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Good morning football fans. It’s Wednesday, July. 1 - The United States’ head of homeland security celebrates Iran’s World Cup exit, four Premier League clubs have broken Uefa’s financial rules, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
2026 World Cup round of 32 (July 1): England vs Congo DR, 12:00 ET / 17:00 BST. England are unbeaten in their 11 competitive fixtures under Thomas Tuchel (W10 D1), and the Three Lions have won both of their World Cup knockout-stage games against African teams (Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2022). Striker Yoane Wissa is Congo’s most dangerous player, scoring three of their four of their 2026 World Cup goals and averaging a goal every 90 minutes so far. Belgium vs Senegal, 16:00 ET / 21:00 BST. Belgium arrive in the knockout rounds as group winners with five points, six goals scored, and two conceded. Meanwhile, Senegal lost back-to-back matches against European opposition (France and Norway) in the group stage. United States vs Bosnia-Herzegovina, 20:00 ET / 01:00 BST (July 2). The United States topped Group D with an impressive attacking record of eight goals scored, though they conceded four, albeit three of which came in their final game against Turkiye with a rotated team. Bosnia-Herzegovina ended their seven-match winless run, which dated back to November 2025, after their 3-1 victory over Qatar in the group stage. See every upcoming World Cup fixture here and the bracket here.
Results…
World Cup round of 32: Ivory Coast vs Norway | France vs Sweden | Mexico vs Ecuador (See Results)
Editor’s note: To avoid spoiling results during the World Cup knockouts, we will only include a link to the results going forward. If you disagree with this approach, please let us know.
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TOP TALKING POINTS
US Secretary Celebrates Iran Exit
The United States’ head of homeland security says he “danced a happy dance” when Iran were eliminated from the World Cup. Following Iran’s exit from the group stage, Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that he’s “glad they’re done, and they’re not coming back,” as reported by Sports Business Journal. “I was so happy when we were able to pull their visas and said they could leave the U.S. soil, and I might’ve sung a song or two or maybe even danced a happy dance.”
Mullin previously alleged that Iran’s delegation had tried to secure a visa for a person with direct ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a group designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the U.S. Iran’s FA called that accusation “false, fabricated and entirely baseless.”
Throughout the tournament, Iran complained about their treatment. They were only permitted to enter the U.S. the day before their first two matches and had to leave the same day for their relocated training camp in Tijuana, Mexico. While these restrictions were eased for their final game, Iran’s head coach Amir Ghalenoei claimed that his team had been treated “very unfairly” and that they had been given “less than half” the training window needed to prepare.
UEFA Punishes EPL Clubs
Four Premier League clubs — Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Chelsea, and Nottingham Forest — have been fined by Uefa for breaching financial rules during the 2025-26 season. All four clubs breached Uefa’s squad-cost ratio (SCR) rules, which cap spend on squads as a percentage of football-related revenue, while Newcastle also failed to comply with the football earnings rule.
Aston Villa were fined €22.5m over a “significant breach” of Uefa’s SCR rules, and will face a restriction on the registration of new players on their squad list for the Champions League next season. Around €15m of this fine is suspended, subject to a reduction in their squad cost ratio this year. Meanwhile, Newcastle have entered into a three-year settlement agreement with Uefa over its breaches and have received combined fines of €13m, of which €7m is suspended. Elsewhere, while Chelsea have been fined €3m, of which €2m is suspended, and ultimately evaded a more serious sanction, its sister club Strasbourg were given a heavier fine of €13m.
SCR rules are replacing the Premier League’s previous financial rules from next season, though they will be less strict than those in Europe. The Premier League will limit spending to 85% of revenue, while Uefa limits spending to 70%.
Piracy Crackdown Causes Disruption
Spain’s aggressive fight against football piracy is causing widespread disruption, taking hundreds of thousands of legitimate websites offline during La Liga matches, according to Bloomberg. La Liga, which says piracy costs it as much as €700m each year, has been using real-time IP blocking to target sites illegally streaming games, but the measures have also affected small businesses, charities, government agencies and major online platforms that share the same internet infrastructure.
