Find a Football Team

Our cartoonist on the FA Cup final fallout, Pep Guardiola’s treble and press box invaders

• You can now buy your very own print of this strip
• Take a look through David’s archive of cartoons

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are “playthings of a state” who should be kicked out of European competition for violating Financial Fair Play rules, the La Liga president has said.

Javier Tebas, who has run Spanish football’s top league for the past six years, also warned English clubs they would be making a huge mistake if they backed a proposed new European Super League as it would “ruin” domestic football.

Following the still simmering fury over Uefa’s choice of Baku for the Europa League final and its corporate-heavy ticket policy for both its showpiece men’s competitions, Fifa has given us an outstanding proverbial ‘hold my beer’ moment.

Just 18 days before hosts France open the Women’s World Cup against South Korea at Parc des Princes a number of fans have found that tickets purchased at the same time are not next to one another. Families and friends heading to the tournament face being split up.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be involved in the Europa League final after Arsenal confirmed he would not travel with the squad.

The Armenia international’s safety was a concern due to the dispute between his country and host nation Azerbaijan.

Fifteen players and one member of the coaching staff from the Canada women’s national team have joined Juan Mata’s Common Goal campaign, where footballers pledge 1% of their salaries to charity.

Related: Juan Mata: ‘People underestimate football. It gives hope to so many people’

With no European football for the first time in 56 years and unrest off the pitch, the Belgian club’s appointment of their former defender as player-manager is a remarkable stunt

On Sunday, on as dark a day as imaginable in Anderlecht’s history, Belgium’s record champions stunned the world with the appointment of their biggest international icon of the last 25 years. Enter Vincent Kompany, stronger than any PR machine the club could possibly have built.

The name Anderlecht suddenly hummed around the football world again. Missing out on European football for the first time in 56 years and the last game of a disastrous season against Gent, another painful defeat, suddenly did not matter any more to the long-suffering fans.

The England forward Nikita Parris has joined the European champions Lyon after leaving Manchester City.

Parris, the all-time leading scorer in Women’s Super League, spent more than four years at City before confirming this month that she would leave at the end of her contract.

Today’s tittle-tattle gives it to you straight

Manchester City’s good-tempered collective post-treble party will finally end in a comedown when Leroy Sané is bundled out of the door. But to where? Not sure. Pulitzer, please!

BREAKING NEWS: Eden Hazard is for the off from Chelsea!

Gareth Bale did not even get to say goodbye. If, that is, he is even going – and there is no guarantee that the Welshman will leave the Santiago Bernabéu. The message from Real Madrid could hardly have been clearer, right up to the final day of the season when the manager, Zinedine Zidane, left the Welshman on the bench, but that does not necessarily mean he will depart. Nor will he accept any offer and so far there have been none. Instead there is an increasingly bitter stalemate with no easy solution.

Related: Real Madrid end season with damning defeat and Bale again stewing on bench

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, John Brewin and Mark Langdon discuss Manchester City 6-0 Watford, the price of supremacy, the Women’s Champions League, a rare crestfallen goalscoring keeper and botched Panenkas

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

We look back at the FA Cup final, which Manchester City won 6-0, casting Watford aside like a team which wasn’t assembled by one of the greatest football managers in history at great expense. We discuss the line of questioning pursued by the Associated Press’s Rob Harris, which angered Pep Guardiola, and the implications of living with a team this much better than the rest.

The Brighton & Hove Albion owner, Tony Bloom, has insisted Graham Potter’s appointment as manager does not constitute a risk as the club seeks to establish itself more securely in the Premier League after this season’s relegation scare.

Related: Graham Potter to leave Swansea for Brighton manager’s job

• Successful bid will inspire new generation, says FFA
• FFA are quietly confident of a deep run in France

Australia’s bid to host the Women’s World Cup was officially launched on Tuesday, with FFA chief executive David Gallop saying he was confident the Matildas would enjoy a deep run at this year’s tournament.

Just over two weeks out from the start of the 2019 edition of the World Cup, star striker Sam Kerr backed Australia’s bid by fronting a video as Gallop said FFA would use the upcoming tournament as an opportunity to lobby decision makers congregated in France.

• Fifa hope fans ‘will be able to enjoy matches as they envisaged’
• Buyers call for rethink in response to Twitter announcement

Fifa has told fans that ticketing arrangements for the forthcoming Women’s World Cup cannot be changed. The governing body said after receiving complaints it had made clear at the time of purchase that “not all seats would be located next to each other”.

Related: Women’s football: how girls are moving the goalposts

• Former Chelsea manager to sign three- or four-year deal
• PSG and Bayern had shown interest in 49-year-old

Antonio Conte has agreed terms with Internazionale to take over as their new manager in the summer. The former Juventus manager, who has not worked since leaving Chelsea in 2018, will sign a three- or four-year contract soon to replace Luciano Spalletti.

Related: Massimiliano Allegri to leave Juventus at end of season

Who gave up? Who couldn’t believe it? Whose eyes don’t lie?

Who said: "Three for me and two for them, two. So respect man, respect, respect, respect"?

