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Good morning football fans. It’s Friday, May. 22 - Early leaks from England’s World Cup squad ahead of its announcement today, Premier League’s final day permutations, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
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KEY FIXTURE
Championship Play-Off Final (May 23): Hull City vs. Middlesbrough, 15:30 BST / 10:30 ET. Despite losing the play-off semi-final, Middlesbrough have made their way into the final after Southampton were expelled over Spygate. Boro were unbeaten in five matches before the 2-1 loss in the semi-final second leg, a similar record to Hull, who have lost just one match in their last six. The last time these sides met was on December 29 during the regular season, when Hull won 1-0 away from home.
The League One play-off final between Bolton Wanderers and Stockport County will take place on Sunday (May 24) at 13:00 BST (08:00 ET).
TOP TALKING POINTS
England Squad Leaks
England manager Thomas Tuchel will announce his final 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup on Friday (May 22). England will warm up with friendlies against New Zealand and Costa Rica before their first World Cup match against Croatia on June 17 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Early reports reveal that Cole Palmer and Phil Foden have been informed that they won’t be selected for the World Cup squad. However, among the less obvious attacking picks, Ivan Toney and Noni Madueke are thought to have made the squad. In midfield, while Morgan Gibbs-White and Adam Wharton are expected to miss out, Jordan Henderson and Kobbie Mainoo are reported to have been selected. See an unconfirmed ‘leaked’ squad here.
In defence, Harry Maguire, Levi Colwill, and Fikayo Tomori are also among the defensive options to be left out. In a post on Instagram, Maguire said: "I was confident I could have played a major part this summer for my country after the season I've had. I've been left shocked and gutted by the decision. I wish the players all the best." His Manchester United teammate Luke Shaw is also expected to miss out, with Dan Burn, Tino Livramento, and Nico O’Reilly thought to be included.
In related news, Germany’s squad was revealed on Thursday — see here. The USMNT squad will be announced on Tuesday (May 26) – see a squad prediction here.
Premier League’s Final Day
The Premier League’s final Matchday will take place on Sunday (May 24) with European spots up for grabs and relegation going down to the last day. See the full list of fixtures here.
Five English teams are guaranteed Champions League places next season, with Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa already secure. Villa’s Europa League win on Wednesday means they will qualify regardless of their final league position. Therefore, if Villa lose at Man City and Liverpool beat Brentford, Liverpool would climb to fourth and Villa would finish fifth. In that case, Villa would take their Champions League place as Europa League winners, and the Premier League’s extra coefficient place would drop to sixth, meaning Bournemouth or Brighton could become England’s sixth Champions League team.
In the Europa League race, Bournemouth have guaranteed at least a top-seven finish, meaning they are guaranteed European football. Brighton, Chelsea, Brentford and Sunderland are still mathematically competing for the other top-seven place, although if England end up with six Champions League teams, one Europa League spot disappears, and only seventh would qualify for the Europa League. Dive deeper into every team’s permutations here.
In terms of relegation, either Tottenham Hotspur or West Ham will join Burnley and Wolves in the Championship next season. Spurs (vs Everton) are given a 14.5% chance of relegation by Opta’s prediction model, while West Ham (vs Leeds), who are two points behind Spurs, are given an 85.5% chance.
Ronaldo’s Fifth Domestic Title
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Al Nassr won the Saudi Pro League title with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday. It is the club’s 11th SPL title in their history and the first since the 2018-19 season. See the final SPL table here.
Ronaldo has now secured his first Fifa-sanctioned title with the club, and it means he has won domestic league titles in Portugal, England, Spain, Italy and Saudi Arabia. It also ends his five-year drought without winning a major league title. Ronaldo’s brace meant he scored the 972nd and 973rd goals of his career — track his career goals here.
The title race had gone down to the final day after Al-Nassr dropped points against Al-Hilal the previous week. If they had lost, Al Hilal would have won the title with a point after their 1-0 away victory against Al Fayha.
POLL
Do you consider Mikel Arteta an elite level manager?
