European Manager Shake-Up

Together with

Good morning football fans. It’s Monday, May. 18 - Chelsea hire their fifth manager in the BlueCo era, Jose Mourinho says his Real Madrid fate will be decided this week, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

One-click email share: Send Route One to a friend with this link. (or copy URL here).

Premier League Match 37 (May 18): Arsenal vs. Burnley, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Even a win won’t yet secure the Premier League title for Arsenal after Man City’s victory over Brentford. However, with Burnley left with nothing to play for and Arsenal unbeaten in their last 19 Premier League games against them, Mikel Arteta will feel confident going into the fixture. Burnley have also never scored more than once in those 19 matches, and Arsenal have won all 10 of their Premier League games against sides already relegated that season. See the Premier League table here.

Results…

Real Madrid and Abbott are running free ID clinic events across the U.S. starting Tuesday, 19th May, open to any 18–19-year-old soccer player who wants to show up. You pay nothing. But you walk away with a free adidas jersey, a free Abbott health toolkit, and a training session run by Real Madrid coaches No registration fee. No camp fee. No catch.

And sixteen lucky players will be selected to fly to Madrid, train at Real Madrid's facilities, and meet club legends. All expenses paid.

What happens if you're not selected? You still have a free coaching session from one of the world's great clubs, get a free jersey and a health tool kit. There is genuinely no downside to attending. We thought it was too good to be true until we saw the success they had with last year's program. Six cities. Six dates. Zero cost.

A few spots remain before the open event. Register free here.

Chelsea have confirmed the appointment of Xabi Alonso as their new manager. The 44-year-old has signed a four-year deal with the Blues, becoming the fifth permanent manager under the BlueCo ownership since they took over in 2022. The former Real Madrid head coach will take charge of the Blues from 1 July in what is his first managerial role in the Premier League.

Alonso’s latest stint was at Real Madrid, where he was sacked in January after just eight months in charge. He has built his managerial career on his success at Bayer Leverkusen, where he took charge in 2022 and led the German side to a historic unbeaten Bundesliga title, a season in which they also won the German Cup and reached the Europa League final. Read more on Alonso’s managerial style here.

While Chelsea lost Saturday’s FA Cup final to Manchester City, they also sit ninth in the Premier League and are therefore currently outside the European qualification spots for next season. The Blues have spent £1.8bn ($2.4bn) on player signings since BlueCo took over in 2022, and recorded the highest pre-tax losses (£262m; $349m) in Premier League history for the year ending June 30, 2025.

EFL Championship clubs have voted for new financial rules from next season, with squad-cost ratio (SCR) replacing the existing profitability and sustainability rule (PSR), which has been in place since 2017. The new rules limit clubs to spending up to 85% of their revenues on their first-team squads, including wages, coaching staff, and amortised transfer costs.

The reason for the change is that PSR is seen as a slow and reactive way of judging a club’s finances. Under the old system, clubs were assessed on how much they lost over a rolling three-year period, which meant financial problems could build up for years before any punishment was enforced. SCR, which is already used by Uefa for clubs competing in Europe, is intended to be simpler and to allow for in-season monitoring of clubs’ spending.

However, clubs across the Championship and Premier League have been sceptical about introducing SCR. The main concern is that it favours clubs with higher revenues, because it allows them to spend more, potentially worsening competitive balance. There is also concern that it could widen the gap between the Championship and League One, as League One clubs are tightening their own version of squad-cost controls, the Salary Cost Management Protocol, from 60% to 50% of turnover.

Jose Mourinho confirmed that his agent, Jorge Mendes, is in contact with Real Madrid over his potential return for next season. The 63-year-old, who had his first spell at Los Blancos 13 years ago, is meeting with Real Madrid this week and confirmed he will make his decision then.

Mourinho said that there’s a “99% chance he stays at Benfica,” where he just went undefeated in the Portuguese Primeira Liga season. However, his side finished on 80 points, which was eight behind champions Porto and two behind second-placed Sporting. Finishing third meant that Benfica missed out on a Champions League spot in next season’s competition.

