Tottenham are weighing up a move for Eberechi Eze and believe the Crystal Palace forward would be open to joining them.

Spurs have a longstanding interest in Eze, not to mention close connections with the agency that represents him, and they have discussed whether to make him a statement signing for the new manager, Thomas Frank.

• London club want £65m for Cameroon forward

• Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku another option

Manchester United have made an improved offer of £60m to Brentford for Bryan Mbeumo, with the west London club holding out for an overall deal of £65m.

Brentford value the 25-year-old in the same bracket as Matheus Cunha, for whom United were willing to pay a £62.5m release clause from Wolves. As the Cameroon international is younger than the 26-year-old Brazilian they are holding out for a fee that, with add-ons, is worth more – around £65m.

• Maresca complains of 41C heat at Club World Cup

• Fifa has no new measures to deal with hot conditions

Enzo Maresca said scorching conditions in Philadelphia have made it almost impossible for Chelsea to train before facing Espérance on Tuesday night.

Chelsea’s head coach had no desire to make his players expend too much energy as they prepared on Monday for their final game in Group D in temperatures of 36C at Subaru Park. The session was shorter than usual and staff tried to cool the squad down by putting fans and water sprays on the pitch.

• Defender’s representatives pushing for higher basic wage

• Fears at Anfield over running down deal that ends in 2026

Ibrahima Konaté is stalling on signing a new deal at Liverpool, raising fears at the club that another key player could run down his contract after this summer’s departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The French defender enters the final year of his deal next month and is understood to have rejected Liverpool’s initial offer of an extension.

On a 200-acre site in Fayette County, Georgia, US Soccer hopes to build the best facility of its like in the world

Thirty minutes away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Atlanta, the land becomes greener, the trees are taller and builders are working in the intense Georgia sun to ensure US Soccer’s new National Training Center is ready for action in time for the men’s World Cup next year.

It is an enormous site, spanning more than 200 acres in Trilith, Fayette County, and the hope is it will be the best training facility in the world when it opens. Funding has partly come from Arthur M Blank, who owns three sports teams in Atlanta, and executives are confident everything is on schedule for the doors to open in April.

• Trump’s military action raises questions for football body

• Infantino and council to decide if Iran can play in Mexico

Fifa is facing new questions over the increasingly fraught World Cup next year, with the issue of how to treat Iran while the country is involved in a conflict with the co-host the US.

There are no provisions within Fifa’s regulations to prevent Iran from playing their group matches in the US, despite the country being subject to military action by the Trump administration and Iranian citizens being under a travel ban that prevents them from entering the country. The ban contains an exemption that could apply to players, staff or associated families with teams at the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

• Premier League likely to ratify sale within four weeks

• Move expected to clear way for Palace to play in Europe

Woody Johnson has agreed a deal to buy John Textor’s stake in Crystal Palace, with a sale to the New York Jets owner likely to be ratified by the Premier League within four weeks. In a move that could be a major boost to Palace’s hopes of playing in the Europa League next season, it is understood that Johnson’s offer of £190m for Textor’s 44.9% stake was signed on Sunday evening in the US.

The 78-year-old, who has owned the Jets since 2000 and missed out on buying Chelsea in 2022 after making a $2bn offer, must pass the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test before he can complete the purchase. But it is understood that, with Palace under pressure from Uefa to comply with its regulations on multiclub ownership, the league is expected to act swiftly to aid their cause.

New signing is ready to seize the initiative for club and country with the No 9 a throwback to the raw power game

Liam Delap is a bit of a throwback. Chelsea’s new No 9 runs the channels and relishes a physical contest. “I love those battles,” the striker says on a muggy afternoon in Philadelphia. “I always have since I was a kid. I really love the aggressive side of it and the competitive nature of the sport. It’s got to be controlled at times but it’s my game ultimately.”