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ON THE BALL
Europe
> Southampton’s intern was “pressured” into spying on their opponents in what the EFL called a “contrived and determined” plan (More) | Southampton have shared footage of their training session to try to prove they gained no advantage when spying on Middlesbrough (More)
> UEFA Women’s Champions League final between eight-time winners OL Lyonnes and three-time winners Barcelona takes place on Saturday (May 23) at 17:00 BST (12:00 ET) (More) | Uefa has named Morgan Rogers as the Europa League player of the season following Aston Villa winning the trophy (More)
> The German DFB Pokal final takes place on Saturday (May 23) between Bayern Munich and Stuttgart (More) | Manuel Neuer has officially been called up for Germany’s World Cup squad two years after retiring from international football (More); see the full Germany squad (More)
> The Coupe de France final takes place on Friday (May 22) between Lens and Nice (More)
> The Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Dunfermline Athletic kicks off on Saturday (May 23) at 15:00 BST / 10:00 ET (More) | Hearts have expressed concerns about the “troubling precedent” set by the Scottish title decider against Celtic last weekend, which was ended before the match officially finished due to a pitch invasion (More)
Americas
> FOX Sports has confirmed that Thiago Alcantara and John Obi Mikel will be part of their analyst team for the World Cup (More) | New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has negotiated with Fifa to secure 1,000 tickets for the World Cup priced at $50 (£37) for New York residents (More)
> Canada is expected to spend just over C$1bn (£540m; $727m) to host the World Cup this summer, a report from the federal budget watchdog confirms (More)
> Inter Miami are the preferred destination for Brazilian midfielder Casemiro (More) | Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew have advanced to the 2026 US Open Cup semi-finals following wins against San Jose and New York City, respectively (More) | See upcoming MLS matches (More) and Conference Standings (More)
> The Liga MX Clausura final first leg between Cruz Azul and Pumas UNAM will conclude shortly after publication (Live Result)
> NWSL’s leaders Portland Thorns have maintained their position at the top of the table with a 2-0 win over Bay FC (More); see all NWSL fixtures (More) and Standings (More)
> USL Championship’s Western Conference is tight at the top with just four points separating first-placed San Antonio FC and sixth-placed Phoenix Rising; see the upcoming USL Championship fixtures (More) and Conference Standings (More)
Rest of the World
> Juan Mata has won the Johnny Warren medal for best men’s A-League player of the season (More) | The Australian A-League men’s grand final between Auckland and Sydney will take place on Saturday (May 23) at 18:10 AEST; read a full preview (More); dive deeper into how Auckland are leading a golden era for New Zealand football (More)
> China’s football governing body has added 17 people to its lifetime ban list for match-fixing and gambling (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Should football use a stop clock?
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👍 Yes (35%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope (60%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (5%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 V.B: “It’s clean. The referee’s whistle controls when the clock stops and starts, so there is none of the petty time-wasting so prevalent in today’s game. In addition, the fans can see exactly what time remains so that there is no question of a referee adding unlimited time during extra play.”
👍 B.H: “The argument on added time to broadcasts holds no water, when matches can have up to twenty minutes added time for both halves.”
🙅♂️ L.J: “I understand the need to combat time wasting, but as a viewer of US collegiate soccer I can say the stopped clock is frustrating. The running clock is part and parcel of the game, and the official still can decide to add time anyway, so it becomes just as unclear about how much time is left as the running clock.”
🙅♂️ S.S: “This just feels like a way for the MLS to slowly introduce breaks akin to U.S TV timeouts, a la 'hydration break'. We already have that nonsense, and ads literally in the middle of possessions.”
✍️ K.P: “I think it is worth trialling through a cup competition to see if it produces less 'time wasted' throughout. The new keeper holding the ball rule has definitely improved one part of this problem, but how will this be managed and by who? The average time for an American football game is a massive three hours and 12 minutes, for a game that should be just 60 minutes! Are we looking at games that could go on for four hours or more?”
EXTRA TIME
GK (literally) faints after making the Brazil World Cup squad.
What tactics might Alonso use at Chelsea?
Liga MX will return to EA Sports’ video game.
Brighton’s unique 125th anniversary shirt.
Who are the most likely first-time World Cup winners?
The season-by-season story of Arsenal’s return to title glory.
What was the Calciopoli Scandal?
Liverpool to release two original films to celebrate Salah and Robertson.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Who holds the record for the most goals in the men’s Fifa World Cup history?
Scroll below for the answer.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
I couldn’t watch City game. I could hear noises from inside, then my son opened the door, ran towards me… he was crying and he said ‘we are champions daddy’.
Answer
Miroslav Klose (Germany, 16 goals across four tournaments).
