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Good morning football fans. It’s Monday, May. 25 - West Ham have been relegated from the Premier League, Iran says they’ve moved their World Cup base to Mexico, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
Editor’s Note: Congratulations to JR for winning the Route One Fantasy Premier League, with an incredible 2,379 points. They finished 1,595th in the world out of over 12 million teams and 21st in Canada overall. Dan A (2,336), Phil D (2,322), Steve F (2,318), and Varun S (2,295) make up the rest of the top five!
KEY FIXTURE
League Two promotion play-off final (May 25): Notts County vs. Salford City, 15:00 BST / 10:00 ET. Salford have won each of their last five meetings with Notts County, including both of their regular-season league meetings this season. However, just one place and one point separated the two sides in the table at the end of the season. While Notts County have won just two of their last eight matches, they will be chasing their second Wembley success in four years, having won the National League promotion final in 2023.
Results…
Premier League: Brighton 0-3 Man Utd | Burnley 1-1 Wolves | Palace 1-2 Arsenal | Fulham 2-0 Newcastle | Liverpool 1-1 Brentford | Man City 1-2 Villa | Nott’m Forest 1-1 Bournemouth | Sunderland 2-1 Chelsea | Spurs 1-0 Everton | West Ham 3-0 Leeds (Table)
Women’s Champions League final: Barcelona Femeni 4-0 OL Lyonnes (Match Highlights)
League One play-off final: Bolton 4-1 Stockport
MLS (Results)
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TOP TALKING POINTS
Premier League Final Day
West Ham are relegated to the Championship after 14 seasons in the Premier League, while Tottenham Hotspur remain in the top-flight. It is the third time the Hammers have been relegated from the Premier League, doing so in 2003 and again in 2011. The club’s relegation comes just three years after they won the Uefa Conference League in what was their first major trophy in 43 years.
In terms of Europe, Liverpool and Aston Villa have joined Arsenal, Manchester United, and Manchester City in next season’s Champions League. Villa’s 2-1 win over Man City and Liverpool’s draw with Brentford meant that the Premier League was denied an ‘extra’ Champions League place, meaning Bournemouth missed out on Europe’s premier competition next season. The Cherries have secured Europa League qualification, though, alongside Sunderland next season, while Brighton have qualified for the Conference League. Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Sunderland meant they finished 10th in the table and have not qualified for Europe next season.
Two major records were broken on the final day. Bruno Fernandes assisted in Manchester United’s 3-0 away win at Brighton for his 21st assist of the season, overtaking a jointly-held record by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne. The Portuguese midfielder achieved this despite not recording an assist in his first seven games of the season. Elsewhere, Max Dowman became the youngest-ever Premier League starter at 16 years and 144 days after starting for Arsenal against Crystal Palace in the Gunners’ 2-1 away win.
Iran Move World Cup Base
Iran will move its World Cup base camp from the United States to Mexico, according to the president of Iran’s FA, who claims Fifa has approved the move. However, Fifa is yet to confirm the move, and neither has the Arizona facility that has been prepared to host the Iran national team. The federation says the team will now be based in Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego.
Iran’s Football Federation president Mehdi Taj said the switch was made to avoid visa-related complications following the war in the Middle East, with officials yet to receive US visas less than a month before the start of the tournament. He also said that moving the base camp will resolve potential visa issues by only travelling to the US when necessary for matches, and the national team "may even be able to travel to and from Mexico using Iran Air flights."
Taj also justified the switch based on logistical reasons, claiming that “the total distance between us and the venue of our games in Los Angeles is 55 minutes by flight,” adding that Tijuana was closer to their World Cup matches than the original camp in Arizona. Iran plays Group G games in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later, then faces Egypt on June 26 in Seattle.
‘115 Case’ Confidence
Pep Guardiola said he has “trust” in Manchester City’s hierarchy when they say the club will be exonerated in the 115 charges battle with the Premier League. This came a day after Guardiola confirmed that he will be leaving the club at the end of the season after a decade and 20 trophies, as reported in Route One on Tuesday (May 19). Watch Guardiola’s leaving video here and his leaving speech here.
The case against Man City was brought by the Premier League over three years ago, with allegations spanning a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018. An independent three-person commission reportedly ruled on the charges in December 2024 but has yet to publish the verdict. Football lawyer Tom Murray said the scale of the charges makes it unlikely that the club will be cleared of the allegations, while former Man City club financial adviser Stefan Borson believes the verdict will be delivered shortly after the season. The club denies any wrongdoing.