The strange thing is that English football has placed a heavy emphasis on producing nimble, technical players in recent years. England have a lot of No 10s but a shortage of No 9s. Who is coming through to take over from Harry Kane when the Bayern Munich striker finally calls time on his international career? Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney are 29 and Dominic Solanke is 27. A lot could be riding on Delap, who happily acknowledges there is something of the old school to his game, seizing the initiative after his £30m move to Chelsea.

Flamengo, Botafogo, Palmeiras and Fluminense are not as rich as European clubs but they have heart and heritage

“The graveyard of football is full of ‘favourites’,” warned Botafogo manager Renato Paiva in what has proven to be this summer’s coldest line in sweltering United States heat. Gritty draws achieved by Palmeiras against Porto and Fluminense against Borussia Dortmund at the Club World Cup were enough to start a conversation. But the underdog heroics of Brazil’s other two clubs have shaken up how we see club football across the world.

For the first time since Corinthians shocked Chelsea in Yokohama in 2012, when some Brazilian fans sold their homes and vehicles to make the trip, the reigning Copa Libertadores champions have beaten the Champions League winners. Igor Jesus, who has been strongly linked to Nottingham Forest, scored the only goal of the game as Botafogo beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, a special setting for Brazilians given it is where they won the World Cup in 1994 and honoured the recently deceased Ayrton Senna.

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

• Women’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

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

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

• Salernitana fans hurled smoke bombs and seats on pitch

• Samp awarded 3-0 victory to ensure survival in Serie B

Sampdoria have pulled off a great escape as Serie B officials awarded them a 3-0 win over Salernitana on Monday after the second leg of the relegation playoff was abandoned, securing another season in Italy’s second tier.

Sampdoria were leading 2-0 when Sunday’s match was initially postponed in the 65th minute as Salernitana fans hurled objects on to the pitch. Play briefly resumed but was ultimately abandoned amid chaotic scenes at the Stadio Arechi.

• Midfielder wants to play at highest level after brace at Club World Cup

• Former Germany international is a target for Galatasaray

Ilkay Gündogan has stated he is “very happy” at Manchester City and wants to stay at the club for the final year of his contract. The veteran midfielder is a target for Galatasaray with Pep Guardiola having hinted he could be allowed to leave.

Yet the 34-year-old said: “I have one more year left on my contract and I’m very happy here – I think everybody knows that. I am enjoying my football. I still believe I have several years in me at the highest level by taking good care of myself. I’ve proven last season when I didn’t miss a game. I’m available, I’m fit, I want to play at the highest level for much longer.”

• Manchester United forward talks up 17-year-old

• Barça also retain interest in Nico Williams

The dream destination for Marcus Rashford after his exit from Manchester United appears to be Barcelona after he declared an interest in playing alongside Lamine Yamal.

An interview with the Spanish YouTuber Javi Ruiz revealed something of the 27-year-old’s thoughts on his future. Asked if he would like to be teammates with Lamine Yamal, Rashford said: “Yes, for sure. Everyone wants to play with the best. Hopefully … we’ll see.” Barcelona’s sporting director, Deco, told the Catalan radio station RAC1 in May that the club like Rashford.

Manager has to use Caicedo, Fernández and Lavia wisely with Club World Cup useful exercise for next season

Enzo Maresca sometimes gives the impression he would love nothing more than to name an entire team of midfielders. A conundrum facing Chelsea’s head coach, though, is that he will struggle to find space in his starting XI for everyone next season.

Chelsea are not short of options in the middle. They have the £100m buys, Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo, and the elegant, deep-lying Roméo Lavia. Yet starting them all in a midfield three is not easy if Cole Palmer plays as a No 10.

• Quarter-final: Spain 1-3 England

• Guerra 39pen; McAtee 10, Elliott 15, Anderson 90+4pen

Lee Carsley said this week that achieving back-to-back European titles at under-21 level could help to enhance the reputation of British coaches, not to mention this group of young England players. An impressive quarter-final victory over a Spain side who were the pre-tournament favourites and intent on dishing out revenge will certainly not have done either any harm.

