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Good morning football fans. It’s Friday, July. 3 - The British transfer record has been broken, the United States can’t appeal a crucial red card, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
2026 World Cup round of 32 (July 3): Australia vs Egypt, 14:00 ET / 19:00 BST. Australia took four points from the group stage after having only lost one game in 17 matches prior to the competition. Egypt, who picked up five points from their three group stage matches, are seeking to reach the World Cup last 16 for the first time since 1934. Argentina vs Cape Verde, 18:00 ET / 23:00 BST. Argentina will look to extend their 10-match winning streak across major international competitions. Debutants Cape Verde are looking for their first World Cup win after drawing all three group stage matches against Spain (0-0), Uruguay (2-2), and Saudi Arabia (0-0). Colombia vs Ghana, 21:30 ET / 02:30 BST (July 4). Colombia were impressive in the group stage, picking up seven points from their three matches to finish at the top of Group K, two points ahead of Portugal. Ghana advanced through the third-place pathway, and they have only one win in their last six matches in all competitions. See every 2026 World Cup fixture here and bracket here.
Results…
World Cup round of 32: Spain vs Austria | Portugal vs Croatia | Switzerland vs Algeria (Live Results)
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TOP TALKING POINTS
British Transfer Record Broken
Elliot Anderson is set to become the most expensive British player ever as Manchester City have agreed to sign him for £116m ($155m) from Nottingham Forest. The 23-year-old surpasses the £115m package Real Madrid paid when they signed Jude Bellingham in 2023. He also becomes the third-most expensive signing by a Premier League club in history, behind only Liverpool’s £125m spend on Alexander Isak and £116.5m on Florian Wirtz last summer.
Last season, Anderson led the Premier League for duels won (298), possessions won (306), and fouls won (80). He also completed more passes than any other central midfielder (2,038) and led in line-breaking passes, with 376. Off the ball, Anderson covered 411km across the season, second only to Everton’s James Garner, while also completing the second-most high-intensity pressures among midfielders (1,895). Dive deeper into how Anderson will fit Man City’s system here.
Willie Groves set the first recorded British transfer record at £100 in 1893. Kevin Keegan then became the first £500,000 British transfer in 1977, moving from Liverpool to Hamburger SV, and two years later, Trevor Francis became Britain’s first £1m player with his move from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest. Jack Grealish later became the first £100m British player with his move to Man City from Aston Villa in 2021.
Red Card Controversy
Teams cannot appeal a red card during an ongoing World Cup tournament, a Fifa official has told The Athletic. It means that the United States do not have a mechanism to overturn striker Folarin Balogun’s red card during their round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead, the US can only appeal to Fifa’s disciplinary committee if Balogun was suspended beyond the mandatory one-game suspension, which is unlikely.
Balogun, who scored the US’s first of two goals, was sent off in the middle of the second half for landing on the ankle of defender Tarik Muharemovic (see incident here). While the referee initially waved off the incident, VAR believed Balogun was dangerous in his play and recommended the referee visit the pitchside monitor. The decision has been widely considered controversial, with former Select Group referee Andy Davies writing for ESPN that “this was not a red card offence” as “the contact from Balogun on Muharemovic, while it looked bad in slow motion, was purely accidental and an unfortunate result from two players challenging for possession of the ball in a normal football movement.”
The US will now play Belgium in the round of 16 on July 6, where they will chase their first World Cup quarter-final appearance in more than two decades. Opta’s prediction model struggles to separate the two sides, though it gives the US a razor-thin margin with a 50.06% chance of advancing.
World Cup Ticket Prices
Tickets for England’s round-of-16 fixture against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca are available for a minimum of about £2,600 on Fifa’s resale platform. The cheapest ticket in the “supporter value” category was originally sold for £224 but was listed at £2,280. After Fifa’s purchase fee, the total cost rose to £2,622, almost 12 times its face value.