Pep Guardiola

José Mourinho

Jürgen Klopp

Zinedine Zidane

"It was the right decision. He made a big mistake and paid with the club, so then he had to pay with the team ... When you are young, you can make mistakes. The most important thing is that you need to understand very well, after every mistake. So now, for me, the issue is closed"

Mauricio Pochettino

Unai Emery

Brendan Rodgers

Maurizio Sarri

"Ips ... Isspw ... Isspitch ... Isswitch ... OK, I give up"

Daniel Farke

Aitor Karanka

Marcelo Bielsa

Steve McClaren

"I have had enough. At the minute, how I've programmed myself now, I just think that I've got five or six more years left in football and I just can't wait to see the back of it, seeing how things are done in the game at the minute"

Raheem Sterling

Paul Pogba

Danny Rose

Álvaro Morata

"We scored a perfectly good goal to make it 2-0 and the game is done and dusted. We won the game, but the officials cost us two points today ... You go on about VAR this and VAR that, help the officials out. Clearly they need help. We play in the Premier League, the best league in the world, the most watched league in the world. So give them all the help they need because clearly they cost us two points today. It's a joke"

Neil Warnock

Charlie Austin

Glenn Murray

Jamie Vardy

"Mo Salah, you little dancer!"

Jurgen Klopp

John Aldridge

Graeme Sounness

Jamie Carragher

"I prefer the sex ... by far"

Roy Hodgson

Mauricio Pochettino

Jürgen Klopp

Pep Guardiola

"I've got three very questions for you: How long you would you like on your contract? What would your salary be? And where would you like the statue?"

Gary Neville

Gary Lineker

Alan Shearer

Jamie Carragher

"It’s 10 past 10, most of the children are in bed ... these boys are fucking mentality giants – it's unbelievable. If you have to fine me, fine me. I'm not native so I don't have better words for it."

Mauricio Pochettino

José Mourinho

Jürgen Klopp

Ole Gunnar Solskjær

"I wouldn’t believe a word he says. I don’t believe he does. The guy is a talented boy, but the number of times I’ve seen him in games not running back. He’s a big problem for United. And my eyes don’t lie to me."

José Mourinho

Roy Keane

Gary Neville

Graeme Souness

1 and above.

Oh dear

2 and above.

Oh dear

3 and above.

Oh dear

4 and above.

Respectable

5 and above.

A respectable score

6 and above.

That's an impressive score

7 and above.

That's a very impressive score

8 and above.

That's a very impressive score

9 and above.

You were brilliant but just missed out – like Liverpool

0 and above.

Oh dear

10 and above.

You've almost done too well there

Lucy Bronze has revealed she told her distraught England teammate Toni Duggan they will “win the World Cup together instead” this summer following Lyon’s 4-1 Champions League final dismantling of Barcelona for her second consecutive winners’ medal and her club’s fourth title in a row.

Related: Hegerberg stars as Lyon crush Barcelona to win Women’s Champions League

Kylian Mbappé surprised the Ligue 1 awards ceremony audience on Sunday night by hinting that his future may lie away from Paris Saint-Germain.

Despite pledging his future to the club following yet another early Champions League exit in March, when they were knocked out by Manchester United in the last 16, the striker cast doubt on his intentions for next season. When collecting his Ligue 1 player of the year award he spoke of wanting “more responsibility” in the future, adding it would be either at PSG or “somewhere else”.

We thought Manchester City would pip Liverpool to the title, but we also said Watford would go down

What we said: “Pep Guardiola’s talented side look well placed to become the first team to retain the Premier League title since Manchester United did it in 2009.”

The best players, greatest games and standout signings – plus those that didn’t work out, and what needs to change

Ed Aarons: Virgil van Dijk. Raheem Sterling runs him close but in terms of impact and influence, the big Dutchman has been peerless.

Photo editor Jonny Weeks reviews a tumultuous football season through some of its best, weirdest and most defining images

On an average weekend, The Guardian receives around 12,000 photographs from Premier League matches via its staff, agency and contributor photographers. That’s almost half a million images per season. Some capture extraordinary joy and despair; some bear witness to defining moments in the title race; some owe greatly to the creativity of the men and women behind the lenses; and some, like this first one from August, feature the rare but always amusing sight of a referee nearly getting thwacked by a ball.

Who can’t wait to get out? Who sees trains? And who lost 6-0?

Which team suffered the heaviest defeat of the season?

Cardiff City

Bournemouth

Fulham

Chelsea

Which team lost 10 London derbies?

West Ham

Fulham

Crystal Palace

Arsenal

Three players shared the golden boot with 22 goals each. Which continent are they from?

Europe

South America

Africa

Asia

Which team won the majority of their points from away matches?

Tottenham Hotspur

Crystal Palace

Huddersfield Town

Fulham

Who scored 37.1% of his team’s goals – the highest percentage in the league?

Glenn Murray

Aleksandar Mitrovic

Jamie Vardy

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

What is the missing word in this quote: "It is like a **** that, every day in 10 years, sees the train cross in front at the same time. If you ask the **** what time is the train going to come, it is not going to know the right answer. In football, it is the same. Experience, yes, but hunger, motivation, circumstance, everything is so important."