After England struggled to reach the last eight with an inexperienced squad that is one of the youngest in Slovakia, goals from James McAtee and Harvey Elliott – both of whom have uncertain futures at their clubs – and a late penalty from Elliot Anderson sealed another triumph for Carsley over the same opponents England saw off in the 2023 final. With the Netherlands up next in Wednesday’s semi-final in Bratislava, he is now two matches away from matching Dave Sexton’s feat of winning this competition in 1982 and 1984.

Twenty-four long years after their relegation, then tumbling lower into ‘the mud’, the club whose fans would not let them die witnessed their return to Spain’s top table

Somewhere in the middle of all those people, of all the shouting and the crying, the emotion and the endless embraces, Santi Cazorla said that this, this, was the dream of his life. It was the dream of all their lives. At 11.43pm on 21 June 2025, the man who was twice a European champion with the greatest generation Spain has ever seen, who has won at Wembley, the Camp Nou and the Santiago Bernabéu, was crouched at the side of the pitch at the Carlos Tartiere ready for one last run. And when the final whistle went – on this game and an entire era – he set off, 40 years old and a kid again leading them all on to the pitch and into primera.

From the touchline they followed, let loose at last. From everywhere else they did too, the stands where 29,624 fans had been through it again emptying on to the pitch. A quarter of a century later, Real Oviedo had returned to the first division. “It’s been many years in the mud,” Cazorla said: they had disappeared down to the second, third and fourth tier, twice they had almost disappeared entirely; here, against Mirandés in the playoff final second leg, the match he called “the biggest of my career”, they had conceded early, two goals down on aggregate, and were taken into extra time, tension tearing at them, even as they knew it was never going to be easy, but now they had actually done it; now they were back. In their centenary year.

Undaunted by being drawn in a formidable group, Rhian Wilkinson’s side go to Switzerland determined to create opportunities for girls back home

The rain cascading down on the Vale of Glamorgan is so heavy, so incessant, that the hotel’s reception has run out of umbrellas for guests to borrow and frustrated golfers crowd the lobby. Only two sets of residents seem oblivious to the weather; those heading to the spa and the Wales Women squad. It is late May and with Rhian Wilkinson’s players flying to Switzerland for Euro 2025 at the end of June far too much is at stake for anyone wearing a national tracksuit to be at a loose end.

Charlie Estcourt has travelled to the sprawling Vale Resort from the US where she plays for Washington’s DC Power, but the midfielder is not about to succumb to jet lag. Instead, she is focused on impressing Wilkinson as the team trains at the Welsh’s FA’s centre of excellence within the hotel’s verdant grounds. “We have a no-excuses culture now,” says Estcourt. “It’s something Rhian’s brought in and it’s really helped us get to the next level.”

Tony Bloom has already bought three players this summer and can act quickly thanks to in-depth background research

It may not have been Tony Bloom’s week at Ascot for once but at least the Brighton owner could console himself by securing yet another signing for his football team before the summer solstice arrived.

Confirmation of the Italy Under‑21s defender Diego Coppola’s arrival on the south coast as Lake Forest finished a disappointing fifth in the Queen Anne Stakes took Brighton’s buys to three and the club are expected to announce any day that Olivier Boscagli is joining on a free from PSV Eindhoven. In with Coppola, who has joined from Verona, have come Sunderland’s 19-year-old playoff hero, Tommy Watson, for £10m and the Greece Under-21s striker Charalampos Kostoulas for £30m. Talk about getting your business done early.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Will Unwin, Lars Sivertsen and Sid Lowe to talk transfers and Premier League fixtures

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On the podcast today; the Club World Cup might have started to entertain? South American sides are enjoying themselves, Nicolas Jackson is not. It is, of course, impossible to forget the numerous off-pitch issues including Donald Trump invited Juventus to the White House, Fifa flip-flopping on anti-racism messaging and players not able to sit on the subs bench in ridiculous heat.

