Historic World Cup Run Ends

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For the first time in World Cup history, the Spanish national team will not feature a Real Madrid player in their squad. At the start of the season, at least four Real players could’ve made the squad, including Dani Carvajal, Dean Huijsen, Alvaro Carreras, and Gonzalo Garcia. However, they endured a relatively poor campaign, going trophyless and finishing eight points behind Barcelona in La Liga. See the Spain World Cup squad here.

Barcelona is the most represented club in Luis de la Fuente’s squad, with eight players called up, which is also the largest contingent from any single club across all nations. Lamine Yamal, who will be appearing in his first World Cup, is expected to miss Spain’s opening match against Cape Verde due to a hamstring injury. Elsewhere, seven Premier League players feature in the Spain squad, including Arsenal’s Mikel Merino, who has recovered from a four-month absence with a stress fracture in his foot.

Spain are 15.4% favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, according to Opta’s prediction model, while the 2010 winners are second favourites behind France on a popular predictions market. See Spain’s World Cup kit here.

Arsenal’s Premier League title win is expected to earn the club almost £200m ($269m), according to calculations by The Athletic. The calculations, based on club sources and projections, suggest that Arsenal will earn around £27.3m more in broadcast revenue from the Premier League than last season’s champions, Liverpool. See the unofficial prize money for each Premier League side here.

Five clubs this season — Arsenal, Man City, Man United, Aston Villa, and Liverpool — are all projected to exceed the single-season record set by Manchester City (£176.2m) in the 2022-23 season. The marked rise in revenues is thought to be a result of an increase in ‘merit’ payments, where clubs are paid more based on league position. While this has been a concept since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, the league has raised the merit payments this season to £3.76m per position, up from last season’s £2.65m. Arsenal are understood to have earned £75.2m in merit payments, which is 42% more than Liverpool’s £53.1m in 2024-25.

On the final day, six clubs — Chelsea, Brentford, Sunderland, Newcastle, Everton, and Fulham — could have finished in any of six different positions, which The Athletic estimates represented an £18.8m difference in prize money. Meanwhile, Bournemouth, Brighton, and Brentford each finished in the top 10 and improved their prize money by at least £17m.

Argentina captain Lionel Messi was substituted in the 73rd minute of Inter Miami’s 6-4 win over Philadelphia Union with an apparent leg injury, just 23 days before Argentina’s World Cup opener against Algeria. The 38-year-old went straight down the tunnel after appearing to ask to be substituted early, with the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner feeling his leg before leaving the pitch. It was the first time this season that Messi hadn’t completed the full 90 minutes.

At the time of writing, the severity of Messi’s injury is unknown, though he has dealt with hamstring injuries on at least two occasions during his three-year stint with Miami. The previous instances were soft-tissue injuries, with the team immediately ordering an MRI to determine the severity. Messi also suffered an inflamed Achilles before the last World Cup, which Argentina won, and he played every minute across the seven matches in the tournament.

Messi has been in great form ahead of the World Cup. He has scored five goals and assisted seven in his last five games, and he has 20 goal contributions (13 goals, seven assists) in 16 matches this year.

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> Harry Kane has officially won the European Golden Boot with 36 goals, with Erling Haaland (27) and Kylian Mbappe (25) making up the rest of the top three (More); see how the European Golden Boot is calculated (More)

> Notts County have been promoted to League One after their 3-0 play-off final win over Salford City, the club co-owned by Gary Neville and David Beckham (More) | Derby County are in talks with Saudi sports chief Turki Alalshikh over a potential investment deal (More)

> West Ham are expected to part ways with manager Nuno Espirito Santo after their relegation from the Premier League (More) | AFC Bournemouth have confirmed that the city’s council has approved the club’s redevelopment plans for the Vitality Stadium (More)

> Antonio Conte is leaving Napoli after two years at the club, during which he led the team back to the Serie A title (More) | Gennaro Gattuso is set to become the new Lazio manager to replace Maurizio Sarri (More) | AC Milan have sacked Massimiliano Allegri with immediate effect after missing out on Champions League qualification (More)

> Women’s Super League Golden Boot winner Khadija Shaw has signed a new four-year contract at Manchester City (More)

> Canada Soccer has announced the 32 players who will report to CANMNT training camp in Charlotte ahead of Jesse Marsch's selection of his final squad for the World Cup on Friday (May 29) (More)

> Colombia has announced its World Cup squad, with James Rodriguez set to feature in his third tournament (More); re-watch his iconic 2014 World Cup goal (More)

> The Copa Libertadores group stage will conclude this week, with the final round of matches; see a breakdown of each group (More)

> Cruz Azul beat Pumas UNAM 2-1 (agg 2-1) with a stoppage-time winner in the Liga MX Clausura final, taking their total to 10 titles in the club’s history (More)

> Wilfried Zaha’s loan at Charlotte FC has come to an end, and he will return to Turkish side Galatasaray (More) | The Portland Timbers have mutually parted ways with head coach Phil Neville (More)

> Portland Thorns drop to second place in the NWSL table following a 3-1 loss to KC Current (More); see the NWSL standings (More)

> Mamelodi Sundowns won its second African Champions League title, beating FAR Rabat 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in the second leg of the final (More)

Yesterday’s Poll: Which continent will have the strongest showing at the 2026 World Cup?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🌍 Europe (78%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🌎 South America (15%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🌎 North/Central America (3%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🌍 Africa (3%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🌏 Asia/Oceania (1%)

Your punditry takes:

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The teams already qualified for next season’s Champions League.

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BBC’s Premier League team of the season.

Question: Mohamed Salah scored 257 goals for Liverpool. Can you name the only two players to have scored more than the Egyptian with 346 and 285 goals, respectively?

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

Ian Rush (346) and Roger Hunt (285).