Good morning. The Premier League’s new season kicks off today, the MLS is reportedly planning a major play-off overhaul, and everything else you need to know.
KEY FIXTURES
Premier League MD1: Arsenal vs Coventry City, Fri 21, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Arsenal have won their opening match in each of the last four Premier League seasons, and have won 17 of 18 league games against promoted sides since the start of the 2023-24 season. Coventry’s return to the top flight comes after 25 years and 94 days, the longest gap in the competition’s history. Hull City vs Manchester United, Sat 22, 12:30 BST / 07:30 ET. Man United haven’t lost when facing a newly promoted side in their first game of the season, and Hull haven’t won in all 10 Premier League meetings with the Red Devils. Manchester City vs Bournemouth, Sun 23, 14:00 BST / 09:00 ET. This is Enzo Maresca’s first league game in charge of Man City, and he may take confidence from the club having won 14 of their last 15 opening Premier League games. Bournemouth, though, hadn’t lost any of their last 18 Premier League games of the 2025-26 season under former manager Andoni Iraola. See every Premier League fixture here.
TOP TALKING POINTS
MLS Play-Off Overhaul
Major League Soccer is reportedly planning an overhaul of its play-off format, The Guardian reports. The changes, which would coincide with the league’s calendar shift in 2028, could include a “double elimination” and see as many as 20 teams feature. The new system appears designed in part to place greater importance on regular-season performance.
Specifically, the new play-off format relies on MLS’s reported shift to five regular-season divisions, replacing the Eastern and Western Conferences. At the end of the season, all teams would be ranked in a single table, with the top 20 qualifying for the play-offs. The bottom eight of those would enter a play-in round, with four advancing to join the other 12 in a final field of 16. The top eight seeds would enter a double-elimination round, in which a win sends a team straight to the quarter-finals and a defeat does not end their run. Teams would be re-seeded after every round.
Should this plan go ahead, it would represent another significant change to an MLS post-season format that has been repeatedly revised since the league’s inception. The post-season originally had eight of its then-10 teams qualify for the play-offs, with the conference semi-finals and finals played as best-of-three series. The format has been tweaked several times since, including the move to a single-elimination format in 2019.
VAR Protests
Fans in Germany are set to protest VAR use during the first round of the German Cup this weekend. While the technology will not be used in the first round, it will be introduced in the second round for the first time this season.
“In the Cup first round we see football as it should be - without VAR and therefore authentic, immediate and full of emotion,” a letter circulating among fans read. “We want to return to this state permanently and therefore demand the abolition of the Video Assistant Referee in German football.” The letter has gained traction, even as VAR’s remit expands in the new German season, following some of the changes introduced at the World Cup.
German fans aren’t the only ones in Europe to protest against VAR. Sweden became the first European country to reject the introduction of VAR in 2024, after a majority of elite clubs had formally opposed it in 2023. Norwegian fans also threw fishcakes, tennis balls and smoke bombs onto pitches in protest against the use of VAR.
3 pm Blackout Decision
A decision on ending the 3 PM blackout for football matches in the UK could be made by the end of next season, according to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters. Talks about removing the blackout centre around the next TV rights deals, with the current cycle set to expire at the end of the 2028-29 season.
The blackout, in place since the 1960s, means matches cannot be broadcast live on television in the UK between 14:45 and 17:15 on a Saturday afternoon. The FA enforced the tradition when the English Football League requested the change to protect attendance in the lower leagues. However, with domestic media rights values plateauing or declining in parts of Europe, there is pressure to unlock new inventory. This comes despite the Premier League showing a record 267 matches live in the UK last season.
The decision will also be made against the backdrop of the Premier League launching ‘Premier League+’, its own direct-to-consumer streaming platform, in Singapore. It is a testing ground for whether the model can be replicated elsewhere, and any eventual UK rollout would have to reckon with the blackout.
ON THE BALL
Europe
• Real Madrid will play their first game of the La Liga season on Saturday (Aug 22) away at Espanyol, while Barcelona will face Elche away from home on Sunday (Aug 23); see all La Liga fixtures (More) | The Italian Serie A kicks off with favourites Inter facing Monza on Saturday (Aug 22); see Opta’s Serie A projections (More)
• Paris Saint-Germain’s Parc des Princes pitch is “severely damaged” due to heat, forcing them to move their opening Ligue 1 fixture (More); see all upcoming Ligue 1 Matchday 1 fixtures (More)
• Newcastle United are investing £190m in a training facility that will be ready to use from the 2029-30 season (More)
• Ronaldinho has technically joined Serie C side Ravenna FC aged 46, but hasn’t said if he will play for the club he has taken a stake in (More)
Americas
• Lionel Messi scored his first goal since returning from the World Cup in Inter Miami’s 2-2 draw with Philadelphia (Watch); see all MLS results and upcoming fixtures (More)
• Gotham FC will try to maintain their NWSL lead when they face Angel City on Sunday (Aug 23); see upcoming NWSL fixtures (More) and Standings (More)
• Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium will host the opening match and the final of the Women’s World Cup next year (More)
• USL Long Island has been awarded a USL franchise and plans to have a USL League One team in 2028 (More) | USL Championship Eastern Conference leaders Tampa Bay Rowdies face third-place Detroit City on Saturday (Aug 22); see all upcoming fixtures (More) and Standings (More)
Rest of the World
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think set pieces will be as important as they were last season?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ⬜️ 👍 Yes (76%)
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (20%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (4%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 J.H: “Yes. There are goals to be had in drawing up set-piece ‘plays’, so managers will spend time refining the techniques to grab that goal that might turn a loss into a draw or a draw into a win. Plus, the fear of falling behind to others adopting the trend is a strong motivation in its own right.”
👍 A.A: “Teams throughout the league realised just how important well-run set pieces can be last year. If anything, they will be more important this year as teams dedicate more resources and strategy to choreographing both attacking set pieces and defending them. In some ways I think we'll see set plays start to look like American football plays.”
🙅♂️ M.R: “I'm not sure we will ever see levels again like 25-26. Set pieces are still massively important, but I think they have reached their peak.”
EXTRA TIME
Assessing the first five fixtures for every Premier League club.
… and BBC pundits predict the top four.
Five World Cup talents to watch in Serie A.
How women’s kits are changing the game.
Guardiola and Walker’s dressing room feud.
The inside story on how Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plans were reported.
The final FPL teams of three former champions.
GAME FACE ON
Question: With the signing of Rodri, Barcelona has now signed three Ballon d’Or winners, two of them in the 1970s. Can you name the other two?
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.
Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins.
Answer
Johan Cruyff in 1973 & Allan Simonsen in 1979.
Note on yesterday’s trivia: keen-eyed readers also noted that Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Robert Lewandowski are each also their nation's record goalscorer.