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

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

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

Uefa’s legal team is preparing for more action as a complex and increasingly common issue rears its head again

In the waterfront offices of Uefa’s House of European Football headquarters in Nyon, the legal team are preparing for an unwanted trip around Lake Geneva to Lausanne. Over the course of many internal meetings since Crystal Palace inadvertently provided Uefa with the toughest test yet of its multi-club ownership (MCO) rules by winning the FA Cup, it has become increasingly clear the ultimate arbiter on the issue is likely to be the court of arbitration for sport (Cas).

“We’re going to find out if our MCO rules stand up to scrutiny as, one way or another, it looks like we’re going to Cas,” says one source at Uefa, resigned to the issue of whether Palace can compete in next season’s Europa League being placed in the hands of that Lausanne court.

With World Cup 2026 on the horizon, the team has been reluctant to weigh in publicly as one of their pillars is politicized

Los Angeles will be in the spotlight during the 2026 World Cup. It’s where the US men’s national team will begin their World Cup campaign, and it’s where they’ll wrap up the group stage. It’s a city in the news lately due to the Trump administration’s deployment of Ice and the national guard, but it’s also a metro area synonymous with diversity. This US men’s national team, more than ever, reflects that diversity.

“It’s not that there’s a record or anything of how many minorities have been on the national team before, but I feel like this has been the most diverse generation of national team,” said center back Chris Richards, who is poised to be a leader along the backline for the US next year.

• Much of squad in hospital after game against Sampdoria

• Double relegation looms after playoff first-leg defeat

Salernitana’s fight for survival has veered into chaos with a bout of food poisoning hospitalising much of the squad halfway through their showdown with Sampdoria.

The Serie B side, fighting to avoid dropping to Italy’s third tier, have requested a postponement of the second leg of their relegation playoff on Friday because players and coaching staff remain too ill to train.

• Europe-based players get a break, except Naomi Girma

• Four new arrivals in squad to play Ireland and Canada

With US coach Emma Hayes giving many of her Europe-based players a break, there were several new faces on the national team Wednesday for a trio of upcoming matches against Ireland and Canada.

Lindsey Heaps, Catarina Macario and Emily Fox were among the players given time off after the European season. One exception was defender Naomi Girma, who is working her way back from a calf injury.

The Belgian remains a superstar despite his age and will be a huge boost to Conte, Lukaku and McTominay

Kevin De Bruyne’s move to Napoli this past week felt understated: one of the finest players of a generation switching clubs for the first time in a decade, to little fanfare. The arranging of his medical in Rome, not Naples, played a part, avoiding the crowds that would have turned out to greet him. A handful of fans still found a way to be there when he arrived at the Villa Stuart clinic, 140 miles from their team’s home ground.

Confirmation of his move came first from the Italian club’s owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, who posted a picture to social media of them sitting side-by-side in director’s chairs. “Welcome Kevin!” were the accompanying words.

It has been an ominous week for the sport in the US but talk of a boycott of next year’s World Cup misses the point

Should we give it a miss? Is it best to stay away from next summer’s Trump-Infantino US World Cup? Depending on your politics the answer may be a resounding no or a bemused shrug. Some will see pure drive-by entertainment. Why would anyone want to boycott a month-long end-of-days Grand Soccer Parade staged by two of the world’s most cinematic egomaniacs?

But it is a question that has been asked, and will be asked a lot more in the next year. Those who intend to travel will need to answer it by action or omission. Would it be better for dissenting media and discomfited football fans to simply no-platform this event?

Bayern Munich legend defined not only a position but an entire way of thinking about the game

It’s 17 years since Thomas Müller made his debut for Bayern. Since then he has played 751 games for the club, scoring 248 goals, while also scoring 45 goals in 131 games for Germany. He has won 13 Bundesliga titles, two Champions Leagues and a World Cup. He will retire at the end of the Club World Cup after a career played entirely at the highest level and yet still nobody has been able to quite work out what he is.

