GM football fans. It’s Monday, Dec. 1 - Football’s lawmakers are considering changing rules around goalkeeper injuries, the MLS Cup final has been set, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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Premier League MD13: Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal. Arsenal are now five points clear of Man City at the summit and six points ahead of Chelsea and Aston Villa. Meanwhile, it was Moises Caicedo’s first red card in the Premier League after 130 appearances. West Ham 0-2 Liverpool. Liverpool sit eighth in the league, though just three points separate them from third place. Alexander Isak has scored his first Premier League goal in eight matches, ending his joint-longest scoring drought in the competition. Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United. Joshua Zirkzee scored his first Premier League goal since scoring a brace against Everton in December 2024, 364 days ago. See the Premier League table here.

Note: The Premier League returns on Tuesday (Dec 2) and Wednesday (Dec 3) with midweek games.

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Football’s lawmakers are considering forcing teams to remove an outfield player if a goalkeeper goes down injured to prevent sides from using a ‘tactical timeout’. The rule change has been spotlighted since Leeds United manager Daniel Farke accused Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma of feigning injury on Saturday to “bend the rules” so that manager Pep Guardiola could get new instructions to his side.

Since the 2023-24 season, outfield players who go down injured have been forced to take a 30-second timeout to curb time-wasting, but goalkeepers cannot be forced to leave the pitch after treatment. As such, the International Football Association Board (Ifab) discussed that, if a goalkeeper has treatment, the team must nominate another player to go off for 30 seconds in their place.

An alternative view is to ban players from going to the touchline during a stoppage so as not to penalise teams whose goalkeepers are genuinely injured. Both rules will be discussed further at Ifab’s annual business meeting on January 20.

Dive deeper into other potential law changes that are being discussed here.

Iran has decided to boycott the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington on December 5 because the U.S. reportedly denied visas to members of its delegation. Four visas were issued to Iran, but Mehdi Taj, the president of the country’s football federation, was one of the three individuals denied a visa. It’s unclear why his particular visa was denied.

A spokesperson for the Iranian football federation (FFIRI) described the decision to reject the visa application as “unrelated to sport”, and the move raises the prospect of Iran withdrawing from the tournament altogether. Iran, which has qualified for its seventh World Cup finals and fourth in succession, is one of several nations where its nationals are banned from entering America.

The federation said it had been in contact with Fifa and informed president Gianni Infantino and the Secretary General. Fifa, which recently announced its Fifa Pass for priority access to the visa application process for World Cup ticket holders, “has said it will follow up on the matter seriously,” according to the FFIRI spokesperson Amir Mehdi Alavi.

The MLS Cup final will feature Eastern Conference champions Inter Miami and Western Conference champions Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, December 6 (14:30 ET / 11:30 PT). It follows both sides' convincing Conference Final wins, with Miami beating New York City FC 5-1 (see highlights) and the Whitecaps overcoming San Diego 3-1 (see highlights).

It’ll be the first MLS final appearance for Miami, which had never made it past the opening post-season round in any of its first five seasons. They’ll host the final because they finished higher in the overall regular-season table than the Whitecaps. Lionel Messi has provided a record 13 goal contributions in the MLS Cup play-offs, with six goals and seven assists. So far this year, the 38-year-old has made 69 goal contributions (43 goals, 26 assists) in 48 games played for Miami.

Vancouver has already faced Miami twice this year, taking a pair of wins to advance to the Concacaf Champions Cup final. The club have earned a club-record 63 points during the regular season in addition to making the Concacaf Champions Cup final and winning a fourth straight Canadian Championship. Thomas Muller has produced nine goals and four assists for the Whitecaps in 12 matches across all competitions.

You know that split second the screen goes blurry—right as someone’s about to score? It might not be bad luck. It’s called “bandwidth throttling.” Internet companies watch how much data you’re using, and when they see you streaming something big—like a live match—they slow your internet down on purpose to control their network. They are watching what you watch, and they are controlling your experience.

That’s why we recommend ExpressVPN: By encrypting your traffic, ExpressVPN hides your activity from your ISP. If they can’t see you’re streaming football, they can’t throttle you. You get full speed, zero buffering, and no one to hold back your experience.

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> West Ham’s longest-serving player and former manager Billy Bonds has died at the age of 79 (More)

> Viking Stavanger have ended a 34-year drought to win the Norwegian title, holding off the challenge from Bodo/Glimt (More)

> PSG have been dealt their second Ligue 1 defeat this season after a 1-0 loss to Monaco, though second-place Marseille’s draw stopped them from overtaking the champions (More)

> Wrexham have received £18m in government grants, paid for by Welsh taxpayers (More) | Coventry maintained their 10-point lead at the top of the Championship with a 3-1 victory over Charlton, scoring 50 league goals in just 18 matches; see the Championship table (More)

> Celtic close the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership to just two points following a 2-1 win over Hibernian, while leaders Hearts dropped points again in a goalless draw away at Motherwell (More)

> Flamengo became the first Brazilian team to lift the Copa Libertadores four times with a 1-0 victory over Palmeiras (More); dive deeper into how these sides became South America’s football superpowers (More)

> Canada women’s national team fell to its fourth straight defeat with a 3-0 loss to Japan in an international friendly (More) | The United States women’s national team continue a winning streak with a 3-0 win over Italy (More)

> Sydney FC lead the Australian men’s A-League after Matchday 6 despite losing to Western Sydney (More) | Melbourne Victory cruised to a 3-0 win over Perth Glory in the women’s A-League to go top of the league (More)

Thursday’s Poll: Based on what you’ve seen so far, who do you think wins the Champions League — and why?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arsenal (57%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🇫🇷 Paris Saint-Germain (15%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🇩🇪 Bayern Munich (13%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🇮🇹 Inter Milan (2%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🇪🇸 Real Madrid (6%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (7%)

Your punditry takes:

Which countries are set to win extra Champions League places?

Historically, how bad is Liverpool’s title defence?

14 U.S. venues proposed for 2031 Women’s World Cup.

Ronaldo invests in UFC rival.

There’s nothing worse than a failed Penenka in the 99th minute.

Ashley Cole joins the Stick to Football. (podcast)

Question: Can you match these nicknames to their English clubs?

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

Derby County. Fulham. Sunderland. Norwich. Sheffield United.