Should Mourinho return to Real Madrid, he would be joining a dressing room in disarray. On Thursday, speaking to the press after their 2-0 La Liga win over Real Oviedo, Kylian Mbappe claimed that Alvaro Arbeloa didn’t start the Frenchman because he was told that he was the fourth-choice striker by his manager. "I’m 100% fine. I haven’t played because for the coach I’ve been the fourth striker in the squad behind (Franco) Mastantuono, Vini and Gonzalo," Mbappe said. While France’s captain said he “accepted the coach’s philosophy,” Arbeloa later denied having that conversation with Mbappe. On Saturday, Arbeloa said he would be happy if Mourinho replaced him and led the club next season.

> Michael Carrick has agreed a two-year deal to become the permanent Manchester United head coach, with an official announcement expected within 24 hours (More) | Bruno Fernandes has reached 20 Premier League assists, equalling the record jointly held by Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry with a game remaining (More); dive deeper into the players with the most assists in a Premier League season (More)

> Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in Bayern Munich’s 5-1 win over Cologne in the final Bundesliga match of the season, totalling 98 goals in 94 league matches for Bayern (More); dive into the numbers of Kane’s record-breaking season (More) | Elversberg, a town with a population of just 12,800, have secured promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history (More)

> Napoli are set to sign Rasmus Hojlund from Manchester United permanently after helping the Serie A side secure Champions League qualification (More)

> Robert Lewandowski, 37, will leave Barcelona at the end of the season after having scored 119 goals in 191 games and winning three La Liga titles (More)

> Celtic defeated Hearts in the Scottish Premiership after a 3-1 win at Celtic Park, overtaking Rangers for the most Scottish top-flight titles in history with 56 (More) | The Scottish League says that the match did not end prematurely and was complete even after the pitch invasions (More)

> New York mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced the "NYC Neighborhood Passport” to encourage New Yorkers and visitors to explore the five boroughs of the city during the World Cup (More)

> Neymar is mistakenly substituted in Santos’ match against Coritiba after the referee showed the wrong number on the board (More)

> A stoppage-time winner for the Houston Dynamo to win 1-0 has ended the Vancouver Whitecaps’ seven-game unbeaten streak (More); Miami vs Portland and Nashville vs LAFC to conclude shortly after publication (Live Results); see Conference Standings (More)

> Portland Thorns can regain top spot in the NWSL with a win against Angel City, which concludes shortly after publication (Live Result); see the NWSL results (More) and Standings (More)

> USL Championship’s Indy Eleven took a 3-1 victory in the penalty shootout to earn an extra point against Fort Wayne FC after the sides played to a 2-2 draw in regulation (More); see all USL Cup round two results (More)

> Al Nassr lost the AFC Champions League Two final 1-0 to Japan’s Gamba Osaka, forcing Cristiano Ronaldo to wait for his first trophy at the club (More) | Mamelodi Sundowns beat Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces 1-0 in the first leg of the African ​Champions League final (More)

> Former Canada women’s coach Bev Priestman has led A-League Women’s side Wellington Phoenix to the final of the Australian A-League (More)

Friday’s Poll: Do you think weather conditions will negatively affect World Cup matches?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🥵 Yes (61%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅‍♂️ Nope (37%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (2%)

Your punditry takes:

Oscar-winning director to make Ancelotti doc.

Koeman’s goalkeeper son scores a penalty to prevent relegation.

Arsenal have unveiled their home kit for the 26-27 season.

Panini 1970 World Cup sticker book completed after 56 years.

Ranking every WSL team after the season’s end.

The Saudi Pro League player of the season shortlist.

How researchers created identical turf across three countries.

Question: Jose Mourinho has managed 10 different clubs. How many can you name?

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.

Answer

Benfica. Uniao de Leiria. Porto. Chelsea. Inter Milan. Real Madrid. Manchester United. Tottenham Hotspur. Roma. Fenerbahce.