Is he a centre-forward? Is he a false 9? Is he a wide forward, a second striker, an attacking midfielder? Is he all of those things, none of those things or some of those things some of the time? Louis van Gaal loved him; Pep Guardiola never seemed quite so sure.

Across nearly seven years, Frank achieved great things. His switch to Spurs feels like a break-up but we wish him well

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. Thomas Frank is no longer Brentford’s manager and that’s not easy to write. We knew the day was drawing near but it’s still a bitter pill to swallow. It feels like a break-up, a one-sided one where we do not get the chance to ask why and how. And the grief supporters are experiencing is because we were so emotionally invested in a partnership that brought us so much joy in the near seven years we had together.

Rewind to October 2018, when Frank was appointed as Dean Smith’s successor, and not many of us would have thought we would now be looking forward to a fifth campaign in the top flight. There is much to be grateful to Frank and his team for. They brought us the fabled BMW (Saïd Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins); they broke our playoff hoodoo at the 10th time of asking to take us to the Premier League; they set club records and beat some of the best teams in the land. It really has been quite the ride.

Club World Cup offers new coach a first chance to measure task ahead at a club that has become angry and unmoored

Of course he has been taking part in training. Quite frankly, it would have been deeply and offensively off-brand for Xabi Alonso not to have joined in. Darting around in the roasting heat, physically moving players into his desired positions, pinging pinpoint passes in his classic Predator boots: it was Alonso in his purest essence, and as the new Real Madrid coach oversaw his first sessions at Valdebebas this week it was hard not to feel that on some level nature was healing.

As a player Alonso was a difference-maker, a details man, a midfielder who adored the ball and tried to leave nothing to chance. As a coach, the same traits define him. Sessions are high-intensity, fast-paced, but almost always with the ball at feet. He intervenes constantly, always correcting, always cajoling, and in case of doubt he can always grab a ball and illustrate the point himself. Zinedine Zidane would occasionally participate in training if numbers were short. But with Alonso it is almost as if he needs to be involved, that playing and coaching are simply two ways of painting the same picture.

Our cartoonist looks back at the opening games and empty seats as Gianni Infantino’s vanity project finally began

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Changes to the channel come as phone alerts and YouTube have replaced highlight packages and yellow ties

A constant in pubs, gyms and hotel breakfast rooms, almost always with the sound down. Perhaps not since cinema’s silent age have faces been so familiar without the general public knowing their voices. The vibe is more casual than in previous times, shirt sleeves rather than business suits, but the formula remains the same: a carousel of news, clips, quotes, quips, centred around highlights, all framed within a constant flow of results, fixtures and league tables.

Sky Sports News hits 27 years of broadcasting in August, having been launched for the 1998-99 football season by BSkyB. As the domestic football season concluded, news came of changes within the Osterley-based newsroom. Seven members of the broadcast talent team would be leaving, including the long-serving Rob Wotton and the senior football reporter Melissa Reddy, within a process of voluntary redundancies.

Dusting off a pile of matchday gems from the City Ground spanning 50 years reveals a rich seam of cultural and sporting delights

What to do with the pile of vintage Nottingham Forest programmes that came into my possession several years ago? At first, standard protocol was observed for uncategorised piles of paper. The 21 City Ground programmes, spanning 50 years from September 1963 to November 2012, were packed away in a dark cupboard, ignored and unread. But finally taking the time to study them has paid dividends: a rich seam of history leaps off the pages in clear, elegant black-and-white type.

Forest’s presence in the top-flight’s upper echelons evoked the club’s halcyon days and plenty has been written about the Brian Clough-Peter Taylor era. Less attention has focused on Clough’s often entertaining programme notes during his 18-year tenure – while the editions outside Clough’s time are a fascinating way of charting Forest’s trajectory, as well as how profoundly football and wider society have changed.

Wing of the club responsible for developing girls’ pathway programme is celebrating its 40th anniversary

It is 40 years since the establishment of Arsenal in the Community, the wing of the club responsible for founding the women’s team. The announcement that all the side’s Women’s Super League games will be played at the Emirates Stadium next season returns the team to the N5 community that birthed it.

