GM football fans. It’s Friday, Oct. 24 - Lionel Messi extends his contract with Inter Miami, football’s $500m fraud case has spotlighted ownership checks, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
Premier League MD9: Brentford vs. Liverpool, Saturday 25, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Liverpool have lost their last three Premier League games, as many losses as they suffered in their previous 39. Meanwhile, Brentford have lost just one of their five competitive home games under Keith Andrews. Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace, Sunday 26, 14:00 BST / 09:00 ET. League leaders Arsenal have won seven of eight matches at the Emirates when in first place, scoring 28 goals in those games. Palace could prove stubborn, having drawn eight of their last 14 Premier League matches, winning five matches in that time. See every Premier League Matchday 9 fixture here.
La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, Sunday 26, 15:15 BST / 10:15 ET. Madrid are top of the La Liga table, two points clear of second-placed Barcelona. Despite Madrid’s strong start, Hansi Flick's Barcelona won all four matches against Los Blancos in all competitions last season. However, both sides are hampered by injuries–see potential line-ups here.
Results…
Europa League: Brann 3-0 Rangers | Go Ahead 2-1 Aston Villa | Celtic 2-1 Sturm | Nott’m Forest 2-0 Porto | Lyon 2-0 Basel | Genk 0-0 Real Betis (Full Results)
Conference League: Crystal Palace 0-1 AEK Larnaca | AEK Athens 6-0 Aberdeen (Full Results)
MLS Cup play-in: Chicago 3-1 Orlando | Portland 3-1 Salt Lake
TOP TALKING POINTS
Messi Extends MLS Stay
Lionel Messi has signed a contract extension with Inter Miami, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2028 MLS season. In July 2023, the Argentine forward originally signed as a Designated Player on a two-and-a-half-year contract. Watch Miami’s announcement video here.
Securing Messi’s signature will be viewed as a success by Inter Miami. The club have been selling ticket packages and taking deposits for their new stadium for more than a year, all with the assumption that Messi would be part of the franchise. The move also comes as teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba prepare to retire at the end of the post-season.
Messi won the 2024 MLS MVP and most recently the 2025 Golden Boot, with 29 goals and 19 assists in 28 games—48 total goal contributions, just one short of Carlos Vela’s record 49 in 2019. Now 38, he has been nominated again for 2025 MVP, and could become the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons.
Football’s $500m Fraud Case
The owner of 777 Partners, a firm which owned stakes in seven football clubs, has been charged with conspiracy and fraud for allegedly cheating lenders and investors out of nearly $500m. The case has intensified scrutiny over football’s fit and proper ownership tests across Europe.
Joshua Wander, who faces up to 20 years in prison but denies the charges, allegedly doctored bank account screenshots to his creditors using Microsoft Paint, showing $8m in cash when his firm was close to bankruptcy with less than $500,000. 777 held stakes in Hertha Berlin, Genoa, Standard Liege, and a minor share in Sevilla, much of it allegedly financed through fraudulent loans, according to Bloomberg.
In 2024, 777 came close to acquiring Premier League side Everton, even extending a $200m loan to the club. Although the deal later collapsed after lenders accused the firm of fraud, the Premier League was initially “minded” to approve it, raising concerns about the league’s ownership vetting process.
MLS Play-offs Begin
The 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs begin on Friday, October 24, with the first round running through October 30. The first round is a best-of-three series, with two teams playing each other, and the first to win two games advances to the conference semi-finals. If a third game is required, it will be hosted by the team with the better seed. Aggregate score is not considered. See the MLS play-off bracket here.
The Philadelphia Union are favoured to win their first-ever MLS Cup this season after winning the 2025 Supporters' Shield for the best regular season record, according to betting markets. Notably, a team has won the regular season and playoff double just eight times in 29 years. Inter Miami, Vancouver Whitecaps, and LAFC are also among the top contenders. See a snapshot of each team competing in the play-off here.
On Thursday, MLS said its 30th regular season saw a 29% year-on-year rise in live viewership, averaging 3.7 million weekly viewers across streaming and linear platforms. The league also said that total matchday attendance reached 11.2 million, the second-highest figure in its history.
POLL
Do you think the growth of MLS is too reliant on Lionel Messi?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Alexander Isak suffered a groin injury in Liverpool’s 5-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt, but the severity is unclear (More) | Manchester City goalkeeper Scott Carson has announced his retirement aged 40 (More)
> Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts will host second-place Celtic on Sunday (Oct 26) as five points separate the two sides (More); dive deeper into Hearts’ analytical approach (More)
> UEFA Women’s Nations League semi-finals, Germany vs. France & Spain vs. Sweden kick off on Friday (Oct 24); see match previews (More)
> Serie A’s plan to host a match in Australia is in doubt following the abandonment of La Liga’s abroad fixture (More); The Western Australian government remains confident the game will go ahead (More)
Americas
> The Rockefeller Center in New York has been chosen to host Manhattan's flagship World Cup fan village (More)
> Chicago Fire win 3-1 in the MLS Cup play-in round to feature in the play-offs for the first time in 16 years (More); Portland enter the play-offs for the first time since 2021 after their 3-1 wildcard win over Real Salt Lake (More)
> The NWSL has been added to Football Manager 26, marking the league’s debut in the game (More)
> Toluca remain top of Liga MX despite dropping points in a goalless draw to Club Tijuana; see Liga MX Apertura standings (More)
> The final USL Championship matchday of the season will be played on Saturday (Oct 25) (Full Fixtures); eight clubs are pushing for the five play-off berths on the final matchday (More)
Rest of the World
> A Fifa-organised tournament involving the Afghanistan women's refugee team has been moved from the United Arab Emirates to Morocco (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think Expected Goals (xG) is a useful stat?
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 📊 Yes (24%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope (73%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
📊 S.B: “In single games, it's less useful and is subject to all sorts of context effects. However, as viewed from a distance, it can definitely give a sense of the number and quality of chances created by a side.”
📊 E.P: “I think the fact that such a large percentage of people are voting no on this is crazy. xG is not a perfect stat. No stat is. It's also not meant to be applied to small samples, like a single game. However, over large samples, it is 100% a useful stat, and I'm pretty sure every major club's analytics department would support me on that.”
🙅♂️ V.T: “Cynically speaking, it’s a misleading stat. It shows only the value of the shot(s) taken, but doesn’t consider why the quality of the shot was good or bad. If used in isolation, it could lead to false narratives that don’t actually reflect the game. I prefer to use the good ol’ fashioned eye test.”
🙅♂️ M.B: “How accurate has the statistic been historically? Stats are worthless. They are used to produce news articles, and teams are too reliant on them. Get back to playing football. Let the players play.”
✍️ H.M: “It can assist in showing the attacking threat of a team, but given xG only takes into account shots taken and does not consider chances which do not result in a shot, it has limited use.”
EXTRA TIME
Puma launch new hi-vis winter match ball.
Benched Salah deletes Liverpool references from social media.
When did a non-Old Firm team last win a Scottish title?
Bayern unveils unique 1v1 competition in the U.S.
A day in the life of a Premier League manager. (video)
MLS announce 2025 Awards finalists.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Seventeen-year-old Lennart Karl became Bayern Munich’s youngest Champions League goalscorer on Wednesday. Whose record did he break?
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.
It's very difficult for the referees of today. Data shows that players had two seconds to think before on average, now it is half a second. The game is faster.
Answer
Jamal Musiala, who was 121 days older when he scored against Lazio four years ago.
