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We pick half a dozen contenders to lead the scoring charts in Switzerland, from the WSL Golden Boot winner to France’s formidable finisher

Russo is coming into this tournament in the form of her career. Her 12 goals in the Women’s Super League played an integral role in the Gunners’ second-place finish and earned her a share of the Golden Boot, alongside Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw. She was also Arsenal’s top scorer in their run to securing the Champions League. Her productivity in front of goal has been the biggest improvement to her game.

• Union says 20-minute pause could be ‘significant’

• Temperatures at tournament have exceeded 40C

Half-time breaks should be extended to 20 minutes in extreme heat, the global players’ union has said. Fifpro is calling for extra measures to protect footballers after what it describes as the “wake-up call” of the Club World Cup, which has been plagued by extreme temperatures over the past two weeks.

Fifa protocols allow for a cooling break lasting for three minutes in each half if temperature thresholds are exceeded. According to Fifpro’s medical director, Dr Vincent Gouttebarge, an extended half-time break would provide a necessary additional tool in helping to keep players’ core temperatures within their normal range.

• Midfielder believes squad are prepared for all conditions

• Switzerland forecast to be 30C-plus for first games

England feel well prepared to cope with the heatwave that awaits them in Switzerland, Beth Mead has said, as the Lionesses flew to Zurich on Monday to defend their European title.

Temperatures at the squad’s base in Zurich were about 33C on the day Sarina Wiegman’s team travelled, and maximum temperatures there are expected to exceed 30C for most of the week in the run-up to the Lionesses’ opening Group D fixture against France on Saturday night.

Club captain on coming back from injury, the importance of his family and Trent Alexander-Arnold fitting in well

Dani Carvajal misses his family. The good news is that in return he’s about to become reacquainted with something he has missed as much. For some players, this is a competition too far, played on poor pitches in half-empty stadiums and suffocating heat, something they could do without, but it has been good for Real Madrid’s captain, something to aim at. Now, 270 days later and 4,400 miles away, just as the Club World Cup gets real, he is back to face Juventus in the last 16 in Miami. “And I know what I’m like: if they let me loose, there’ll be no fear,” he says.

Carvajal has not played since October 2024, when in the final moments of Villarreal’s visit to the Santiago Bernabéu he tore the anterior cruciate ligament, the fibular collateral ligament and the popliteus tendon in his right knee. At 32 years old, a European champion with club and country, fourth in the Ballon d’Or three weeks later, it came at the worst time, or so it seemed; Carvajal though believes it came at the best, personally and professionally – which, in the end, go together in a long process that has been psychological as well as physical. Now here he is at Madrid’s Palm Beach HQ before training. Just one more session before he is back in the squad.

• Inter 0-2 Fluminense (Germán Cano 3, Hércules 93)

• 44-year-old goalkeeper Fábio makes series of fine saves

Brazilian side Fluminense stunned Champions League finalists Inter by knocking them out of the Club World Cup with a 2-0 victory in the last 16 in Charlotte.

The reign of new head coach Cristian Chivu, who took over following Simone Inzaghi’s departure just days after that humbling 5-0 loss to Paris St Germain a month ago, has not started well as they exited the tournament before the quarter-finals.

• Club miss payments for the third time in four months

• Danny Röhl expected to leave and negotiating severance

Sheffield Wednesday are facing further disciplinary action from the EFL and a possible walkout of players after failing to pay all the squad’s wages for the third time in four months.

The Guardian has learned that while some of the club’s younger players received their June salaries on Monday, not all of Danny Röhl’s squad were paid, putting the club in breach of EFL regulations and at risk of losing players on free transfers.

Club have history of promoting from within and remain pragmatic about potential departure of Bryan Mbeumo

Phil Giles had already given the update on Christian Nørgaard. “It’s more likely than not,” the Brentford director of football said, suggesting that the club captain was close to sealing a £10m move to Arsenal, which is expected to feature £5m in add-ons. Then it was time for Giles to do likewise with Bryan Mbeumo, who is the subject of a bid from Manchester United. Brentford value their 20-goal top scorer from last season at about £65m. United are nearly there with it.