With the players ending an 18-year wait for a second European title by beating Barcelona in the Champions League final in May, it has been a year of full-circle moments for Arsenal. Bringing all league games to the Emirates Stadium “is another step in driving towards the best conditions for our players to be able to perform at their best and towards one of our main objectives, which is to win trophies”, says Arsenal’s director of women’s football, Clare Wheatley. “We also just felt that a connection back to where we began, back to our roots, was warranted.”

Saudi-backed streaming superpower’s TV deal for Fifa’s global project is next expansionist step towards a world super league

“And what exactly are you doing here, sir?” To be fair, the border guard at Miami international airport made an excellent point. As ice-breakers go, frowning over the passports and visa stickers of the long-haul crowd on matchday minus four of the Fifa Club World Cup, the border guard was at least in tune with the zeitgeist. What is football doing here?

What are Lionel Messi, Trent Alexander-Arnold and the massed engines of the football-industrial complex doing hovering like an alien landing party over this fun, sinking sandbank of a city, a strip of land where the ocean seems to be punching a mulchy green hole in the asphalt every few miles, a place that from the air seems to be made entirely from deep-fried crumb, tropical weed and traffic?

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Venganza is on the cards in Trnava on Saturday night when England take on Spain at the European Under-21 Championship quarter-finals. There are constant reminders on the Channel 4 coverage in the UK that “we” are the holders, despite the fact there are only a couple of remaining members from the squad that defeated La Rojita in the final in Batumi two years ago. It’s a night that Oliver Skipp will never forget. There is another stark difference between then and now: England were properly decent at that point. This current crop have stumbled their way into the last eight like a weary boozer, six pints deep, picking his way through an All Bar One terrace on a hot day.

The American dream. We guess the cowboy won …” – Botafogo remind PSG chief suit, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, of the insult he hurled at their owner John Textor, also chief suit at Lyon, after the Brazilian side’s shock 1-0 Copa Gianni victory over the Bigger Cup champions.

Re: the thinly veiled contempt from the Juventus players standing behind Donald Trump (yesterday’s Football Daily), brought to mind this scene from The Simpsons …” – Adam Clark.

The photo in yesterday’s Football Daily makes Mr Infantino look very much like Mickey Mouse in his magnum opus, Fantasia. On reflection, Mickey Mouse is a perfect description for Mr Infantino, and his mate Donald shares many comparisons with [Snip – Football Daily lawyer]” – Joe Carr.

Given the PFA has a young player of the year award, isn’t it only fair they also have an old player of the year award (over 78s perhaps? – Football Daily Ed)? I had a really good game with my dog in the garden recently so surely I qualify and I’m even older than James Milner” –Martyn Shapter.

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Netherlands midfielder talks about rejoining FC Twente, the club in her heart, and her hopes for the Euros

For Jill Roord, even after winning the Bundesliga title and reaching a Champions League final, eight years on from saying goodbye to FC Twente, there is simply no place like home. The 107-time capped Netherlands midfielder is returning to the club where she began her career and says the opportunity to move back closer to her family and friends was irresistible.

“It had nothing to do with [Manchester] City. My time with City was really good,” says Roord of her decision to leave after two years. “I have been away for eight years playing abroad and it becomes tough being alone for that many years. In the past few years I lost my fun and my happiness in football a little bit because of being away, travelling a lot and not being able to be with family and friends. With busy summers every year I never really got a break. I needed to move back home, enjoy life and enjoy football again.”

Fans’ group will take megaphones, banners and flags to Switzerland to ensure the atmosphere doesn’t fall flat

In some parts of the world, Sweden is often confused with Switzerland. But this summer there will be no mistaking Swedish football fans as they descend on Switzerland for the Women’s European Championship bringing great colour as well as great noise. As ever, Soft Hooligans, a grassroots supporter group, is leading the line but this time there are more logistical issues to think about. “A major concern was how the ‘f’ we were going to get all our stuff down there,” says Caroline Gunnarsson, a Soft Hooligans member who will be driving the group’s campervan to Geneva, one which will be full to the brim with drums, megaphones, banners and flags.

