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GM football fans. It’s Friday, Jan. 30 - Last year’s record transfer spending, La Liga’s unusual piracy crackdown method, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
Premier League MD24: Leeds United vs. Arsenal, Sat 31, 15:00 GMT / 10:00 ET. Arsenal have won their last six league games against Leeds by an aggregate score of 20-5. Plus, Leeds have never won at home in the top-flight against the side starting the day top of the table. Liverpool vs. Newcastle, Sat 31, 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET. Liverpool are looking to complete the Premier League double over Newcastle for the 12th time – it would be the most they’ve done so against a specific opponent in the competition. But the Reds are winless in their last five league games. Tottenham vs. Manchester City, Sun 1, 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET. Man City’s Pep Guardiola has lost more league games against Spurs than any other opponent in his managerial career (8). However, Thomas Frank has won just four of his last 22 home Premier League matches. See every Premier League MD24 fixture here.
Results…
Europa League (Results)
TOP TALKING POINTS
Record Transfer Spending
Clubs around the world completed a record 24,558 international transfers in men's football in 2025, with total spending rising to $13.08bn (£10.3bn). The figure represents an increase of more than 7% from 2024 and marks the highest volume of international men's transfers ever recorded. It only includes international transfers and does not include deals between clubs under the same national association.
Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea were among the top three highest spenders, while German Bundesliga teams Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig make up the rest of the top five. Liverpool’s signings of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen and Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt were the two most expensive international deals at reported fees of £116m and £79m respectively. Overall, English clubs spent $3.82bn (£2.7bn) in 2025, with Germany and Italy the two other nations whose teams exceeded $1bn in spending.
Women’s football also saw a record-high spend. International transfers totaled $28.6m (£20.74m) in 2025, an increase of over 80% from the previous year. The standout transfer was Orlando Pride signing Mexican winger Lizbeth Ovalle from Liga MX Femenil club Tigres for a women's world-record transfer fee of $1.5m.
Unique Anti-Piracy Push
The Spanish league is stepping up its fight against piracy by offering €50 (£43; $59) for each tip about establishments that broadcast games without proper permission. La Liga confirmed that a ‘B’ will be shown in the corner of the TV screen during the broadcast for a bar, or an ‘A’ if it’s a betting shop. If neither appears, the broadcast is illegal.
La Liga says its current anti-piracy strategy has cut the rate in Spain by 60% in the 2024-25 season. Despite this, it estimates that Spanish football clubs alone lose an estimated €600–700m annually due to illegal broadcasts. Other European leagues estimate annual losses even higher, with Italy claiming €2.2bn in losses to rightholders, while Germany (€1.8bn) and France (€1.5bn) follow closely behind.
Notably, 89% of people who watch sports illegally also pay for a legitimate subscription. It’s thought that they’re turning to piracy because their legal subscription doesn’t cover all the matches they want to watch.
Champions League Projections
Following the conclusion of the Champions League league phase, Arsenal are 29.8% favourites to win the competition, according to Opta’s prediction model. Mikel Arteta’s side were second-favourites going into the campaign but have significantly risen after their flawless league phase run, as well as leading in the Premier League. Arsenal are ranked as the best team in the world in Opta’s Power Rankings–see the list here.
Bayern Munich (14.9%) and Manchester City (10.5%) are the only other sides with above a 10% chance of winning. Liverpool were the favourites (20.4%) before the season started, but they’ve now dropped to fourth favourites with an 8.9% chance. Paris Saint-Germain, who went into the campaign as third favourites (12.1%), now have just a 5.1% chance of retaining their European title.
Meanwhile, 15-time winners Real Madrid are as low as twelfth-favourites with just a 1.9% chance, and they also have a comparatively low (65.8%) chance of reaching the last 16 from the play-off round. Newcastle (3.2%) are projected to have a better chance than Real Madrid, Inter (2.7%), and Tottenham (2.3%), despite the latter having automatically qualified.
POLL
Is it a bad look for the Champions League that six Premier League teams could qualify for the last 16?