Player

Farmer

Conductor

Cow

Four clubs had stints at the top of the league. Liverpool were top for 141 days; Manchester City were top for 125 days; and Chelsea were top for nine days. Which club was top for one day?

Manchester United

Leicester City

West Ham

Southampton

A 38-year-old set up a goal for a 35-year-old in October. Which team were they playing for?

West Ham

Brighton

Newcastle United

Watford

Who said: “We are going to make much more points in the second part of the season than we did in the first part”?

Mark Hughes

Claudio Ranieri

David Wagner

José Mourinho

What was the state of play in the title race at the start of 2019?

Liverpool and Manchester City were level on points and goal difference

Liverpool were two points clear

Liverpool were four points clear

Liverpool were seven points clear

Two managers started their reigns by going unbeaten for 12 league games. Ole Gunnar Solskjær and …

Unai Emery

Maurizio Sarri

Brendan Rodgers

Ralph Hasenhüttl

Which club started the season with three defeats and finished it with three victories?

Burnley

Southampton

Brighton

West Ham

There are currently five English managers in the league. How many of them finished in the top half?

None

One

Two

Three

Who was talking about what when he said: “I can't wait to get out of it, if I'm honest. I think we'll be far better out of the bloody thing”?

Sean Dyche on the Europa League

Mauricio Pochettino on the League Cup

Jürgen Klopp on the FA Cup

Neil Warnock on the European Union

What did Harvey Elliott do this season?

He became the youngest referee in Premier League history

He made two appearances and picked up two red cards

He became the youngest player in Premier League history

He scored five goals without starting a game

Southampton, Manchester United, Huddersfield and Leicester did it once. Who did it twice?

Chelsea

Fulham

Newcastle

Watford

Who was the top scoring Englishman in the league this season?

Harry Kane

Callum Wilson

Jamie Vardy

Raheem Sterling

Who has joined a group of players that contains Henning Berg, Ashley Cole, Gaël Clichy, Robert Huth, Nicolas Anelka, Kolo Touré, Carlos Tevez and N'Golo Kanté?

Raheem Sterling

Riyad Mahrez

Alisson

Virgil van Dijk

Huddersfield only won three games all season. Which team did they beat twice?

Fulham

Tottenham Hotspur

Wolves

Southampton

1 and above.

You are the Fulham of football quizzes

2 and above.

You've been relegated

5 and above.

You've avoided relegation – but only just

3 and above.

You've been relegated

4 and above.

You've avoided relegation – but only just

6 and above.

You've avoided relegation – but only just

7 and above.

A solid, midtable finish

8 and above.

A solid, midtable finish

9 and above.

A solid, midtable finish

10 and above.

You've earned a place in the Europa League

11 and above.

You've earned a place in the Europa League

12 and above.

You've earned a place in the Champions League

13 and above.

You've earned a place in the Champions League

14 and above.

That's a top-four finish

15 and above.

That's a top-four finish

16 and above.

You've been pipped to the title – just like Liverpool

17 and above.

You've been pipped to the title – just like Liverpool

18 and above.

You've been pipped to the title – just like Liverpool

0 and above.

You are the Huddersfield of football quizzes

19 and above.

You are the Manchester City of football quizzes!

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, football was a game in which two teams battled for the ball and, when they had it, tried to score a goal. Teams had different ways of doing that. They used strength and they used pace and they used skill. They tried different shapes. They tried to win the ball back in different parts of the pitch. The ball could be capricious and hard to tame, but pretty much everybody agreed that it was safer not to let your opponents have too much of it.

Related: Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City can be judged with England’s very best | Richard Williams

They were four points off relegation in January but Marcelino García Toral clung to his job to enact an incredible turnaround

There were 60 seconds left in the hardest, most inexplicable season of Marcelino García Toral’s career and things had finally fallen into place, at last making a little sense, when he looked to the sky and seemed to say something. “I was thinking about my dad, who’s not here,” he revealed: a brief moment alone before he was engulfed, ended by the final whistle on the final day. Rubén Uría grabbed him from one side, Ismael Fernández from the other, and together Valencia’s manager and his assistants – his confidents – tried but mostly failed to take it all in. Around them, Valladolid’s supporters celebrated another season in primera; across the pitch, 900 Valencia fans celebrated another season in the Champions League.

If that shouldn’t have been so remarkable – Valencia qualified for the Champions League last season and at €165m they have the fourth-biggest budget in the first division – there was a reason why they leapt about like they did, a reason for all the emotion, the tears fighting through and the lumps in their throats. There had been resistance; now there was relief, redemption and a lesson for those prepared to listen. Valencia had got there and Marcelino had got there with them. For most of a year in which, in the words of José Luis Gayá, they had suffered like dogs, a season in which Marcelino said they had been “punched in the face daily”, neither of those things looked likely. But here they were, still standing.