“We’ve made our point clear,” Giles said. “If Bryan earned a massive move now and it was right for us financially, we’d be open to it. But if he ended up here with us next season, I wouldn’t be massively surprised. We’d be delighted. And it would save me a massive headache, frankly.” With that, Giles glanced at the man to his left – the new Brentford head coach, Keith Andrews, presumably the source of said headache if Mbeumo were to leave.

• Arsenal officials met Eze’s agents to discuss terms

• Crystal Palace insisting on release clause being met

Arsenal have held talks with representatives of Eberechi Eze and could battle with Tottenham for the Crystal Palace forward. Mikel Arteta has identified Eze as someone who could add creativity and depth to his squad after they finished as Premier League runners-up for a third successive season.

Arsenal officials met Eze’s agents on Saturday to discuss personal terms and other details, but have yet to open talks with Palace over the England international.

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For Premier League footballers, the art of the post-match interview is simple enough, once you get the hang of it. All credit for a victory – the hallowed “three points” – must go to your teammates and “the gaffer”, even if you just scored a hat-trick to keep said gaffer in a job. Individual brilliance can be celebrated only in jokey, self-effacing terms. “I never hit them that well in training,” that sort of thing. Then it’s quickly on to “the next one”, all eyes on Bournemouth this Sunday. Shake hands, move on, and never, ever say anything remotely controversial.

It’s a pointless competition. Whoever wins it will be the worst winner of all time because they’ll have played all summer and then gone straight back into the league. There are people who have never been involved in the day-to-day business of football and are now coming up with ideas. It’s too many games. I fear next season we will see injuries like never before” – Jürgen Klopp goes in two-footed on the Copa Gianni.

Since LAFC’s fans are so keen to point out that the Galaxy are based in Carson, not LA, I feel I have to correct your reference to ‘Tinseltown’ (Friday’s Football Daily), which refers specifically to the Hollywood neighbourhood (despite most of the studios not actually being in Hollywood). LAFC are, of course, based in the Expo Park area of LA. And while we’re at it, English people, please stop pronouncing it as Los Angel-eez. You sound like jackasseez” – Tom Dowler.

Enzo Maresca’s outburst that ‘it’s not football’ in the wake of Chelsea’s near two-hour weather delay on Saturday in Charlotte brings up some very interesting points. Although he claims that the USA might not be the best place to hold a summer tournament (and he’s probably right), it might be more apt to say that it’s not football as it used to be played in the old world (meaning the world before ever-accelerating climate change and global warming, rather than Europe as seen in the eyes of Americans). This new reality of storm delays and unpredictable match lengths will add interesting new challenges for coaching staffs: How do you focus the minds of Internet-age players for an indefinite period of time, while they await a restart while cocooned in the bowels of a stadium? Should an assistant coach be ready to have the players start watching and analysing video of the game they are playing in as soon as they are rehydrated and fed appropriately? (Coaches who always look for the smallest advantage would surely demand this information download to players in the midst of a game?) Should cell phone contact with the outside world be banned while the players are in this forced lockdown? (Or is this counter-productive when players’ minds naturally dwell on the safety of watching friends and family inside the stadium?) Should the levels of air-conditioning in the American “locker room” be adjusted to avoid muscles cooling too rapidly before recommencement? (I’ve been in a few, and like most indoor spaces in the US in summer, they’re bloody freezing!) It would be intriguing to hear some of your writers’ and some coaching experts’ views on these new challenges, especially as they will apply to next year’s World Cup here in the USA” – Justin Kavanagh.

I want to be a football player, I know how to play ball” – Ella Sendra.

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Former Chelsea manager answers your questions on life and work in the US, what she’s looking forward to in this summer’s Euros and pining for roast chicken

Read the first of Emma’s Guardian columns on the Euros

You seem like you’ve taken to the US like a duck to water. But what food or drink from back home are you missing? Antony, Staffordshire
I always miss a roast dinner, roast chicken. And the milk. The milk is different over there so when you have a cup of tea it’s just not the same because the milk is not the same. It alters the quality of the tea so that’s tough for me.