PRESENTED BY FORKFUL
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The “What’s for Dinner?”
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Forkful offers the best of both worlds: A wide variety of restaurant-quality meals fit for any diet that are also made with the finest ingredients (think grass-fed beef, organic produce, and avocado oil). Add to that the fact that every dish is fresh, never frozen, prepared by chefs, and only takes 2-3 minutes to prepare, and you’ve just discovered your newest healthy eating hack.
ON THE BALL
Europe
> It has been revealed that the Premier League 'shelved plans' for Man United’s Ryan Giggs to be inducted into their Hall of Fame when he faced trial for domestic abuse, which he was acquitted of (More) | The Premier League and Major League Soccer are among the leagues lobbying for temporary concussion substitutions (More/paywall)
> Match of the Day, the world’s longest-running football show, has lost 10% of its audience this season but increased its overall reach on other digital platforms (More)
> The final of the Women’s Champions Cup between Arsenal and Corinthians will take place on Sunday (Feb 1) (More)
> Italian coach Roberto De Zerbi has asked to be released from his contract with Olympique Marseille after their Champions League elimination, reports in Italy claim (More)
Americas
> Brad Guzan, who retired last year as Atlanta United’s all-time leader in appearances, was named the team’s club ambassador and sporting advisor (More)
> Gotham FC's players have hit out at the scheduling of the inaugural Women's Champions Cup after the NWSL side lost to Corinthians in the semi-finals (More)
> United States women's national team great Crystal Dunn announced her retirement from soccer at age 33 (More)
Rest of the World
> Karim Benzema personally asked to be left out of Al Ittihad squad yesterday following a disagreement over his contract negotiations (More)
Caution: Hackers Want to Spoil Matchday
When you stream games at cafes, pubs, or airports, hackers on the same network can intercept your passwords, banking details, and personal accounts. It's one of the easiest ways for cybercriminals to steal information, and most people have no idea it's happening.
That's why the entire team at Route One uses ExpressVPN. It encrypts your connection instantly, making your data unreadable to anyone trying to snoop. Whether you're checking scores, logging into accounts, or streaming the match, you're protected.
Right now, you can get the same protection for just £1.99/month—80% off the regular price.
*This is a sponsored post
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Has the new league phase been more exciting than the old group stage?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (60%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (37%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 M.H: “I'm liking it. Almost every match has some significance. Most teams, up until Matchday 8, didn't know whether they would make the top eight or even qualify for the play-offs. You also get to see your team play against more opposition, rather than the four-team groups previously.”
🙅♂️ R.Z: “The new format had potential, but it’s just too hard to keep up with. With the group stage, it was easy to remember as interesting groups would stick in your mind, versus remembering each team’s individual schedule. Plus, the new format of seeing your team’s schedule draw will never beat the feeling of the group draw.”
✍️ J.M: “I think it is very similar for both in terms of excitement. The final day of the new format is probably more exciting because there are so many permutations and the table can change so drastically. But for the other match days the group stage is probably more exciting for individual teams at least, as every result in your group matters, whereas the result of Matchday 2 in the new format can be almost meaningless to the final outcome.”
EXTRA TIME
Ted Lasso’s new series will focus on women’s football.
Ronaldo’s rare cross free-kick leads to a goal.
Brazil’s home shirt for the World Cup has been leaked.
… and Messi’s wife, Antontela, models the new Argentina kit.
Over half of China’s league start the season on negative points.
How is Harry Kane viewed in Germany?
Why the ‘Rodman Rule’ threatens the NWSL.
ESPN ranks the top 50 players in the Premier League.
GAME FACE ON
Question: What links Crystal Palace, Benfica, Lazio, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Besiktas?
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.
Benfica is my country, my house is 20 minutes from here. These are the people of my country, this is my club. Doing this with Benfica means something more.
Answer
They all feature an Eagle on their crest.
*Correction from yesterday: We didn’t include Willian in the list of players from The Americas to have made over 300 Premier League appearances. Thanks to the keen-eyed readers who spotted that.