In related news, former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is soon to be announced as Man City’s next manager with a verbal agreement in place for a three-year deal. The Italian head coach, who led Leicester to Premier League promotion and won the Club World Cup with Chelsea, served as a first-team coach under Guardiola at Man City.
POLL
Which continent will have the strongest showing at the 2026 World Cup?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has written to TNT Sports to make the Champions League final between Arsenal and PSG free-to-air (More) | Bruno Fernandes has won the Premier League player of the season award for the first time (More) | Nico O’Reilly wins the young player of the season award (More)
> Second division Portuguese side Torreense beat Sporting CP in the Portuguese Cup final with a 112th-minute penalty and have qualified for the Europa League (More)
> Harry Kane scored a second-half hat-trick for Bayern Munich for a 3-0 victory over holders VfB Stuttgart in the German Cup final (More) | Former Germany midfielder Lukas Podolski, 40, has retired from professional football and will become the owner of the Polish club he was previously playing for (More)
> Hull City have been promoted to the Premier League after Oli McBurnie’s stoppage-time goal settled a 1-0 victory against Middlesbrough (Match Report) | Bolton Wanderers have been promoted to the Championship with a 4-1 win over Stockport in the League One play-off final (Match Report)
> Napoli’s owner rejects a €2bn bid for the club from an American consortium (More)
> Girona, Mallorca and Real Oviedo have all been relegated to the Spanish Second Division (More) | Robert Lewandowski leaves Barcelona with 120 goals, becoming the joint-10th all-time scorer for the club (More)
Americas
> Mauricio Pochettino’s 2026 World Cup squad has been leaked, with Lyon Midfielder Tanner Tessmann omitted from the squad; the official announcement is expected for Tuesday (May 26) (More)
> The Liga MX Clausura final second leg between Pumas UNAM and Cruz Azul (agg 0-0) will conclude shortly after publication (Live Result); learn more about the growing interest from American investors in the Liga MX and what it means for the MLS (More)
> MLS fixtures — Inter Miami vs Philadelphia and LAFC vs Seattle Sounders — will conclude shortly after publication (Live Results); see every MLS result (More) and Conference Standings (More)
> NWSL’s Utah Royals beat Denver Summit 2-1 to push their unbeaten streak to nine games (More); see every NWSL result (More) and Standings (More)
> Club America defeated the Washington Spirit 5-3 to win the Concacaf W Champions Cup title (More)
Rest of the World
> Auckland FC have won their first A-League Men championship title after defeating all-time record-holders Sydney FC 1-0 in the Grand Final (More); learn how the A-League works (More)
> Andres Iniesta is set to start his managerial career with his first head coach job with the Gulf United in Dubai (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you consider Mikel Arteta an elite-level manager?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (68%)
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (29%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 E.J: “You don't compile the winning record he has in that short a period of time by accident. An elite manager always starts with a plan, a preferred style of play, and a vision of what his team should look like on the field, including personnel. Has Arteta been perfect? No. Has every signing worked out? Also, no, but that is true of all managers. He was given a mission: get Arsenal back to the top of the Prem. Mission accomplished, and from the look of things, the Gunners are likely to win it or challenge for years. It may not be the most stylish approach to football, but it is winning football, and results like that are likely to attract an even higher calibre of player moving forward.”
👍 T.H: “He took a bunch of mostly young, green players, built them into a solid team, grew and learned with them and kept them tight through several disappointing 'close-but-no-cigar’ years. Now they're champions. That pretty much wraps up the debate.”
🙅♂️ J.E.D: “Whilst I admire Arsenal for sticking with the same manager for a long period, taking a well-established side, spending a billion pounds on players and still taking six years to win the league doesn’t make him elite. Taking a struggling club and turning them into a Champions League side and winning a European trophy in under four years is something an elite manager would do. Imagine if Emery had been given six years and a billion-pound budget? He would have won multiple league titles, the Champions League, the World Cup, the Ryder Cup, Wimbledon and the London Marathon!”
EXTRA TIME
Shakira’s full World Cup song ‘Dai Dai’ released.
Ranking every 2026 World Cup kit.
… and why the World Cup ball will need to be charged before each match.
Ronaldo trading card sells for a record-breaking $1.35m.
Are nicknames disappearing from Brazil’s national team?
Pep reveals his biggest regret as Man City manager.
One fact for each of Thomas Tuchel’s 26-man squad.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Brazil’s national team have scored the most goals in World Cup history with 237. Can you name which nation has scored the second-most with 232 goals?
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.
Kane is one of the best transfers we ever made and he’s staying. Barcelona have no money anyway.
Answer
Germany.