Although Fifa is not releasing any additional tickets for the match, it still charges buyers a 15% fee on tickets sold through its resale platform. For example, one Category 1 ticket was listed at £24,101 before fees, with a further Fifa fee of £3,615 taking the total cost to about £27,716.
According to TicketData, across the 82 matches played at the time of writing, the median seven-day change in the cheapest listed resale price was an increase of 9%, while the median final ‘get-in’ price was $870. Price movements varied substantially by fixture, with nine matches seeing increases of more than 50% and five seeing declines of more than 50%.
POLL
Is Elliot Anderson worth £116m?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Tottenham have completed a club-record signing of Mateus Fernandes from West Ham for £85m (More) | Tottenham are set to break their transfer record for the second time in a week as they have agreed a £100m deal for Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali (More)
> Players will not automatically be sent off for covering their mouths during confrontations in Uefa competitions, as they can be at the World Cup (More) | Czech side MFK Karvina have been declared ineligible to participate in the 2026-27 Uefa Europa League due to involvement in match-fixing (More)
> Former Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla has retired from professional football at the age of 41, a year after helping his boyhood club Real Oviedo return to La Liga for the first time in 24 years (More)
> A peak audience of 16.3 million people watched England’s win over DR Congo in the World Cup on the BBC (More)
> Germany forward Nicole Anyomi has joined London City Lionesses on a four-year contract (More) | Lucy Bronze has signed a contract extension at Chelsea Women until 2027 (More)
Americas
> The round of 16 matches at the 2026 World Cup begin on Saturday (July 4) with Canada vs Morocco (13:00 ET / 18:00 BST) and Paraguay vs France (17:00 ET / 22:00 BST) (More) | Spain have advanced to the round of 16 following their 3-0 win over Austria in what was their first victory in a World Cup knockout tie since 2010 World Cup final (More)
> The NWSL returns on Friday (July 3) with Washington Spirit vs Houston Dash; see the full NWSL schedule (More) and standings (More)
Rest of the World
> Senegal’s Pape Gueye says he won’t play for the national team while the coaching staff stays (More)
> Hajime Moriyasu is expected to continue as head coach of Japan’s men’s team (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Could Kylian Mbappe be considered the greatest World Cup player ever after the 2026 World Cup?
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🐐 Yes (35%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope (62%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
🐐 R.A: “Absolutely. If Mbappe wins the 2026 World Cup, leads France to the title, breaks the all-time World Cup scoring record, and has another dominant knockout run, I think he'd have the strongest case ever. Two World Cup titles, iconic performances in multiple finals, and elite production across three tournaments would be hard to top. Pele, Messi, and Maradona would still be part of the debate, but Mbappe would have a very legitimate claim to being the greatest World Cup player of all time.”
🙅♂️ W.G: “Voting on a Greatest Player in a team sport is already tainted. Messi has carried a middling team on his back to win a World Cup; Mbappe has plenty of high-quality support. Another question: besides attacking, what else does he do? I’d give preference to the more all-around player that Messi is, even the selfless running that Kane does to get back and prevent goals. Maybe time will mature Mbappe into a total player, too. So let’s give him time yet before making that call.”
🙅♂️ R.K: “Pele is still the greatest. He played at a time when players kicked him with leather boots with studs nailed into the soles. He had the balance of a ballet dancer and the shot of a canon. Messi is number two, Mbappe three, Madonna four.”
EXTRA TIME
Every transfer in Europe’s top five leagues.
A World Cup heat tracker for every game.
Messi laughs as he’s checked by airport security.
What is the World Cup prize money?
Ranking next season’s Premier League kits.
The downfall of the USA’s football golden age.
England football fans at Wimbledon find attention wanders from the tennis.
GAME FACE ON
Who Am I…
I’ve lost two Copa America finals.
I’ve won the Europa League with Manchester United.
I’m a defender but can also play left-back.
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 told him he’s going to start the first game and be a substitute in the second because I’m going to eat him alive.
Answer
Marcus Rojo.
