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Good morning football fans. It’s Friday, Mar. 27 - FIFA announces the final round for World Cup tickets, the French league has approved PSG’s request to postpone their domestic match against title rivals Lens, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
International friendlies (Mar 27): England vs. Uruguay, 19:45 GMT / 15:45 ET. England have kept a clean sheet in 11 of their last 12 matches, including the last six in a row. Meanwhile, Uruguay lost their last match, suffering a 5-1 defeat to the USA. Netherlands vs. Norway, 19:45 GMT / 15:45 ET. Norway are undefeated in their last five matches with an aggregate score of 25-5 across those games, including an 11-1 win over Moldova. The Netherlands, too, are undefeated in their last five games, including three 4-0 wins. Spain vs. Serbia, 20:00 GMT / 16:00 ET. Serbia have faced Spain on three previous occasions, suffering a 3-0 defeat when the pair last met in October 2024, but they did hold La Roja to a 0-0 draw in September 2024. Spain are ranked first in Fifa’s men’s World rankings. See all the international friendlies this weekend here.
Results…
European World Cup qualifying play-offs semi-finals: Turkey 1-0 Romania | Czech 2-2 Rep. Ireland (Czech won 4-3 on pens) | Denmark 4-0 N. Macedonia | Italy 2-0 N. Ireland | Poland 2-1 Albania | Slovakia 3-4 Kosovo | Ukraine 1-3 Sweden | Wales 1-1 Bosnia (Bosnia won 4-2 on pens)
Intercontinental World Cup qualifying play-off semi-finals: Bolivia vs. Suriname & New Caledonia vs. Jamaica conclude shortly after publication (Live result)
International friendlies: Brazil 1-2 France
Correction from yesterday’s Key Fixtures section. We mistakenly referred to the Republic of Ireland playing Italy when it was Northern Ireland. We regret this error and updated the online version as soon as we could. We place corrections at the top of the newsletter to maximise transparency and trust.
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TOP TALKING POINTS
Final World Cup Ticket Sales
The fourth and final phase of 2026 World Cup ticket sales will take place on April 1 at 11:00 AM ET. The tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and will remain open through the end of the tournament.
Unlike in previous sales phases, fans will be able to immediately see the matches and categories for which tickets are available. The governing body recommended that fans who want tickets should frequently check the ticket page as they will be released on a rolling basis, including some same-day tickets for matches.
Fifa claims more than one million tickets were sold during the previous sales window, which closed in February, underlining what it continues to describe as “unprecedented” demand. The governing body also says the cumulative attendance record of 3.5 million, set at the 1994 World Cup, will be surpassed during this year’s competition.
Premier League Legal Action
Everton are considering legal action against the Premier League for the handling of Chelsea’s sanctions for undisclosed payments. Chelsea were fined £10.75m and given a suspended transfer ban after self-reporting £47.5m of hidden payments to agents made during the previous ownership. However, Everton and other top-flight clubs believe the punishment was too lenient.
During the 2023-24 season, Everton were docked eight points for breaching the league’s Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) regulations. Chelsea didn’t receive a similar sporting sanction because they wouldn’t have breached PSR rules during the relevant period even if the secret payments had been accounted for, so the Premier League reportedly felt a points deduction - or similar - was not appropriate. However, the Premier League’s judgment does not mention Chelsea’s “sporting advantage”, despite the club winning eight trophies (including two Premier League titles) during that period. Nottingham Forest also share Everton’s grievances, having also been deducted four points in 2023-24 for a PSR breach.
The Guardian also reports that clubs are concerned that Chelsea’s punishment could set a precedent before the verdict on Manchester City’s 115 charges. It’s unclear whether this is true and if there’s enough overlap between the cases to set a precedent.
PSG Match Delay Approved
The French league has postponed the Ligue 1 fixture between Lens and leaders Paris Saint-Germain despite the home side’s rejection of the proposal. The match between the first and second-placed sides in France’s top-flight, with only one point separating them, was scheduled for April 11 and was sandwiched between PSG’s Champions League quarter-final ties against Liverpool. The match will now be played on May 13.
Earlier this week, Lens rejected a request to move the fixture on the grounds that domestic competition should be respected despite continental commitments. Lens, who are looking for their first Ligue 1 title since 1998, will now have 15 days of inactivity, followed by three games in eight days between April 17 and April 24. Further, Strasbourg’s game at Brest on April 12 was also postponed by the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) because it fell between Strasbourg’s Conference League quarter-final ties against German club Mainz.
The LFP said they’ve made the decision to allow clubs to “prepare in the best conditions” for their European ties. It justified the decisions by arguing they were in line with its "strategic direction" to "enable France to retain its fifth place in the Uefa coefficient".
POLL
Should international friendlies focus on experimentation or consolidating your best squad?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Liverpool will raise ticket prices in line with inflation for the next three seasons, but will freeze junior and local general tickets to £9 each (More) | Tottenham defender Cristian Romero has a release clause in his contract that would allow him to leave for €60m to Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Atletico Madrid, despite signing a new contract last summer (More)
> Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser al-Khelaifi has been referred to the Paris prosecutor for alleged illegal interest linked to the 2024 Ligue 1 TV rights talks, French outlet L’Equipe reports (More)
> The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel has declared another four VAR errors by referees, taking the total to 54 (More)
> Uli Hoeneß, honorary president of Bayern Munich, says rumours linking Michael Olise away from the club are false and the club won’t sell him even for “200 million” (More)
Americas
> Expansion side Denver Summit beat Gotham FC 2-0 for their first NWSL victory in history (More); see all the upcoming NWSL fixtures (More) and standings (More)
> USMNT will face Belgium, and Canada’s men’s team will face Iceland in international friendlies on Saturday (Mar 28) (More)
> Mauricio Culebro has been selected as president of soccer for MLS Atlanta United and the NWSL’s next expansion team, which will debut in 2028 (More)
> USL Championship Eastern Conference leaders Louisville City FC travel to Brooklyn FC on Saturday (Mar 28), while Western Conference leaders Oakland Roots SC host Orange County SC on Sunday (Mar 29); see all fixtures (More) and Conference Standings (More)
Rest of the World
> The Asian Cup finals draw, which was due to be held on April 11, has been postponed due to the war in the Middle East (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Does Mo Salah make it into your all-time Premier League XI?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (57%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (40%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 M.M: “Mo Salah is the greatest right-winger in Premier League history. The stats back it. The records back it. The trophies back it. Give it 10 years and all the haters will be looking back with rose-tinted glasses.”
👍 P.R: “Even when he's playing against you, he's one of those players you can't help but admire. When he scored an amazing second after a cleverly worked first against us, I was sitting behind the goal and, like anyone who knows anything about football, who was there, just thought I was privileged to see that. We lost 5-1, and I hated him, but he's in an elite group of players that are worth the admission price on their own.”
🙅♂️ B.S: “If you’re going purely off numbers, maybe. But I judge players by the way they make me feel when I watch them, and Salah’s style, though effective, doesn’t give me much joy. I’d take David Beckham on the right midfield.”
EXTRA TIME
How he got the nickname 'Pele'.
A popular non-league team request their own relegation.
The fastest goal in women’s football history is just 4.1 seconds.
Haaland donates Norway’s most expensive book in the country’s history.
Capturing Mexico’s oldest club with a 1894 film camera.
Is the MLS ready for global competitiveness?
GAME FACE ON
Question: Which Premier League Hall of Famer is famously the only player in the history of the competition whose entire surname is composed of Roman numerals?
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 played as a defender all my life… I do not want to coach defensive football.
Answer
Vidic.