How’s life in America been treating you? Is the infrastructure for women’s football noticeably more developed there? And the million‑dollar question: what happens when your new team face England in the World Cup final in 2027? Tom Stubbs, Brussels
First of all, I love being there. The cultural approach to the girls’ and women’s game is more ingrained in the US because they’ve been doing it for longer in terms of providing opportunities. That’s noticeable. The US approach to women’s sport stands out, not just soccer, but with basketball, too. As for that hypothetical for 2027, well, you’re saying we’re in the World Cup final so I’m excited. If you give me that option today, I’ll bite your hand off. I want to be in the World Cup final competing to win a World Cup so, whoever you’re facing, it’s going to be a top, top side, and I don’t get emotional about it – it’s England but I’m repping the USA so my focus is on the USA.

England are the defending European champions but the years since Wembley glory have seen continual evolution

Time moves quickly in football and in women’s football in particular, as the drive towards professionalism gathers pace. The England squad that heads to Switzerland attempting to retain their European title looks different to the one that won a first major title only three years ago, but evolution is a necessary step in the life cycle of a team and, especially, when the rest of the world is also evolving.

Are England in a better place going into the tournament in Switzerland than they were going into the 2022 home Euros? It is impossible to answer that question when no team, England included, stand still and the landscape of European women’s football has fundamentally changed.

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

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Get to know every single squad member at the tournament. Click on the player pictures for a full profile and ratings

Rhian Wilkinson has created a flexible playing style and Wales are not travelling to Switzerland just happy to be there

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.

A lack of goals while narrowly avoiding a qualifying playoff shows they are not at their best, but Vivianne Miedema will surely make an impact

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.

Ella Toone started in the No 10 role against Jamaica, while left-back and right-sided forward were also in the manager’s sights

You should never read too much into the final warm-up game before a major tournament, should you? Try telling that to any of the 25,088 fans at the King Power Stadium, as they were singing Sweet Caroline at full time, waving proudly their flags of St George and rejoicing in the seven goals that England had put past Jamaica. In such goalscoring form, glory will surely be England’s again ...

No, you should still never read too much into the final warm-up game. Just ask the England men’s team of 2016 who, on the eve of their European Championship that year, managed a 1-0 victory against Portugal – one of those sides went on to win the tournament, while the other was knocked out by Iceland.

• Defender will be United’s ‘head of loans and pathways’

• Evans won three Premier League titles and two FA Cups

Jonny Evans has announced his retirement after a 19-year playing career and been appointed head of loans and pathways at Manchester United.

The 37-year-old Evans played 241 times across two spells for United, claiming three Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup and two League Cups, and was capped 107 times by Northern Ireland. In total he made 536 appearances for five clubs, also winning the FA Cup with Leicester City.

• Spurs keen on forward who has £85m release clause

• Financial concerns mean Hammers may accept lower bid

West Ham’s need to rebuild their squad without breaching the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations could lead them to sell Mohammed Kudus to Tottenham if they offer enough for the attacker.

Spurs have identified Kudus as a key target and there is a feeling he will be available for less than his £85m release clause, which is applicable to Premier League sides for the first 10 days of July. There is no asking price but £60m could be enough to get a deal done.

• Villa confident of avoiding breach and keeping best talent

• Club working to terminate Philippe Coutinho’s contract

Aston Villa have moved to sell their women’s team to help comply with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations. Villa are confident of avoiding a PSR breach, allowing them to keep their top players.

Villa have agreed a deal to sell their women’s team to V Sports, their parent company founded by the club’s billionaire owners, Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris. V Sports own a 29% stake in the Portuguese side Vitória SC and a 25% stake in Real Unión, in which Villa’s manager, Unai Emery, has a controlling stake.

• Everton close to signing Japan forward Yuka Momiki

• Watford women’s players not paid June wages on time

The former Leicester and Everton manager Willie Kirk is closing in on a return to football after holding advanced talks with the Swedish top-flight women’s team Linköping about becoming their head coach.

