GM football fans. It’s Monday, July. 21 - Fifa confirms Chelsea are the first ever Club World Cup winners, there are new favourites for the Women’s Euro, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
TOP TALKING POINTS
FIFA Downgrades CWC Winners
FIFA has officially announced Chelsea as the “first-ever” Club World Cup champions following their 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain. With the inaugural expanded tournament taking place this year, the previous winners of the tournament will now be known as ‘Fifa Intercontinental Champions’. See the full list of previous winners here.
The competition began as a one-off tournament in 2000, known as the Club World Championship, with eight teams. It then evolved into an annual competition featuring seven teams between 2005 and 2023, before being expanded to 32 teams every four years starting in 2025.
In related news, Fifa claims that more than two billion people viewed the Club World Cup for free through streaming platform DAZN, while close to 2.5 million fans attended matches. These figures are unverified.
New Euro Favourites
The semi-finals of the Uefa Women’s Euro 2025 have been confirmed. England will face Italy on Tuesday (July 22), and Germany will play Spain on Wednesday (July 23).
England, following a penalty shootout victory over Sweden in the quarter-finals, are now the 36.5% favourites to win the tournament, according to Opta’s prediction model. They’ve overtaken previous favourites Spain, who are now projected to have a 31% chance of winning the competition. Both sides are expected to reach the final, which takes place on Sunday, July 27.
While Spain have won all four of their matches, scoring 16 and conceding just four, the model favours England due to the difficulty of their semi-final opponents. Germany, who are given a 23.4% chance of winning, are unbeaten in eight meetings with Spain, having won five and drawn three, with a combined goal tally of 18–3. Meanwhile, Italy (8%) are ranked eight places below England.
Dive deeper into the final four’s key stats here.
Italy’s Stadium Shortage
UEFA has confirmed that only one Italian stadium, Juventus’ Allianz Stadium in Turin, currently meets the standards to host Euro 2032 matches. Italy is co-hosting the tournament with Turkey and must submit a list of five fully compliant stadiums by October 2026.
While the Italian FA initially proposed ten stadiums, iconic venues such as San Siro in Milan, Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, and Stadio Olimpico in Rome have all been deemed unsuitable in their current state. The San Siro, which was ruled out as a venue for the 2027 Champions League final, is expected to undergo renovations to be completed by 2031.
Italy’s clubs are struggling to rebuild or renovate stadiums, as public bodies often own the facilities and projects get caught up in bureaucratic red tape. Only six Italian stadiums were built or redeveloped between 2007 and 2024, compared with 19 in Germany, 13 in England, and 12 in France. The Italian government is now working on a plan to appoint a special commissioner with the power to fast-track projects worth $5bn.
POLL
Are FIFA right to downgrade previous Club World Cup winners now that the format has expanded?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Marcus Rashford is travelling to Barcelona after a season-long loan deal for the forward was agreed with Manchester United (More / Non-paywalled link)
> Arsenal complete the signing of Noni Madueke from Chelsea for an initial fee of £48.5m (More) | Bryan Mbeumo completes his Manchester United medical ahead of the £71m move from Brentford (More) | Liverpool have bid £69m plus add-ons for Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike (More); dive deeper into Ekitike’s play-style (More)
> Real Madrid are considering selling Vinicius Junior if he doesn’t reduce his salary demands of €30m net per year and a renewal bonus, making him the highest-paid player in the team (More)
Americas
> Lionel Messi bags another brace and two assists in Inter Miami’s 5-1 over NY Red Bulls; watch his assist (More); Messi’s second goal took his career non-penalty goals to 764, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 763 (More) | San Diego remain top of the Western Conference, while Cincinnati remain top of the Eastern Conference; See all MLS results (More)
> Toluca remain top of the Liga MX Apertura standings after two matches following a 4-2 win over Santos Laguna; Pachuca move to second in the league after a 3-2 win over Pumas (See Standings)
> FC Tulsa lead the USL Championship Western Conference after a 90+5 minute equaliser against Louisville City’s 90+2 minute opener (Highlights) | Charleston Battery win three in a row with a 3-0 victory over Miami FC to maintain their Eastern Conference lead (Standings)
Rest of the World
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ROUTERS’ VOICE
Friday’s Poll: Staying on the theme of rule changes, do you think that rebounds on penalties should be scrapped?
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ 👏 Yes (45%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope (52%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
👏 T.F: “The goalie is never at any advantage on penalties (and probably should not be given his teammate penalised in the box). But eliminating rebounds would provide some reward for blocking a penalty kick, all of which is forgotten the minute the penalty taker scores on a rebound.”
🙅♂️ J.D: “They are a completely natural part of the game, scrapping it is unnatural and unnecessary. Penalties are supposed to hurt the team that concede them.”
🙅♂️ M.B: “How could eliminating an exciting and competitive element of the game benefit football? Concentrate on penalising encroachment with yellow cards! Ifab need to spend time sorting out the handball rule, not creating unnecessary and unwarranted additional rules.”
EXTRA TIME
All the changes to FPL this season.
Hartsberg’s kit has 17 front-of-shirt sponsors.
Why Euro 2025 is statistically the worst for penalty success.
Jesse Lingard scores a stunner for FC Seoul.
… but everyone’s talking about this save.
Which clubs put most faith in young players?
Premier League pre-season results and fixtures.
Ranking Barcelona’s best-ever No. 10s.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Kevin De Bryune will wear Napoli’s No. 10 shirt next season. Can you recall which shirt numbers he wore at Manchester City, Wolfsburg, Chelsea, and the Belgium national team?
Clue: They are all different.
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
Japanese J1 League
Avispa Fukuoka vs. Kyoto Sanga (10:00)
*All times in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.
Answer
Man City: 17. Wolfsburg: 14. Chelsea: 15. Belgium NT: 7.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
We have been saying this, both pre season and before the season started.