Lyon legend Juninho has returned to the club as sporting director, with Sylvinho taking over as his head coach

By Adam White and Eric Devin for Get French Football News

It’s difficult to overstate Juninho’s legendary status at Lyon. Between 2002 and 2008 the club won seven consecutive Ligue 1 titles, a run even PSG have not matched. Alongside winger Sidney Govou, goalkeeper Grégory Coupet and outspoken president Jean-Michel Aulas, Juninho was one of few constants at the club. Where many dynasties are built around a single manager, four contributed to Lyon’s run. The club’s intelligent recruitment and Aulas’ oversight were pivotal during their success but Juninho’s gloriously unerring free-kicks from every position remain the iconic image of that period. Now, after a quiet revolution, “Juni” has returned.

Juninho Pernambucano is unquestionably Lyon’s greatest ever player and a titan of French football. As a result, he carries significant capital with what has recently become a fractious and aggressive Lyon fanbase. Fan campaigns against Bruno Génésio – who is stepping down as head coach at the end of the season – had become toxic, with divisions emerging between the coach, the board and the supporters. Juninho’s introduction is designed to ease those tensions. Earlier this month, when his return as sporting director was merely rumoured, Juninho’s name was sung before any free-kick in shooting range during Lyon’s draw with Lille.

Steve Clarke has got the job, now he needs to make the setup appealing to players, reconnect with the public and pick a formation and stick to it

It may seem an obvious point but Scotland’s best chances of success lie in their players being available for selection. It was one of many troubling aspects of Alex McLeish’s tenure that call-offs arrived by the barrowload. The new regime must incentivise players by making the Scotland setup appealing and making it plain that those who want to pick and choose when to appear will not be indulged. The fixtures fall in June, when holidays will inevitably have been booked by potential squad members, and that means the extent to which a fresh regime can carry appeal faces an instant test.

Bayern Munich had to work to win the Bundesliga at last but as two great heroes depart, questions remain over the manager

For two minutes and 40 seconds, it was on. The last-day drama in the Bundesliga title race that all neutrals – OK, all non-Bayern Munich fans – and Borussia Dortmund supporters had hoped for had legs for a brief spell at the beginning of the second half, after Sébastian Haller prodded in an equaliser for Eintracht Frankfurt at the Allianz Arena. It was the season in microcosm. It didn’t last.

Before the window was up, Kevin Trapp could do no more than parry Thomas Müller’s hit from the edge of the area and David Alaba raced in to snaffle the rebound and devour any remaining nerves. At 1-1, with Bayern needing a point to guarantee the title should Dortmund win at Borussia Mönchengladbach, where they were in the process of cruising to a 2-0 victory, there was room for doubt. After Alaba’s intervention, this time, there would be no stopping Bayern.

As a fascinating Championship season draws to a close we select 10 players who could thrive in the Premier League next season. We have not included players who have been on loan from Premier League clubs this season, such as Harry Wilson and Tammy Abraham, and neither have we picked players from the two automatically promoted teams (Norwich and Sheffield United) as those players are set to play in the top division next season anyway.

Manchester City celebrated their historic domestic treble with an open top bus tour through the heart of their home city. Celebrations culminated with an emotional speech from outgoing captain Vincent Kompany, who hailed City as 'the best club in the world' before leaving to become player-manager at Belgian team Anderlecht

• Vincent Kompany leaves Manchester City to become Anderlecht’s player-manager

Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany is leaving the club after 11 years to become player-manager at Anderlecht, where he played between the ages of six and 20.

The announcement of his departure came just one day after he captained City in their 6-0 FA Cup final victory over Watford, which secured a historic domestic treble for the club.

Kevin De Bruyne, Kompany’s team-mate and compatriot, said: 'The legacy he left behind is great, not only for City but the Premier League, and I think everyone should appreciate what he’s done for English football'.

• Vincent Kompany: five of his best games for Manchester City
  

Pep Guardiola was infuriated in the immediate aftermath of Manchester City’s historic domestic treble when asked by a journalist if he was being accused of 'receiving money' through separate payments from the club’s Abu Dhabi owners.

City had just trounced Watford 6-0 but Guardiola’s celebrations were soon marred when the subject was raised of previously reported leaks concerning alleged payments to his predecessor Roberto Mancini to keep within Uefa’s financial fair play regulations. 

The club have long strongly denied any wrongdoing but this past week it has been suggested that Uefa may impose a one-year ban on their competing in the Champions League, following an investigation.

After the victory at Wembley, Guardiola said: 'I said yesterday, we are not guilty until it’s proven'.

He added: 'I listen to my chairman [Khaldoon al-Mubarak] and my CEO [Ferran Soriano], they give me the arguments for why we are under investigation and I trust them. They tell me we fair and we absolutely follow the rules, I believe them.'

• Man City furious after Uefa investigation is sent for final judgment
  

Massimiliano Allegri said on Saturday that it was Juventus who decided he would not coach the club next season, despite leading them to a record-extending eight straight Serie A title. Allegri had tears in his eyes as he looked at the Juventus players, who were all sat in the front rows

• Massimiliano Allegri to leave Juventus at end of season

The FA has rebooted its Respect Campaign this season to protect grassroots referees in England but many continue to suffer both mental and physical abuse. There are some horrifying stories but hope remains: as of 2019-20 season a new sin-bin system will be rolled out across all grassroots leagues for anybody caught abusing a referee, with other initiatives also in the pipeline. 

