Good morning. The Premier League pre-season projections, pressure continues to mount on Fifa’s leadership, and everything else you need to know.
Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
TOP TALKING POINTS
Referee Transparency Push
The Premier League will begin publishing weekly reports from its independent Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel, which reviews on-field referee and VAR decisions. This move is part of the league’s push to increase transparency.
The KMI panel has been a permanent feature since the 2022-23 season. The five-member body votes on significant referee calls and has published its verdict privately to clubs, but the full report has remained private. The panel includes three former players or coaches, plus a representative from the Premier League and the referees’ body.
This move is one of three changes to be made regarding referees and VAR for the upcoming season. The other two changes will include direct quotes from referees and VAR officials published after major incidents, and audio from referees’ body-worn cameras will also be broadcast from selected matches, as reported in RouteOne on Tuesday.
New match officials have also been announced.
… and Premier League Projections
Arsenal are 38% favourites to win the Premier League this season, according to Opta’s prediction model. Should Mikel Arteta’s side win a consecutive title, he could join Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola as the only Premier League managers to have retained the title. The Gunners have spent a reported €167.5m in this summer’s transfer window, with Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes as their standout signing (€87.5m).
Manchester City, who lost 3-0 to Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday, are considered to be second favourites (20.5%) to win the league. This is despite Guardiola’s departure and the arrival of Enzo Maresca, whose average of 1.74 points per game was the worst of anyone to lead Chelsea for at least 30 Premier League games this century.
Liverpool are third favourites (9.2%), Manchester United fourth (6.2%), Aston Villa fifth (4.8%), and Chelsea sixth (4.1%). And despite finishing 17th last season, Tottenham are seventh favourites for the title (2.9%), with a 24.1% chance of finishing in the top five and potentially securing Champions League football.
For relegation, the projections point to the newly promoted sides as the most likely to drop. Hull City have the highest relegation probability (38.7%), Ipswich Town are second (31.2%), and Coventry City third (27.9%).
FIFA Pressure Mounts
FIFA is facing more criticism, this time for reportedly dismissing senior executive Kevin Lamour after he publicly criticised president Gianni Infantino for his plans to sell a stake in commercial rights. Human rights and labour groups said the exit raised concerns about Fifa’s governance, while Uefa’s vice-president, Laura McAllister, said the move sent a “deeply troubling message to all of us seeking change.”
World football’s governing body, though, said that Lamour had left the organisation. Lamour sent an internal email to Fifa staff; in it, he emphasised the need for values: “Please never forget that in life, it’s not about doing what’s easy; it’s about doing what’s right… The vast majority of you have understood this and put it into practice in your work. Every single day. So, hats off to you and my deepest respect.”
Elsewhere, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said that Fifa “pressed the self-destruct button” when it announced plans to sell a stake in the commercial rights to its tournaments to private investors. He then said the FA had taken the right position by withdrawing its support for Infantino.
ON THE BALL
Europe
Correction: On Tuesday, we covered news reported by The Guardian that implied broadcaster Sky Sports had dropped the Baller League. The League’s CEO, Felix Starck, denies this — read his perspective here.
• The Jeff Bezos-backed consortium has bought 38% of Liverpool FC, more than the originally reported 30% (More) | Manchester City’s new Amazon Prime docu-series shows Pep Guardiola informing his players about his divorce and the manager’s feud with Kyle Walker (More) | Chelsea have renamed their U21 and U19 training ground to ‘Cobham Next Gen’ (More)
• Barcelona have confirmed the signing of Rodri from Manchester City in a deal worth £65.4m (More); read Rodri’s letter to Man City fans (More); see every transfer in Europe’s top five leagues (More)
• Jamal Musiala says that he has been diagnosed with a ‘treatable’ neurological dysfunction which has caused him to ‘collapse’ twice in three days during Bayern Munich’s friendly matches (More)
• The Champions League play-offs continue on Wednesday (August 19), including Celtic vs LASK; see upcoming fixtures (More)
• Supporters of Greek club PAOK protested around the club’s stadium over the sale of academy product Giannis Konstantelias to Borussia Dortmund (More)
Americas
• MLS Eastern Conference leaders Nashville travel to New York in the MLS regular season on Wednesday (August 19), while Western leaders Vancouver host Houston; see upcoming MLS fixture (More)
• Two NWSL fixtures — Racing Louisville vs Seattle Reign and Houston Dash vs Chicago Stars — take place on Wednesday (August 19); see upcoming NWSL fixtures (More)
• USL Championship’s Phoenix Rising and Colorado Springs Switchbacks face off in the regular season on Wednesday (August 19); see upcoming USL Championship fixtures (More)
• River Plate are the club in Argentina with the most members, with 352,712, followed by Boca Juniors (282,644) (More/text translated)
• Brazilian Serie A side Corinthians have confirmed that Memphis Depay’s contract has been extended after the player agreed to a considerable pay reduction (More)
Rest of the World
• Patrick Vieira has become the national team head coach for Senegal (More)
• The Asian Football Confederation president has rejected the Qatar FA’s assertion that he exceeded his authority by criticising Fifa president Gianni Infantino (More/paywall)
• Back-to-back winners Al-Ahli will face Al-Ain in the league phase of the Asian Champions League Elite following the league phase draw (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you want ref-player audio to be broadcast live during matches?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (53%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (43%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (4%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 J.L: “This might prove to be interesting as a little insight into the game we see week in and week out. Hearing how the players talk to one another and especially how they interact with the ref and linesmen, and, I guess, if you're close enough and loud enough, what the fans are saying and what the managers are yelling. Just wondering how it will be censored, as we all know footballers are a foul-mouthed lot?”
🙅♂️ J.W.F: “The old saying, ‘anyone who respects the law and enjoys sausage should never watch either one being made,’ comes to mind. I would not want anything I say in the heat of the moment to be broadcast worldwide, and I don't think the players do either.”
✍️ L.J: “I imagine it would be interesting at first but then quickly become tiresome. That said, at 53, I know I'm not in the demographic that implementations to the game like this are seeking to engage.”
EXTRA TIME
ESPN ranks the 100 best men’s players in the world. (by position)
A look inside Jack Wilshere’s halftime team talk.
Everyone’s talking about Aubameyang’s goal.
How can Spurs afford to spend so much money?
Predicting the starting XI’s of Premier League title contenders.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Aside from Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, which club was the last to win back-to-back Champions League trophies?
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.
How do you play football? Because you play, or for something inside? In your lives, whatever you are going to do, do it with passion. I don’t want good players, I want players with passion.
Answer
AC Milan (1988/89, 1989/90).