Kirk, who also managed Hibernian and Bristol City before a spell as Manchester United’s assistant manager, has been out of work since he was sacked by Leicester in March 2024 because he had a relationship with one of the club’s players. In a May interview with the Daily Mail, Kirk said: “I’ve made a mistake and I’ve been punished for my mistake. I take responsibility for that.”

• Manager backs Klopp and Tuchel’s concerns over event

• City face Al-Hilal in last-16 game in Orlando on Monday

Pep Guardiola has admitted the Club World Cup could “destroy” Manchester City’s 2025-26 campaign, with the manager ignoring its potential impact to avoid feeling anxious.

On Monday, City face Al-Hilal in the last 16 at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. While some of Guardiola’s players had only five days off before the start of the tournament, others enjoyed a three-week break. All the squad can expect at least three weeks off following the Club World Cup.

Bayern winger on testing positive for Covid at Euro 2022 and why England may struggle to defend their title

“Maybe I did the homework, but maybe I didn’t – the important thing was to get out on the pitch again.” Klara Bühl is describing her time at school when she would come home, eat, possibly do some schoolwork before heading out again.

“Football was everything for me. We played at school and then next to the school there was a small astro pitch. I played there until training began at five o’clock and so it was every afternoon.”

Missing stars and short on sparkle, the USMNT have still found something vital at this Gold Cup: a renewed sense of belief, identity and collective fight

You can, as they say, only beat the teams in front of you. You can only play with the guys you’ve got. And you can only overcome the challenges you are confronted with.

When the United States men’s national team gathered to embark on the ongoing Concacaf Gold Cup in early June, success at the regional championship was tricky to define for the seven-time champions. They would, after all, be appearing absent 10 regulars and entering an event that hardly offered up the world’s strongest opposition.

The weather delay should not mask the standard of Chelsea’s performance against Benfica at the Club World Cup

American weather one, football nil. The chaos stole the limelight but it was a shame that the standard of Chelsea’s performance against Benfica on Saturday got lost in the storm. All anyone could talk about when a bonkers occasion finally came to an end, four hours and 38 minutes after it started, was the lightning. There was a lot of sitting around during the delay, a lot of wondering about the precise way it was going to go wrong for Chelsea when play resumed with 85min 30sec of normal time gone. Enzo Fernández missing the decisive kick during a penalty shootout? A catastrophic red card?

In the event it was left to VAR to drag it into extra time, an equaliser for Benfica arriving in the 95th minute when a penalty was awarded after Malo Gusto was punished for the kind of unavoidable handball that would no longer be pored over in the Premier League. A goal up when the weather gods took over at the Bank of America Stadium, now Chelsea had to show their mettle. How would they respond? The answer was resounding. Benfica collapsed, going down to 10 men early in extra time, and Chelsea were through to the last eight of the Club World Cup with three late goals from Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

Those who played and witnessed firsthand the Lionesses’ success at a rapturous Wembley share their memories

On 31 July 2022 the Lionesses made history, Chloe Kelly’s goal in extra time earning a 2-1 win over Germany to secure a first major title at Euro 2022. The home Euros had swung the nation behind the team and women’s football has not looked back. What did the day of the final look like? Ahead of the Lionesses beginning their title defence, this is the inside story of English women’s football’s greatest day.

Waking up on the morning of the final, there was an eerie air of calm and confidence in the England camp.

Former Wolves manager on dealing with the sack, controlling his emotions and why he won’t talk about his football ‘philosophy’

“The journey’s been pretty high speed,” Gary O’Neil says as he opens up on a whirlwind start to his managerial career. “When you’re in work it’s different because there’s always another massive game coming, whereas this has really given me time to have a deep dive into everything. The real benefit is the chance to breathe.”

Sometimes there is an upside to life slowing down. O’Neil has had time to reflect and ask himself tough questions in the seven months since his sacking by Wolves. Why did it unravel after such a promising start? O’Neil is hungry. He has devoted a lot of time to studying set pieces and speaking to experts in the field given that a poor record at dead balls played a big part in Wolves’ struggles this past season.

England, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands are the teams to beat but the tournament in Switzerland will be incredibly tight

You only have to wind the clock back two full major-tournament cycles, to Euro 2017, and there were no fully professional women’s leagues in Europe. Thanks to increased investment in the women’s game, there are now more than 3,000 full-time female players across the continent, and that professionalisation is why my overriding feeling about this summer’s Euros is that the quality is going to be so much higher than we have seen before. And it will be so tight.

In Spain, England and Germany there are three strong favourites who are all capable of going on to win it and I would add the Netherlands to the top four. I was so impressed when we [the United States] played the Dutch in December. They will need everybody fit but, on their day, they are a top side. Beyond that, this tournament is going to show the prowess of the Nations League, which was introduced since the most recent Euros, and the impact that tournament is having on equality.

• Portuguese star will be 42 when deal ends in June 2027

• News brings recent transfer speculation to a close

Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new two-year deal at Al-Nassr, extending his stay with the Saudi Pro League team to June 2027, when the forward will be 42.

“Al Nassr Club Company officially signed a contract extension with Cristiano Ronaldo,” the Riyadh-based club posted on X. “[The] Al Nassr captain’s contract will be valid until 2027.”

Ignorance, hubris and exceptionalism have driven a once great football club to the edge of the abyss

By Get French Football News

Just five days ago, John Textor bounded down the corridors of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. “Victoire, victoire,” he cried as his side, Botafogo, stunned PSG in the Club World Cup. French football’s financial watchdog, the DNCG, brought him back down to earth on Tuesday as it confirmed Lyon’s relegation to Ligue 2.

“Everything is good financially,” said Textor before the DNCG meeting. This is not the first time that the Lyon owner has gone into one of these meetings with a sense of confidence swiftly eroded by the commission’s verdict. It was the same back in 2023 and in November last year.

The USA struggled in friendlies but went on to win all three of their Gold Cup group games. On Sunday against Costa Rica, they face their biggest test yet

For as much as the Gold Cup gets denigrated, it’s a much tougher tournament than it might appear. The ongoing tournament is the 11th edition in the last two decades, and this year’s US are just the 10th team to make it through three group matches unscathed (Panama became the 11th on Tuesday).

US manager Mauricio Pochettino has to be pleased with his team’s performance. After rough showings in the pre-tournament friendly matches, a 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago was cathartic, while a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia and a 2-1 victory against Haiti also showed that the US are trying to make winning a habit as their manager has asked.

Seb Hines and Giles Barnes have transformed the fortunes of Orlando Pride

To followers of women’s football in the US, they are the English coaching duo who have delivered unprecedented success to a previously trophyless club. To English football fans with particularly sharp memories, they are the former Middlesbrough and Derby youngsters who left to play in the MLS. To each other, Seb Hines and Giles Barnes are just old mates, stretching back to their days sharing a room on England youth international camps.

“It brings an unwavering trust. We can challenge each other and there’s no ill intent behind it,” is how Barnes sums up the benefits of a head coach and his assistant being longtime friends. Yet the unlikely chain of events that led to their reunion in Florida is almost as improbable as Orlando Pride leaping from 10th place to the title in two years.

With Paris FC promoted, European champions could lose their monopoly in city if out-of-town move goes through

“Ici, c’est Paris” has been the rallying chant of Paris Saint-Germain supporters since the beginning of the 21st century. It has also become an advertising slogan for the club, who appropriated it to the fury of the ultras, who had trademarked it and have launched a lawsuit in response. But fans and marketing consultants, unless they do not fear ridicule, will not be able to use it once PSG carry out their plan to vacate the Parc des Princes, their home since they were promoted to Ligue 1 in 1974.

