Final Club World Cup Team

PSG make Champions League history | Rangers takeover confirmed | Cunha to Man Utd complete

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GM football fans. It’s Monday, June. 02 - PSG become the first French treble winners, the final team has qualified for the Club World Cup, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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KEY RESULT

National League Promotion Play-off Final: Oldham Athletic 3-2 Southend United (AET). In front of a Wembley record of 52,115 for a National League final, Oldham twice came from behind to beat Southend, ending a three-year absence from the English Football League. Oldham finished fifth in the National League, five points and two places above the Shrimpers, but 29 points adrift of champions Barnet. See the full match report here.

Results…

TOP TALKING POINTS

PSG Make History

Paris Saint-Germain have won the Champions League for the first time in their history, producing the largest margin of victory in the final of the competition after beating Inter Milan 5-0. PSG’s win makes them the ninth different European side to win the treble, becoming the first French side to do so. See the most iconic photos from the night here.

Luis Enrique, who guided Barcelona to a treble a decade ago, becomes the seventh manager to win the Champions League with two different teams. The Spaniard also joins Pep Guardiola as the only two managers to have achieved two European trebles.

Desire Doue, who was named Player of the Match, became the first teenager in Champions League history to score twice in a final. No other player in history has tallied at least a goal and an assist at such a young age in a Champions League final or European Cup. Back in September, Doue hadn’t yet made his Champions League debut.

Overall, Ousmane Dembele was named Champions League Player of the Season, while Doue took home Young Player of the Season. Seven PSG players were included in Uefa’s Team of the Season, alongside Barcelona’s Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, Arsenal’s Declan Rice, and Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni. See the team of the tournament here.

CWC Final Spot Decided

Los Angeles FC have secured the final spot in the Club World Cup following their 2-1 victory over Club America in the one-off play-in match, with Denis Bouanga scoring an extra-time winner (watch here). The Major League Soccer side goes into Group D alongside Chelsea, Flamengo, and Tunisian club Esperance de Tunis. See all the Club World Cup groups here.

The play-off was held to determine the 32nd team after Club Leon were removed due to an ownership rule breach. Having qualified for the tournament, LAFC have guaranteed at least $9.55m, with the potential to win nearly $100m more from Fifa’s $1bn prize pool.

The expanded 32-team Club World Cup runs from 14 June to 13 July, hosted in the United States. LAFC will play Chelsea in Atlanta on 16 June at 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. See all the fixtures here and the teams that have qualified here.

Rangers Takeover Complete

Rangers, the fourth-oldest football club in Scotland, have been taken over by a US consortium of investors. The consortium, led by healthcare tycoon Andrew Cavenagh and the 49ers Enterprises, has acquired a 51% controlling stake in the Scottish Premiership club. A £20m investment will be made this summer, though reports suggest the majority of funding will be directed at football operations rather than player transfers.

Rangers are in the final stages of appointing a new head coach, with Davide Ancelotti and former Southampton manager Russell Martin among the frontrunners.

49ers Enterprises’ president Paraag Marathe has experience with British clubs, having led the £170m ($215m) takeover of Leeds United in July 2023. In four transfer windows under 49ers, Leeds have signed 18 first-team players and achieved automatic promotion to the Premier League this season, finishing with 100 points in the Championship.

POLL

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ON THE BALL

Europe

> Two people dead and nearly 560 people were arrested in France following Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the Champions League final (More)

> Manchester United have agreed to sign Matheus Cunha from Wolves for £62.5m (More) | Liverpool have reportedly (not confirmed) submitted a club-record €130m bid to sign Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz (More)

> Zinedine Zidane has reportedly rejected a one-year contract worth €100m from Saudi Arabia as he wants to coach the France national team (More)

> Former Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders agrees to join Manchester City’s coaching staff ahead of the Club World Cup (More)

Americas

> Cruz Azul and Vancouver Whitecaps face each other in the Concacaf Champions Cup final; the result to be determined shortly after publication (See Result)

> Lionel Messi had two goals and three assists as Inter Miami beat Columbus Crew 5-1 at home (More); see highlights (Watch) | Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia drop points in a goalless draw against Dallas, though second-place Cincinnati failed to capitalise after a 2-1 loss to D.C. United (Standings)

> The 2025 USL Jagermeister Cup round two concluded on Saturday (See Results); dive deeper into six storylines of the second round (More)

Rest of the World

> Melbourne City clinch the men’s A-League title after defeating Melbourne Victory 1-0 in the Grand Final (More)

> Cristiano Ronaldo will sign a new two-year contract with Al Nassr until June 2027; he will be 42 when the deal ends (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Friday’s Poll: Would you consider this season's Champions League campaign as one of the better campaigns?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👏 Absolutely... (61%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅‍♂️ Nope... (36%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (3%)

Your punditry takes:

  • 👏 M.G: “Regardless of the rest of the Champions League games, I believe that both Inter/Barcelona matches were some of the most exciting games I've seen in years. More of that, thank you!”

  • 👏 C.P: “The change in format this year was absolutely what was needed.”

  • 🙅‍♂️ J.L: “Great campaign personally as an Arsenal fan, reaching the final four was great. However, the new format was not appealing. The group stage games did not have the feeling of the second leg fixtures against three group members. I’ll never understand why they changed it (oh yeah, more money). Would like to see it go back to 32 teams and group two-leg fixtures. Also loved the away goal rule.”

  • ✍️ N.A.W: “It was entertaining, especially with the new format, but it lacked the upsets to make it one of the best.”

  • ✍️ J.M: “I think the early league phase was fairly dull when there were too many matches being played and no one really knew how important a win, loss, or draw was. For the final couple of league games and the knockout games, it has been a very good campaign, where there have been some high-quality matches and lots of excitement.”

EXTRA TIME

PSG arrive back in Paris as champions of Europe.

Every transfer from Europe’s top five leagues so far. (Live Tracker)

… and 75 players to watch in the summer transfer window.

The Premier League goal of the season announced.

Ranking every treble-winning team.

How a semi-pro club is leading the fashion revolution. (video)

How much has each team earned from the Champions League this season?

What Jeremie Frimpong brings to Liverpool. (Analysis)

GAME FACE ON

Question: Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-0 win over Inter Milan set a new record for the biggest margin of victory in a Champions League final, surpassing a previous 4-0 result. Can you name which final held that record?

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Internationals Women Friendlies

  • See all fixtures here.

Answer

AC Milan beat Barcelona 4-0 in the 1993-94 Champions League final.

Want more? Try our daily football Wordle – guess the name of a current or former player in six tries. Play it here.

It's so nice, but I don't need to win the Champions League to remember my daughter. My daughter is always with us.

Luis Enrique on PSG’s tifo