Soft Hooligans was founded in 2017 after Estrid Kjellman returned from the Netherlands where she had watched the Euros with her family. She was impressed with the presence and passion of Dutch fans but was also taken aback by the lack of atmosphere in general. Used to the singing culture at men’s games in Sweden, Kjellman was inspired to change things.

Fifa’s much-hyped Club World Cup and Concacaf’s Gold Cup opened to crowds far short of what organizers might have hoped

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That the two events should coincide was so perfect as to almost feel heavy-handed. Donald Trump’s comically underattended military parade lurched through Washington DC at the exact same time on Saturday as the overwrought opening ceremony unspooled for Fifa’s beleaguered Club World Cup, in a definitely-not-full Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Trump’s jingoistic birthday bust contrasted painfully with the multimillion-strong turnout at the “No Kings” anti-Trump rallies that gathered all over the country. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, meanwhile – or “Johnny”, as Trump pronounces the name of one of his favorite allies in the sports world – had promised the opening match of the swollen tournament he forced down the soccer world’s throat would be sold out. Instead, attendance between Inter Miami and Al Ahly, a fitting 0-0 stalemate, was announced at a still-better-than-expected 60,927 in the 64,767-seat venue.

Today’s rumours are working in the garden

Marcus Rashford’s future is very much in the category of “up in the air”. The chances of him ever playing for Manchester United look slim-to-none as he will not be given a boarding pass for the club’s US tour, while a dream move to Barcelona is going up in smoke. A few Serie A clubs have had a sniff but his wages may be a stumbling block. What he really needs is a Champions League club with plenty of cash. Step in … Newcastle. The Magpies are back in the bigger time, will be eager to make a statement signing or two, and Rashford fits the bill. Liam Delap chose Chelsea over Newcastle and Eddie Howe likes to have the best English talent at his disposal, so Rashford would be an ideal candidate as an extra attacking option.

It takes a brave man to move from Liverpool to Everton (and vice versa). Nick Barmby, Abel Xavier and Gary Ablett did the Merseyside double in their time and the next potential candidate is Ben Doak. The Scottish teenager impressed on loan in the Championship last season at Middlesbrough and is ready to step up to the Premier League but there is no obvious role he can play under Arne Slot. It means Doak might need to find an alternative and at least this one would mean he didn’t have to move house.

Plus: goal-difference chasms between league-table neighbours, a rare Welsh feat in defeat, and more

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“During the Liechtenstein v Scotland game there was a reference to Billy Gilmour scoring more goals for Scotland (2) than his various clubs (0). But has a recognised striker ever finished their career with more goals for their country than their clubs?” asks Stuart McLagan.

The structure of women’s football in North America, particularly before the NWSL was founded in 2012, makes it the likeliest source of an answer to this question. There was no league at all in the US between 2003 and 2009, and to this day players sometimes appear more for their country than their club in a calendar year.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Mark Langdon as the Club World Cup commences and Thomas Frank is installed at Spurs

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On the podcast today; the Club World Cup kicks off with a 0-0 draw between Inter Miami and Al Ahly and Bayern Munich thrashing the amateurs from Auckland City 10-0. What have we learned? Is it too early to get a read on the tournament and who had Barry down as a French Montana fan.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tom Garry, and Sophie Downey to unpack a turbulent week for the Lionesses

On this episode of Guardian Women’s Football Weekly, the panel react to a seismic shift in the England camp as three of the team’s most experienced players – Mary Earps, Fran Kirby, and Millie Bright – announce they will not be part of the Euro 2025 campaign.

With Sarina Wiegman naming her squad just five weeks out from the tournament, the panel discusses what this means for England’s hopes, who will step up in their absence, and whether the squad still has the depth to contend.

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

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

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

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

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

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