“It’s over now,” PSG’s president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, told reporters in March. “We want to move.” This was confirmed in a statement on 10 June, the day the newly crowned European champions flew to California and the Fifa Club World Cup. “I like the Parc a lot,” Khelaifi, known in France as Nak, said of the 48,583-capacity arena. “Everyone loves it. But [if we stay], we’re dead. In Europe, all the big clubs have 80,000- or 90,000-seat stadiums. If we want to be at that level for our supporters, the stadium must be expanded.” And because an expansion of the stadium is out of the question, it is likely that “Paris” (as the club love PSG to be called in the media) will no longer play in Paris by the time the decade is over, but in one of two towns of the grande banlieue, Massy or Poissy. We will know which come November 2026.

Drama-biopic starring Steve Coogan will reignite a row that split Irish football fans but there are good signs for its artistic merit

Watching the teaser trailer for Saipan before its cinematic release later this summer called to mind that episode of Friends in which it is revealed Joey leaves his copy of The Shining in a freezer whenever it becomes too scary for him to continue reading. While 23 years may have passed since Roy Keane’s fabled eruption on the eponymous volcanic speck in the western Pacific, it is hard to get past the feeling that the makers of this drama-biopic might have been better off leaving the most seismic row in Irish football history and its accompanying media frenzy hidden among the frozen peas, ice-cream and portions of batch-cooked lasagne. Instead it is about to be sent out into a public domain where it will almost certainly reopen old and, in many cases, still festering wounds.

Everyone of a certain age with a passing interest in football has their own version of what happened in Saipan that they believe to be true, although the details often differ depending on who happens to be doing the telling at any given time. Over the years I have chatted to several former Republic of Ireland footballers who were present at the infamous team meeting where Mick McCarthy held aloft a copy of that interview given by Keane to the Irish Times and asked his captain to explain comments that were scathing in their criticism of the national association’s laissez-faire attitude when it came to preparing for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea in the immediate run-up to the competition.

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

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

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

After his rapid rise at Leverkusen, Liverpool’s new club-record signing is well set to step outside his comfort zone

When the Bayern Munich charm offensive starts in earnest, few players are impervious. When months of public flattery and declarations of interest in Florian Wirtz continued past the Rekordmeister’s title celebrations in Marienplatz and the departure of Xabi Alonso from Bayer Leverkusen, the whole of German football felt they knew which way the wind was blowing.

So it is an unpleasant surprise for Munich’s finest to see the red jersey Wirtz is holding up for the camera is not theirs, but that of Liverpool, who have signed him in a deal that could reach a British record £116m. Make no mistake: this is an authentic coup for the Premier League champions. How Wirtz came to choose a future in north-west England rather than southern Germany tells us much about the personality, as well as the player.

Our cartoonist visits Poenari Castle on Mount Cetatea to see what nonsense Vlad Dracula III has spouted this time

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Club-by-club guide to each team’s opening and closing matches and when they make their shortest and longest journeys

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The Blues dominated League One last term, setting a record EFL points total. Birmingham will host the Championship’s opening game against newly relegated Ipswich, while a trip to Portsmouth will round off the season. Chris Davies’s team will undergo their shortest commute of the season on 26 November as they travel just under seven miles to West Brom. The trip to Middlesbrough on 8 November will be their furthest-flung fixture.

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.

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.

Football competitions are expanding, overlapping and bleeding into one another, but is a month off too much to ask?

Does it feel too much? Premier League bleeding into the playoffs into the Champions League into the international break … we’re still bleeding … rip off your shirt and make a tourniquet! The European Under-21 and Under‑19 Championships into the Club World Cup, overlapping with the Women’s Euros … oh look the Premier League fixtures for 2025-26 are out and the EFL ones come out next week … and there’s David Prutton paying (excellent) homage to David Mitchell’s pisstake of Sky Sports on Sky Sports: “Catch all of the constantly happening football here it’s all here and it’s all football. Always. It’s impossible to keep track of all the football.”

You start to imagine Billy Joel rewriting We Didn’t Start the Fire … an endless list of footballers and pundits, of owners and streaming services, of controversies and grimness amid the beauty and joy. Will it ever reach breaking point?