Michael Butler meets four referees, as well as the FA, to find out just how bad the abuse has got, what is being done about it and if that is enough for the men and women in the middle. 

Leeds United's Spygate song came back to haunt them after their defeat to Derby County in the play-off semi-finals.

In January, the Leeds manager, Marcelo Bielsa, had admitted to sending someone to spy on Derby and were subsequently fined £200,000 by the English Football League. Their supporters later started singing a new version of 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out', which contains the lyrics: 'All of the spies, are hidden away. Just try not to worry, you'll beat us some day, we beat you at home, we beat you away. Stop crying, Frank Lampard'.

But after Derby County reached the play-off final with a 4-3 aggregate win over Leeds, Rams fans and players created their own rendition of the Oasis song ... 

• Frank Lampard says revenge for Spygate was not Derby’s play-off motivation
  

Juve, Milan and others said goodbye to key players and staff but struggling clubs are still battling not to say so long to Serie A

“No more tears, I’ve shed enough already,” insisted Massimiliano Allegri on Saturday. Nobody in the audience was fooled. Juventus had announced one day previously that his time as manager was coming to a close. Allegri could scarcely get through the first sentence of a press conference called to honour his achievements before he had to break off into a hum as he fought to compose himself.

There was no such attempt to hold back the emotion one day later, as he stood and hugged Andrea Barzagli for what felt like an eternity in front of the dugouts at the Allianz Stadium. The player had just completed his final home appearance for Juventus, as he prepares to enter retirement.

It’s nearly a year since the former England captain joined MLS. DC United are almost unrecognisable from the shambles he found when he arrived

For years, DC United had targeted June 2018 as a turning point. It was the moment everything would change for one of American soccer’s most storied institutions, which had fallen on tougher times in recent years. And, as it happened, the opening of a new $400m stadium last summer did coincide with a dramatic upturn in fortunes for the club. Bricks and mortar cannot explain what has happened at DC United over the past year, though.

Whether by design or not, the opening of Audi Field coincided with the arrival of Wayne Rooney, something that will go down as the most significant moment in DC United’s recent history. The former England and Manchester United striker was always likely to make an impact in MLS, such is his undoubted quality, but few predicted the cultural change he would bring to his new club.

• Wednesday’s ACL game will be coach’s last in charge
• ‘An undisputed legend of the club,’ say Victory

Melbourne Victory have never known life without Kevin Muscat but soon will after the four-time A-League champion agreed an exit from the club. Muscat, the club’s foundation captain and longest serving coach, has decided the time is right to leave the A-League powerhouse and will depart after Wednesday’s Asian Champions League match with Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

That dead rubber is now transformed into an era-ending occasion, with Muscat, captain Carl Valeri and marquee Keisuke Honda to sign off. Other players will also leave this off-season, but none with Muscat’s gravitas.

Loren Morón and Jesé teamed up to hand Real Betis a famous victory at the Bernabéu as Real Madrid’s disappointing season ended with a whimper.

Related: Antoine Griezmann’s exit may lead to summer exodus at Atlético Madrid | Sid Lowe

• Uefa announces its ticket pricing and policy for Euro 2020
• One million tickets will be priced at €50 or less

Uefa has announced its ticket pricing and policy for next summer’s Euro 2020 tournament, which is to be staged in 12 different cities across the continent.

Related: Women’s football: how girls are moving the goalposts

It’s common to bemoan the ending of a football match in such fashion, but not in Perth on Sunday night

Seven kicks. A championship season 140 matches long spanning seven months came down to seven kicks. Sport can be grotesquely cruel.

Those seven kicks formed the A-League grand final penalty shootout after 120 minutes of combat between Perth Glory and Sydney FC ended in stalemate. A record crowd of 56,371 saw five of those seven kicks find the back of the Optus Stadium net. Crucially, they saw two of them repelled by goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne to steer the Sky Blues to a fourth championship trophy.

• Perth Glory 0-0 (aet) Sydney FC; Sydney win 4-1 on pens
• VAR controversy forgotten Andrew Redmayne stars

Video killed the radio star, according to The Buggles in 1980 and many in 2019 would have you believe that VAR has killed football. Yet after a first half goal for Sydney FC was ruled out in the A-League grand final, the controversy was largely forgotten by the end of a heart-stopping penalty shootout as the resilient Sky Blues ran out 4-1 winners over Perth Glory.

It was a fourth A-League championship trophy for Sydney; for Perth, who lost their nerve in the shootout with only one of their three spot kicks successful, the bitter 15-year-wait for another title goes on.

Bayern Munich won a record-extending seventh consecutive Bundesliga title on Saturday after crushing Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 to finish two points ahead of rivals Borussia Dortmund.

The Bavarians, who can secure a domestic double if they beat Leipzig in the German Cup final on 25 May, have now won the German league title a record 29 times.

Twenty years on from the opening of the first soccer-specific stadium, should the Fire’s possible move back to an NFL venue prompt MLS to face some home truths?

It was the alliterative mantra designed to put Major League Soccer on the road to prosperity: soccer-specific stadium. Starting with the Columbus Crew in 1999, clubs began to lay the literal foundations for long-term success, sparking a construction spree. Of the 24 teams competing in the 2019 season, 18 play in homes built primarily for soccer.

