GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Oct. 1 - An international salary cap has been proposed, Milan’s council agrees to sell the iconic San Siro stadium, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
UEFA Champions League league phase (1 Oct): Barcelona vs. PSG, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Barcelona have only won two of their last six meeting with PSG in the Champions League. As part of this, PSG have won their last two away games against Barcelona, both by 4-1 scorelines in this competition. Arsenal vs. Olympiakos, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Arsenal have won their last five games in the league phase of the Champions League, their longest such run in the group stage/league phase in 20 years. Mikel Arteta has faced Olympiakos four times during his tenure at Arsenal, winning two and losing two. Monaco vs. Manchester City, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. City have lost their last four away games in the Champions League. The last time these sides met in this competition (2016-17), Monaco progressed on away goals following a 6-6 aggregate score. See every Champions League Matchday 2 fixture here.
Results…
Champions League: Kairat 0-5 Real Madrid | Atalanta 2-1 Brugge | Atletico 5-1 Frankfurt | Bodo/Glimt 2-2 Spurs | Chelsea 1-0 Benfica | Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool | Inter 3-0 Prague | Marseille 4-0 Ajax | Pafos 1-5 Bayern (League Phase Standings)
EFL Championship (All Results)
TOP TALKING POINTS
Players Overworked, Report
Footballers are playing too many games, with excessive travel and insufficient time off between seasons, according to a new report by the players’ union FIFPro. The study found 38-year-old Luka Modric played more games than any other footballer last season, while Australia goalkeeper Mathew Ryan travelled over 100,000 kilometres across competitions. Read the full report here.
The report highlighted Lamine Yamal, who has already made 130 senior appearances for Barcelona and Spain before turning 18. Meanwhile, none of the seven winners of the Golden Boy award between 2010 and 2016 had reached 2,000 minutes before turning 18; 2023 winner Jude Bellingham had 6,216 minutes, while 2024 winner Yamal had 8,158 minutes.
Additionally, top European club and national team players have about three weeks between seasons, says the report. Other sports, like Basketball’s NBA, have been 14 and 23 weeks off. FIFPro is calling for a minimum 28-day offseason and 28-day pre-season, warning that no teams in the expanded 2025 Club World Cup met those thresholds.
International Salary Cap Proposed
Bayer Leverkusen president Fernando Carro has proposed introducing an international salary cap to limit the dominance of English clubs in the transfer window. Speaking at a Bloomberg conference, Carro said: “The Premier League is trying to become the number one product in Europe, even above the Champions League. I'm usually against regulation, but we need to fight for an international salary cap.”
Carro voiced similar concerns in 2021, telling The Guardian that even a newly promoted Premier League side could outspend Leverkusen despite their Champions League status. A cap remains unlikely, with both the Premier League and La Liga clubs expected to oppose measures that would restrict revenues.
Despite Uefa’s financial fair play regulations, which aim to limit club spending based on revenue, the financial gap between the Premier League and other European leagues continues to widen. According to a Uefa report, the Premier League generated total revenues of over €7.1bn in 2023-24, nearly double that of the Bundesliga, which generated €3.6bn in revenues over the same period.
San Siro Sold
The San Siro stadium, shared by both Inter and AC Milan, will be sold to the clubs after the Milan City Council voted in favour of the sale worth €197m. The vote was passed 24-20 at around 3:00 AM local time following a nearly 12-hour debate.
Reports suggest both clubs plan to demolish most of the 99-year-old ground, with only 10% of the existing structure preserved in a redeveloped 71,500-seat venue. There is no indication of where the two sides will play during the refurbishment.
Local authorities own most Italian stadiums, but they’re widely considered outdated due to a lack of financing–read more here. Uefa removed the San Siro from its Champions League final hosting list due to venue’s condition, and the governing body’s president Aleksander Ceferin claimed Italy has “the worst stadiums in Europe.” With Italy co-hosting Euro 2032, calls for change have progressed in order for stadiums to comply with Uefa’s rules ahead of the tournament.
Dive deeper into the history of the San Siro here.
POLL
Do you think footballers are paid too much?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Kylian Mbappe has reached 60 Champions League goals following his hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 5-0 win over Kazakhstan’s Kairat (More)
> Bayern Munich chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has branded Newcastle as “idiots” for buying German striker Nick Woltemade for a club-record fee of £69m (More)
> Wales have recalled captain Aaron Ramsey for October’s World Cup qualifier against Belgium and friendly with England (More)
Americas
> Austin and Nashville meet in the U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday (Oct 1) at 20:00 ET; see the match preview (More)
> Inter Miami vs. Chicago in the MLS to conclude shortly after publication (Live Results)
> The United States U20 men's national team began its 2025 Fifa World Cup campaign in Chile with a 9-1 victory over New Caledonia, setting a new record for the team's largest margin of victory in the tournament's history (More)
> Fifa has sanctioned the Salvadoran Football Federation for racism during the Concacaf World Cup qualifying match against Suriname (More)
Rest of the World
> Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal won at Uzbekistan’s Nasaf Qarshi 3-2 to move to the top of its group in the Asian Champions League Elite (More)
> South Africa's hopes of qualifying for the 2026 Fifa World Cup have suffered a major blow after they were sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think multi-club ownership should continue to be allowed?
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👍 Yes (26%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope (72%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (2%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 K.V: “Yes, it should continue. I can’t name a single team that has gained a significant advantage from being part of a multi-club model, and I haven’t seen any real problems come from it so far. Sometimes it feels like fans are resisting progress just for the sake of resisting it.”
🙅♂️ J.P: “I hate it. It reduces clubs that fans pour their heart and souls into to mere investments in a billionaire's (or equity fund's) portfolio. It rips the soul out of the game.”
🙅♂️ A.L: “When owner groups start buying multiple clubs, they become a commodity that are flaunted, traded, and treated like any other asset, becoming completely alien to the communities behind them for the sake of the ultra-rich's profits.”
EXTRA TIME
Valencia sues Netflix over Vinicius documentary.
BBC’s Premier League team of the week.
Why the A-League Women is at a crossroads.
The creators of EAFC have sold for $55bn.
The NFL tactics influencing the Premier League.
Cole Palmer loses legal battle to a French winery.
Real Betis’ oldest fans became their mascots.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Which club is playing this season without a Ballon d’Or winner in their squad for the first time since 2000?
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
UEFA Champions League
Qarabag vs. Copenhagen (17:45)
Union Saint-Gilloise vs. Newcastle (17:45)
Arsenal vs. Olympiakos (20:00)
Barcelona vs. PSG (20:00)
Bayer Leverkusen vs. PSV (20:00)
Borussia Dortmund vs. Athletic Club (20:00)
Monaco vs. Manchester City (20:00)
Napoli vs. Sporting CP (20:00)
Villarreal vs. Juventus (20:00)
*All times in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.
Answer
Real Madrid.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
That was only a yard away from being an inch-perfect pass.