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Have you ever had that dream where you’re playing for your favourite team, thrown on in a desperate bid to find a goal? And the game is against a side you’ve never heard of, part of some arcane tournament that’s suddenly of vital importance? Oh, and it’s being played in your parents’ back garden? Just us? Well, that’s the closest parallel we could think up for Copa Gianni, where the group stages have served up the weird, wonderful and woeful in equal measure. If you haven’t been paying attention, here are some “highlights” so far.

It helped playing with my brothers all the time … I went to Arsenal and trained at the boys’ academy. It took a few sessions because at first they were like: ‘There’s a girl with us.’ But when they got to realise what I could do, they accepted me” – England’s Lauren James gets her chat on with Donald McRae in this in-depth interview.

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

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Inside the corporate monstrosity hides something that’s actually quite lovely and joyful and organic. It’s burrowed down real deep, beneath layers and layers of maximalist nonsense. But it’s in there somewhere, a good soccer tournament, cloaked by all the avarice and bombast, in spite of itself and those responsible for it.

It’s true: the Club World Cup and its new summer format haven’t been all bad. The group stage, which concluded on Thursday, offered fun and competitive teams. It served up a few genuinely enthralling games, especially in the clashes between the European and South American sides. The fans of some teams – the indefatigable singing and chanting of Boca Juniors’ and River Plate’s barras; the churning sea of red hopping up and down for the Urawa; the clapping and singing Wydad fans; the drumming and dancing Brazilians crisscrossing the nation in the wake of their four thriving clubs – injected the proceedings with exactly the kind of summer tournament folklore and fever you should hope for. We’ve even seen some kit design excellence – thank you, Botafogo.

I recently spent time coaching 80 girls at FC Midtjylland, the team where I began my career but had to leave in my teens as they had no women’s team

I will be on a plane on Monday with Denmark heading to Switzerland to take part in my fourth Euros, but before the tournament I went back to where it all began for me, to Danish side FC Midtjylland. I was there to spend time coaching 80 girls from the age of eight to 13.

More than 20 years ago, I began my own journey there and things looked very different then. There was no women’s team and no women who played football. For me to go back as a role model these girls gives me a lot of energy. There is no better way to ground yourself than to be reminded where you came from.

Emma Hayes is leaning on NWSL players for friendlies to plan for individual development and vet wider playing pool

While national teams in Europe, Africa and South America prepare for the biggest tournaments in their region, the US women’s national team convene this month for three friendlies with a unique approach. For back-to-back tests against Republic of Ireland followed by a meeting with Canada, nearly all of their Europe-based players are on vacation.

“We’ve left out the vast majority of players that are playing in Europe bar one, and that’s Naomi Girma,” said the head coach, Emma Hayes. “The rest of those players have been playing non-stop [for the] last two years without a summer break and this is the only opportunity they will get for a much-needed break. It also gives us the chance to play players who are playing domestically.”

Today’s rumours are juicing oranges

Everyone t’up north (London) wants Eberechi Eze. Fierce rivals Tottenham and Arsenal are ready to battle it out for the winger, eager to procure his dazzling dribbling and finishing. Crystal Palace know their position in this and are willing to sell, but he will set any suitors back around £68m. Last season the England international scored and created eight goals in 34 league appearances to make him one of the most sought-after attackers in the country.

Spurs do not plan to fund any of their summer business by selling Europa League winner Cristian Romero on the cheap. Atlético Madrid are flirting with the idea of signing him but the £60m sale demands will almost certainly put them off.

Plus: different crests on a club’s home and away kits, European clubs playing throughout summer and more GD chasms

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Spurs finished 17th this season, yet claimed a place in the Champions League. They aren’t the lowest-ranked Uefa qualifier, though, as I recall Millwall playing in Europe in the early 2000s. Which other English second-tier teams have played in Uefa European competitions?” asks Richard Amos.

We looked at this back in the 2011-12 season as Birmingham entered the Europa League by virtue of winning that year’s League Cup. They exited in the group stage, behind Club Brugge and Portugal’s Braga (the latter beaten finalists the previous year), despite reaching the magical 10 points total.

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.

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.