So at first it sounds jarringly counter-intuitive that the Chicago Fire are seeking to become the first MLS club to quit a soccer-specific venue. They plan to return to Soldier Field, the home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears, after only 13 years at SeatGeek Stadium. But it’s easy to see why a Fire exit appeals, even at a reported price of $60.5m to escape suburban Bridgeview.

Leeds fell short against Derby but it was a reminder of the joys brought by football’s great nonconformist

Fail again. Fail better. When Pep Guardiola was planning for his second life as a manager he went to meet various hand‑picked tactical super-brains. Among them was Marcelo Bielsa, recently resigned as manager of Argentina. Bielsa invited Pep to his home in Rosario. They had a barbecue. Then they sat and talked about football for 11 hours.

Yes, 11. It is just such a brilliantly macho interpretation of the basic idea of having a bit of a chat. Why not 12 hours? Why not 36? Why not five weeks glued to the garden loungers?

You had to admire Uefa’s steadfastness in the face of unfortunate timing. The decision to award the hosting rights for the Europa League final to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, was made public in September 2017, just a few weeks after entirely unrelated revelations about a huge underhanded campaign to whitewash Azerbaijan’s international reputation.

The so-called Azerbaijani Laundromat scandal came to light thanks to bank leaks that showed about £2bn had been funnelled out of oil-rich Azerbaijan between 2012 and 2014 through various European financial institutions and companies, including some registered in Britain. It was primarily an elaborate money-laundering scam but some lolly found its way into the pockets of lobbyists and politicians who were encouraged to help polish the reputation of Azerbaijan.

Club’s reaction to footage showing staff taking delight in lyrics that cause distress among Liverpool fans is a reminder we all can – and should – do better

It did not take long for the most dazzling of Premier League title races to be plunged into a row between Liverpool and Manchester City supporters, over a City supporters’ song being taken up on a plane carrying players and staff on their gleeful flight back from Brighton with the trophy.

It was then startling to learn the club had issued a statement wholly defending the song, which glories in Liverpool misfortune, including their supporters being “battered in the streets” and being “victims of it all”.

Today’s tell-all is twisting my melon, man

The imminent departure of Vincent Kompany from Manchester City will leave some big boots vacant and the Daily Mail reckons Harry Maguire is the man Pep Guardiola would like to fill them. A longtime Manchester United target, the man some call “Slabhead” was singled out for praise by Guardiola at the end of Leicester’s defeat at the hands of City earlier this month. In a climate where Liverpool saw fit to pay what turned out to be a bargain £75m for Virgil van Dijk, Maguire’s current employers will demand the same or more for a proven 26-year-old England international who has four years left on his current deal.

What now for Gareth Bale, who has been told in no certain terms that he does not have a future at Real Madrid. Despite rumours that he rarely talks to any of his teammates, the Wales international is reported to have told them he is happy to spend the remaining three years of his contract going through the motions on the training ground while working on his short game out on the golf course. Such comments are almost certainly designed to force Real Madrid into offering him a whacking great pay-off so he can do one to Chelsea, Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur.

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

Rather than celebrate their success as you might expect normal football folk to do, many Manchester City fans appear to have marked the conclusion of the most successful season in their club’s history by raging and frothing at the mouth over perceived media bias against their club. They are not alone, as at the end of another season of domestic dominance fans of a propaganda wing owned by other powerful people in the Middle East have also been left with a sour taste in their mouths. Leading the Ligue 1 table by 16 points with just one round of fixtures to go, Paris Saint-Germain are unlikely to be caught and had cause for further celebration at a glitzy awards do on Sunday night when their striker and local lad done good, Kylian Mbappé, was crowned Ligue 1 player of the year.

Watford finished 48 points behind Manchester City in the league but previous finalists have overcome bigger challenges

During Wimbledon’s famous 1-0 victory over Liverpool in 1988, Dave Beasant became the first goalkeeper to do what in an FA Cup final?

Make an assist

Save a penalty

Get sent off

Come off injured

Who scored the decisive goal when Wigan Athletic beat Manchester City 1-0 in the 2013 final?

Ben Watson

Callum McManaman

Shaun Maloney

James McCarthy

West Ham were in the Second Division when they beat Arsenal in the 1980 final and they remain the last side from outside the top flight to have won the Cup. How many teams from outside the top flight have reached the final since?

One

Two

Three

Four

Southampton were in the second tier when they beat Manchester United the final. What was the year?

1968

1972

1976

1980

Sunderland finished sixth in the Second Division in the 1972-73 season. They also won the FA Cup, shocking the holders in the final. Who did they beat?

Arsenal

Liverpool

Leeds United

Newcastle United

Cardiff City are the last side from outside the top flight to reach the Cup final. They were beaten 1-0 by Portsmouth, which makes Harry Redknapp ...

... the last manager to win the FA Cup as a player and manager

... the oldest FA Cup-winning manager

... the last English manager to win the FA Cup

... the only English manager to have won the Cup with two clubs

Arsenal went into the 2014 final as strong favourites but needed extra-time to beat Hull City. What made the game particularly difficult for Arsenal?

