GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 12 - Champions League on US soil, Ligue 1’s broadcaster threatens non-payment and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
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FIXTURES
Champions League, Knockout Round Play-off: Club Brugge vs Atalanta, 17:45 / 12:45. Brugge are winless in their last 15 games versus Serie A sides, while Atalanta lost only once in the league phase and recently ended a 15-match unbeaten streak. Celtic vs Bayern Munich, 20:00 / 15:00. Celtic are unbeaten at home in Europe this season, and Bayern Munich have lost three away games in the competition. But the German giants are unbeaten against Scottish opposition in 13 games since 1989. Feyenoord vs AC Milan, 20:00 / 15:00. Feyenoord conceded the most goals among the 24 teams that progressed. Meanwhile, AC Milan have not won any of their last 11 away games in the Champions League knockout rounds.
Reminder: Everton host Liverpool at 19:30 / 14:30 in the Premier League’s last fixture of Matchweek 24. Full results here.
More results…
Champions League: Man City 2-3 Real Madrid (Match Report) | Brest 0-3 PSG | Juventus 2-1 PSV | Sporting 0-3 Dortmund
FA Cup: Exeter 2-2 Nottingham Forest (Pens 2-4) (FA Cup Draw)
TOP TALKING POINTS
Champions League Abroad
The chances of the Champions League being played in the United States has taken a step forward following a significant potential change in how UEFA sells the commercial and media rights to its club competitions.
The board of UC3, the joint venture between UEFA and the European Club Association (ECA), is negotiating with New York-based agent Relevent Sports to exclusively sell UEFA’s club competitions globally. Previously, Relevent was only responsible for selling media rights in North America, with Swiss-based TEAM Marketing retaining responsibility for the rest of the world. The deal underlines the importance of the US market to European football.
Relevent, controlled by American real estate developer Stephen M. Ross, has made its name by trying to stage European club football in North America. Several of European football’s most senior voices have made it clear they would favour hosting meaningful fixtures on US soil. On multiple occasions, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has said he is open to discussing the prospect.
Broadcaster Threatens Non-Payment
The French top tier’s main broadcaster, DAZN, is reportedly threatening to withhold payment owed to the French Football League by February 15. The broadcaster cites the governing body’s poor fight against piracy as the reason.
Ligue 1 secured a broadcast deal with DAZN just six weeks before the start of the season worth $400m, which was well below the $1bn target. In January, the British streaming platform tried to renegotiate the deal due to low subscriber numbers–reports suggest it has attracted around 500,000 subscribers. DAZN now reportedly believes there is little chance of securing the 1.5 million customers required to make a return on investment.
The uncertainty surrounding the deal risks exacerbating an already challenging financial climate for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs. A new report by the LFP’s National Control and Management Directorate suggests clubs in France’s top two divisions are expected to post combined losses of €1.2b.
League Overhaul Push
Belgian football is gearing up for potential transformative changes as six clubs advocate for sweeping reforms of the Belgian Pro League. The first set of proposals, outlined in a meeting on Monday, were rejected but sources suggest that changes are on the horizon.
The six clubs, including Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Genk, La Gantoise, Antwerp and Standard, hoped to push through the ‘European format’–similar to the revamped Champions League format. Instead of playing every team twice, each team would face six teams once and nine teams twice, with playoffs added—an option previously criticised as too extreme but now gaining traction. The aim is to reduce the overall number of matches from 40 to 34.
The country’s more established teams are pushing the changes to ease their fixture schedule to compete in Europe. They also believe that if the league’s format doesn’t change to make Belgian football matches more exciting, it could jeopardise its broadcast agreement with DAZN. Smaller clubs are against the proposal, citing reduced income and visibility.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 20, during which new proposals will be tabled.
POLL
Are you for or against playing European Cup competitions outside of Europe?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Manchester United axe another 100 jobs as part of the club’s cost-cutting (More) | Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says that England’s planned football regulator will be a “waste of money” (More) | Blackburn Rovers confirm that head coach John Eustace has requested to speak with another Championship club (More)
> Sam Kerr has been found not guilty of racially aggravated harassment (More) | Barcelona femeni’s Mapi Leon denied touching an opponent inappropriately in a Spanish women’s league game against Espanyol (More)
> Feyenoord have appointed former player Pascal Bosschaart as interim manager to replace Brian Priske (More)
> Euro 2022 match-winner Chloe Kelly has been left out of England's squad for the Women's Nations League matches against Portugal and Spain this month (More)
Americas
> The United States opened expanded CONCACAF qualifying for the Under-17 World Cup with a record victory for the country at any level, beating the U.S. Virgin Islands 22-0 as Chase Adams scored 10 goals (More)
> LA Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida receives a pay cut despite leading his side to MLS Cup victory due to MLS rules (More)
> Catarina Macario is returning to the US women’s national soccer team for the first time since last June for the SheBelieves Cup (More)
Rest of the World
> Footballers are being given a new way to manage, protect and, if they wish, monetise all of their data via a single platform provided by global union Fifpro (More)
> Hamza Choudhury, Leicester’s midfielder, will become the first player in Premier League history to play for Bangladesh (More)
> The Oceania Football Confederation is launching its first professional football league, set to begin in January 2026; they are inviting clubs across the Oceania region to join (More)
> Japanese trio Yokohama F Marinos, Vissel Kobe and Kawasaki Frontale all confirm their progress to the last 16 of the Asian Champions League Elite (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Is it ever acceptable for a team to stop play and leave the pitch in protest of a referee decision?
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👏 Absolutely... (30%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅 Nope... (67%)
⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!)... (3%)
Your punditry takes:
👏 R.C: “In today's game, there's VAR, goal-line tech, offsides tech, and more, and yet some refs choose to ignore that and proceed with their mistaken call. This can heavily affect the trajectory of the team's season. When a call is blatantly wrong, and there's video evidence, I would completely agree with the team stopping play.”
🙅 A.V: “I’m a law student so forgive the legal analogy, but referees are like judges. We can’t have the group executing on the rules overruling those who take the rules and try to make the system work. Players can’t ignore the ruling of referees, no matter how much we fans complain about them sometimes.”
✍️ J.M: “I would say generally no, not for a normal decision that can just be a mistake. The only exception I would say is if the ref refused to send off an opposing player for really offensive, intolerant language (racist, homophobic, etc.). Then I think a team are within their rights to leave the pitch in protest.”
EXTRA TIME
The Premier League’s best (and worst) at different skills.
Real Betis’ new Algae-powered kit...
… and Genoa drops retro 1999/00 shirts with Kappa.
Thierry Henry picks between Mbappe and Haaland... (via X)
… and Mbappe enters the top 10 all-time Champions League scorers.
EA is re-adding Diego Maradona to EA FC 25.
Data on the most deserving U25 players for a national team debut.
Visualising the Premier League’s set-piece arms race.
The real reason Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea. (video)
Brighton’s youngest scorer becomes a train driver.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Ajax won the first of their 3 consecutive European Cup wins in 1971, but which Dutch club won the competition a year earlier in 1970?
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
Champions League
Club Brugge vs Atalanta (17:45)
Celtic vs Bayern Munich (20:00)
Feyenoord vs AC Milan (20:00)
Monaco vs Benfica (20:00)
Premier League
Everton vs Liverpool (19:30)
*All time in UK. ET -5. CST -6. PST -8. MST -7. CET +1.
Answer
Feyenoord. They beat Celtic 2-1 after extra-time, becoming the first club from the Netherlands to win the European Cup.
Playing football with your feet is one thing, but playing football with your heart is another.