Internet monitoring group OONI estimates that around 555,000 domains were blocked at some point during the first half of 2026, with as many as 478,000 becoming unavailable during a single match. One embroidery retailer said the disruption had cost her business at least €10,000, but La Liga denies that its enforcement campaign is responsible for all of the reported outages.
In general, piracy in football streaming has become increasingly widespread. Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat by Paris Saint-Germain reportedly attracted an estimated 16.2 million views on illegal streams in the UK alone, traced to 3.7 million unique IP addresses.
POLL
Do you prefer World Cup matches to be decided in regular time or penalty shootouts?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann said they are no longer a "first-class team" after another early World Cup exit, but he will not resign from his position (More) | Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, 40, has confirmed his retirement from international football (More)
> Tottenham agree a club record deal of £85m to sign Mateus Fernandes (More) | AC Milan have signed Goncalo Ramos from Paris Saint-Germain for a club record of €74m (£60m) plus add-ons (More) | Nico Paz will stay at Como but Real Madrid will have the opportunity to re-sign the player in the future (More)
> Frank Lampard has extended his contract as Coventry City manager until 2029 (More)
> Bridge Football Group has bought Grasshopper Club Zurich, one of Switzerland’s most storied football teams (More)
Americas
> France advance to the round of 16 and will face Paraguay following their 3-0 win over Sweden, including two goals from Kylian Mbappe; he’s become the all-time leading scorer in World Cup knockout matches (More) | Norway are through to the World Cup round of 16 to face Brazil after beating Ivory Coast 2-1 (More) | Paraguay and Morocco both advance to the World Cup round of 16 following their penalty shootout wins over Germany and the Netherlands, respectively (More)
> United States forward Christian Pulisic says he’s fully fit to play 90 minutes in Wednesday’s World Cup round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina after recovering from a calf injury (More) | Ecuador’s FA filed a complaint with World Cup organisers over noise outside the team hotel before their round of 32 match against Mexico (More)
> Cape Verde captain Ryan Mendes is under investigation by police in New Zealand over allegations of sexual assault in March (More)
> Two-time NWSL champion Katie Lampson announced her retirement from professional football at age 34 (More)
Rest of the World
> South Korea captain Son Heung-min has apologised for the team's group-stage exit at the World Cup, saying he is "indescribably hurt" (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think Enzo Maresca will be successful at Manchester City?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (53%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (45%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (2%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 LJ: “He's proven himself to be a good manager, and he's inheriting a good squad. Chelsea's transfer dealings did him no favours, signing a plethora of attacking midfielders whilst persisting with Sanchez in goal!”
🙅♂️ L.H: “Enzo may know City inside and out, but to be successful after one of the greatest coaches of all time is going to be very hard shoes to fill. Look at United, it’s impossible to live up to the expectations that Fergie set. Maresca is also coming just as the charges City is facing are set to be ruled on. It will be hard for him to be successful.”
🙅♂️ C.D: “No matter how football-savvy or how motivational or how smart a gaffer may be, dumping one club in search of ‘greener pastures’ shows a selfishness and lack of character that will surely manifest itself in the worst possible way.”
✍️ P.D: “I think he'll be successful, but not as successful as Pep was, which will be seen as a failure. If he doesn't win any trophies in his first season, it will be interesting to see whether City stick with him.”
EXTRA TIME
Lionel Messi features in Spider-Man promotion video.
Barcelona unveil new stripey home kit.
Economist who correctly predicted three World Cup winners is finally wrong.
Neymar shows where he grew up.
USA 1994 compared to World Cup 2026. (then and now photos)
How well does AI predict World Cup outcomes? (requires free sign-up)
Why Man City spent so much to sign Forest's Elliot Anderson.
Does bringing on a sub just for a penalty actually work?
GAME FACE ON
Question: Harry Kane has overtaken Gary Lineker as England’s top scorer at World Cups. Which player is third on that list?
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.
We deserve to be eliminated. We struggled badly in all three matches against teams that aren’t world-class.
Answer
Geoff Hurst.