They had a man sent off after 20 minutes

They were 2-0 down after eight minutes

They were forced into making three substitutes in the first half after an injury crisis

They had two goals wrongly ruled out for offside

Manchester United needed extra time to overcome Crystal Palace in 2016. Who was in charge of Palace and attracted considerable attention for his dance moves after they took the lead?

Tony Pulis

Alan Pardew

Roy Hodgson

Sam Allardyce

Despite finishing 13 places and 38 points behind Manchester United in the 1994-95 season, which team beat them in the FA Cup final?

Everton

Aston Villa

Coventry City

West Ham United

Ipswich Town were underdogs when they beat Arsenal in the 1978 final. What happened to Roger Osborne while he celebrated his goal?

He lost his shorts

He pulled a muscle and limped around the pitch for the remaining 15 minutes

He got a nosebleed that did not stop for 45 minutes

He fainted and had to be substituted

Tottenham beat second-tier QPR in the 1982 final but only after ...

... a last-minute winner

... two fortuitous penalties

... a replay

... a penalty shootout

Which side has made the most appearance in finals without lifting the trophy? Their most recent final was in 1969 – the same season they were relegated from the First Division.

Birmingham City

Brighton & Hove Albion

Leicester City

Luton Town

1 and above.

Oh dear. You were knocked out in the first round

2 and above.

Oh dear. You were knocked out in the third round

3 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

4 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

5 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

7 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

6 and above.

Are you concentrating on the league this season?

8 and above.

You had a good run, but lost in the quarter-finals

9 and above.

You had a good run, but lost in the quarter-finals

10 and above.

You had a great run, but lost in the semi-finals

11 and above.

You came close, but lost in the final

0 and above.

Oh dear. You were knocked out in the first round

12 and above.

Underdog? You are the big dog of FA Cup quizzes

Plus: winning runs that didn’t deliver a title, late-blooming international stalwarts and Bob Crompton’s Wembley drought. Mail us or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“What is the earliest goal scored in a league season that went on to win goal of the season?” wonders Tom Kingsbury. “Similarly for individual club goal of the season winners, has there been a winner from the first goal/match?”

“A quick Wikipedia reveals that Gerry Francis (possibly) used the powers bestowed on him by his glorious mullet to win goal of the season in 1975-76 with an opening-day strike for eventual league runners-up QPR against eventual league winners Liverpool in a 2-0 victory,” writes Mike Coxon.

Your weekend roundup of the best photography from England’s top flight

• View the Dozen archive

See if you can guess the footballers who have played at the home of Total Football from their trail of clubs

Reipas > HJK > MyPa > Ajax > Barcelona > Liverpool > Ajax > Lahti > Hansa Rostock > Malmö > Fulham > Lahti > HJK

Petri Tiainen

Jari Litmanen

Sami Hyypia

Jan Molby

Ajax > Twente (loan) > Ajax > Internazionale > Everton > PSV > WKE

Davy Klaassen

John Heitinga

Maarten Stekelenburg

Andy van der Meyde

Ajax > Barcelona > LA Aztecs > Washington Diplomats > Levante > Ajax > Feyenoord

Johan Cruyff

Peter van Vossen

Ronald Koeman

Frank de Boer

Ajax > Sporting > Real Zaragoza (loan) > Milan > Ajax

Frank Rijkaard

Edgar Davids

Marco van Basten

Clarence Seedorf

Kolding > Ajax > Liverpool > Barnsley (loan) > Norwich (loan) > Swansea

Christian Poulsen

Jan Molby

Daniel Agger

Jari Litmanen

Ajax > Volendam (loan) > Groningen (loan) > Milan > Barcelona > Middlesbrough > PSV

Michael Reiziger

Edgar Davids

Gaizka Mendieta

Afonso Alves

Ajax > Milan > Barcelona > Newcastle > Valencia > PSV > Lille

Siem de Jong

Jon Dahl Tomasson

Patrick Kluivert

Tim Krul

Go Ahead Eagles > Willem II > Ajax > Arsenal > Barcelona > Go Ahead Eagles

Dennis Bergkamp

Marc Overmars

Thomas Vermaelen

Nwankwo Kanu

SVV > Excelsior (loan) > Sparta Rotterdam > Ajax > Milan > Barcelona > Chelsea

Winston Bogarde

Jesper Gronkjær

Bertrand Traoré

Maxwell

Ajax > Milan

Frank Rijkaard

Marco van Basten

Clarence Seedorf

Patrick Kluivert

10 and above.

That's Total Football!

9 and above.

That's almost Total Football!

8 and above.

You're almost the complete player

7 and above.

We'll have you back for another trial. We're impressed

6 and above.

Brush up on your finishing and you may have a future

5 and above.

You're not the worst trial player we've seen

4 and above.

Mid-table mediocrity awaits

2 and above.

Never mind Ajax's academy, you wouldn't even get a trial at Accrington Stanley

1 and above.

Switch off your computer and go home

0 and above.

Let's not tell anyone about this

3 and above.

