Penalty Shootout Bonus Points

Good morning. An investigation into Mexican football’s lack of promotion and relegation, a league introduces bonus penalty shootout points, and everything else you need to know.

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English League Cup (Sept 16): Everton vs Wolves, 19:45 BST / 14:45 ET. Everton are unbeaten in their last five matches in all competitions, keeping three clean sheets during that run. Wolves sit seventh in the Championship, three points off top spot, but have kept just one league clean sheet. Coventry City vs Aston Villa, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Coventry have lost all four league games this season without scoring and have conceded 10 goals. But Villa have picked up just one Premier League point and have progressed past the EFL Cup third round only once in the last five seasons. Manchester United vs Brighton, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Man United have won just one of their opening four league games and are yet to keep a clean sheet. Meanwhile, Brighton sit fourth after scoring a league-high 13 goals and have won seven of their last 11 meetings with United. See every English League Cup fixture here.

Results…

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The second tier of Australian football, the Australian Championship, has introduced a penalty shootout bonus point model after regular-time draws. Specifically, if a game ends as a draw during regular time, a team will gain two points, rather than just one, if they win the shootout. The losing side will collect just one point.

Football Australia says club consultations pointed to the shootouts creating “genuine excitement, keeping supporters engaged to the final kick, and giving players rare high-pressure match experience.” The Championship itself follows a non-traditional format, with a 16-team group stage followed by an eight-team knockout phase.

While the approach may seem unusual to European football audiences, it has precedent. A similar shootout system is used in the Leagues Cup between MLS and Liga MX clubs, while Australia’s former National Soccer League also awarded a bonus point for shootout wins during the 1994-95 season.

An investigation in Mexico is taking place over the removal of promotion and relegation in the country’s football pyramid. The investigation, conducted by Mexico's National Antitrust Commission (CNA), will look into potential monopolistic practices in domestic football, with the absence of promotion and relegation at the centre of the probe.

The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) had suspended promotion and relegation in 2020 to help protect clubs financially during the pandemic. The system was due to return for the 2026-27 season. While the owners of the 18 first-division teams voted to suspend the system for six seasons, sport’s highest court, Cas, appeared to clear a pathway for pro/rel to be reinstated for 2026-27 in September last year. However, the FMF enforced strict criteria for lower-tier teams to be eligible for promotion — such as stadium capacity thresholds — which even some top-flight teams cannot meet. Five second division clubs also filed another appeal against the FMF with Cas in August.

CNA has made clear that its investigation doesn’t predetermine the FMF’s guilt of monopolistic practices. It can, though, impose a fine of up to 10% of the FMF’s annual revenue if it finds it guilty of anti-competitive practices.

Dive deeper into Liga MX and why the league is split into Apertura and Clausura seasons here.

The Europa League league phase, Europe’s second-tier club competition, begins on Wednesday (Sept 16). The final will be played at Frankfurt’s Waldstadion on May 26, 2027. See every fixture here.

Bournemouth are 14.3% favourites to win this season’s competition, according to Opta’s projection model. The Cherries are followed closely by Benfica at 14%, who have won five and drawn one of their six league games this season, scoring more goals (21) than any other team across Europe’s top 10 leagues bar two. Opta’s model made Aston Villa favourites before a ball was kicked last season, and they went on to win the competition.

Bayer Leverkusen are third favourites at 10.2%, and are the only other side with a double-digit projection. Union Saint-Gilloise are next at 8.6%, ahead of Sunderland (8.3%), Juventus (7.8%) and Crystal Palace (7.3%). Palace enter the competition having won the Conference League last season, while Sunderland are back in Europe for only the second time in their history.

Thirty-one clubs from 11 nations have lifted the Europa League trophy — see the full breakdown here.

• The EFL trophy is set to be renamed the Jersey Mike’s trophy with the league close to a £5m, five-year agreement with the US sandwich chain (More/warning: Daily Mail link)

• Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena and Barcelona’s Camp Nou will host the 2028 and 2029 men’s Champions League finals, respectively (More) | Cardiff's Principality Stadium will host the women's Champions League final in 2029 (More) | Johan Cruyff ArenA in Amsterdam, Netherlands will host the 2027 Super Cup, with Astana Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan the venue for the 2028 match (More)

• Manchester United’s highly regarded 15-year-old prospect JJ Gabriel has asked to leave the club (More)

• Spain manager Luis de la Fuente is close to signing a new contract through to 2030 (More) | RC Lens dismissed German manager Dino Toppmoller with immediate effect after a mixed start, including one Ligue 1 win, one draw, and two losses (More)

• Inter Miami play Cruz Azul in the Campeones Cup on Wednesday (Sept 16) (More) | Two U.S. Open Cup semi-finals take place on Wednesday — Columbus vs Orlando & Colorado vs St Louis (More)

• The coach of Bolivian first-division club Guabira says his goalkeeper, Juan Manuel Ferrel, received death threats ahead of Sunday’s 6-0 loss against Club Always Ready (More)

• Ecuador have hired Marcelo Gallardo, one of the most decorated coaches in the Argentine league, as their new head coach (More)

• The Canadian Championship semi-final second leg between Forge FC and FC Supra du Quebec concludes shortly after publication (Live Result); Montreal vs Vancouver (1-1 agg) is played on Wednesday (Sept 16)

• Cristiano Ronaldo and the owner of AC Milan are reportedly preparing to buy Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr (More)

Yesterday’s Poll: Do you like seeing top players publicly back themselves and claim they’re the best in the world?

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👍 Yes (6%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅‍♂️ Nope (91%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)

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Question: Which player has 858 total appearances for Inter Milan, the most in the club’s history?

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

Javier Zanetti.