You've been sent home after your first trial

“If I arrived at the hospital one day later than I did, this interview would not happen. I arrived at the hospital too late to find out the root of the infection; they put me straight into a coma. After I woke up, they asked me what my name was and the seven times table. All of my face muscles were paralysed – it was an infection of the brain. I spent three weeks quarantined in hospital on powerful antibiotics, directly to the veins. I couldn’t eat, I had to keep my eyes covered because I was so sensitive to light. I was very scared.”

Karel Poborsky still does not know how he got ill in the summer of 2016 – one theory is that a tick living in his beard bit him – but the important thing is that he is now healthy and well. Sitting in the reception of a plush London hotel alongside his long-term partner, Andrea Tomsu, his eyes dance brightly behind a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and he talks animatedly about his life and career.

Imagine England losing the 2005 Ashes, Sir Alex Ferguson managing Spurs and women’s and men’s football being equal

Australians wishing to hush the buzz of your average Pom (read: most Australians) will never tire of pointing out the only two Tests England won in the 2005 Ashes were the ones Glenn McGrath missed.

Bereaved Hillsborough families’ last sight of accountability from the football establishment for the deaths of 96 people at an FA Cup semi-final was the then Sheffield Wednesday secretary and safety officer, Graham Mackrell, driving away in a taxi from Preston crown court on Monday having been fined £6,500. Mackrell was convicted of having criminally breached his safety duties when he allocated dangerously few turnstiles – seven – for all 10,100 people with standing tickets to support Kenny Dalglish’s brilliant Liverpool team against Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in the sunshine of 15 April 1989.

Mackrell said in a statement after Monday’s sentencing hearing that the judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, had “recognised” that his negligence “did not cause or contribute to” people dying. Openshaw did say that while Mackrell’s criminal offence was not “a direct cause” of the deaths, it was a direct cause of the crush at the turnstiles, which “set the scene” for the deadly crush inside on the terrace’s central pens.

The Manchester City captain talks frankly about the wrong path he nearly took as a teenager, ‘lunatic’ politicians and life after football

It is 10am on an early spring day when I pull up at the electric gates of Vincent Kompany’s home. In the drizzle, the Manchester sprawl has given way to the leafy streets of Cheshire, where long driveways announce the grand houses of the affluent. Kompany answers the door in a black T-shirt and jeans, having just finished a workout. It’s March, and Manchester City’s battle-hardened captain and central defender is only now returning to fitness after a six-week layoff for a calf injury. “I wasn’t feeling great today, so an extra session in the gym is the way to get through it,” he says, a towel draped around his neck, his gentle Belgian accent blending with Manc vowels.

At 6ft 4in, Kompany’s stature is reassuring rather than intimidating. He makes green juice in a whizzy little machine that the players are testing. “Sometimes I have a berry one as a treat,” he says, tidying up. We take them into his home office, where we talk for the next two hours. A whiteboard marked out with a football pitch stands against one wall. On the top row of his bookshelves, trophies line up like toy soldiers; below them are biographies of Mandela, Gandhi, Obama; histories of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country that Kompany’s father, Pierre, left as a political refugee in 1975; biographies of Sir Alex Ferguson and Kompany’s teammate Sergio Agüero.

“At the moment, I’m happy doing what I’m doing,” Nigel Callaghan says. “I’d sooner be a millionaire but I’m happy.” He takes a sip of his cola and looks around the pub in Stafford, his adopted hometown, full of people taking advantage of the cheap fish and chips on a Friday lunchtime. “Financially I made nothing out of football. I’m as rich as the next person in here. People say to me: ‘How much would you be on now?’ I’ll never know. When I was playing I’d put myself up there with the top‑10 crossers of the ball – I could hit a ball off one stride. I could whip them in, I could bend them. Full-backs didn’t know whether to get tight or stand off.”

Watford face Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup final but when they last reached this stage, in 1984, Callaghan was the 21-year-old whose pinpoint deliveries from the right wing – along with those of John Barnes on the opposite flank – were the cornerstone of Graham Taylor’s tactical plan. But he has not played since the mid-1990s, with any hopes of a return to even the occasional social kickabout having ended when he was diagnosed with arthritis a decade ago. “I don’t know if it’s got anything to do with the football,” he says. “I certainly got kicked a bit when I was a winger; that won’t have done me any good.”

With an hour to go before kick-off on a lovely soft spring day, the Cardiff City Stadium is still a low-fi kind of place. Cardiff need to win their final home game against Crystal Palace to have any hope of extending their stay in the world’s richest league beyond a single, spirited season. But there is, if anything, an absence of tension in the air.

The Cardiff fans stroll in familial groups around the concrete walkways of this handsome, out-of-town retail park of a stadium. From the stands the pitch is half in sunshine, shadowed now and then by fluffy coastal clouds.

Olivier Giroud has given Chelsea a boost by signing a new one-year contract for next season ahead of next week’s Europa League final. Giroud was due to be out of contract this summer, 18 months after his arrival from Arsenal, and had been linked with a return to France as he struggled for regular playing time at Stamford Bridge.

But with the club facing a transfer ban for the next two windows, subject to an appeal before the court of arbitration for sport, they were keen to keep a reliable performer in an area of the pitch where they lack depth.