GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Apr. 02 - Semi-auto VAR date confirmed in the Premier League, NWSL’s flagship Sunday push, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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KEY FIXTURES

Premier League MW30: Liverpool vs Everton, 20:00 / 15:00. Liverpool have won their last three Premier League home games against Everton, each by a 2-0 scoreline, and have lost just one of their last 24 home league games against them. See the full list of Premier League fixtures here.

Copa Del Rey, Semi-final: Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona, Agg 4-4, 20:30 / 15:30. Atletico are winless in their last three league matches and have failed to progress from their last three Copa del Rey semi-finals. Meanwhile, Barcelona are unbeaten in 20 matches across all competitions, scoring 139 goals in 45 games this season.

Coppa Italia, Semi-final: AC Milan vs Inter Milan, 20:00 / 15:00. Inter are unbeaten in their last three meetings with Milan and head into the semi-final first leg chasing a historic treble. Meanwhile, Inter are top of the Serie A, while Milan are ninth.

Results…

• Premier League: Arsenal 2-0 Fulham (Report) | Wolves 1-0 West Ham | Nottm Forest 1-0 Man Utd (Table)

• Copa del Rey, SF: Real Madrid 4-4 Real Sociedad (Agg 5-4) (Report)

• DFB Pokal, SF: Bielefeld 2-1 Leverkusen

• Coppa Italia, SF: Empoli 0-3 Bologna

• Coupe de France, SF: Dunkerque 2-4 PSG

TOP TALKING POINTS

Semi-Auto Offside Incoming

The Premier League has confirmed it will be implementing semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) this season. The technology will be brought in for Matchday 32 and will be first used at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City host Crystal Palace on April 12. See the fixtures for the first weekend with SAOT here.

The technology was trialled during the FA Cup fifth round this year. Due to a crowded goalmouth, the technology caused an eight-minute delay during Bournemouth’s match against Wolves. Despite this, the Premier League claims SAOT will save an average of around 31 seconds per offside.

SAOT has been used widely since 2022, featuring in the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar, the women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and at Euro 2024. At club level, it has been used in the Champions League since 2022-23, in Serie A since January 2023 and was brought in by La Liga for the start of the current campaign.

Dive deeper into how SAOT works here.

NWSL Targets Sundays

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is actively shopping a fifth media package for 2026 with a focus on Sunday nights. The NWSL sees an opportunity to build on the league’s Friday night matches on Prime Video and Saturday nights on ION.

The league is currently in the second year of its four-year contracts worth $240m across four streaming platforms. However, currently only two-thirds of league games per season have been sold. Reports suggest over 100 games will be offered in the new package–with the arrival of expansion teams in Boston and Denver increasing the number of games available.

The Sunday night timeslot, which the NWSL is pushing for, would bring direct competition to Major League Soccer’s (MLS) new Sunday Night Soccer broadcast. Nevertheless, the NWSL is confident its rising popularity and commercial success will be enough to generate demand from broadcasters.

Ancelotti on Trial

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti will stand trial today on tax fraud charges worth more than €1m. The Spanish tax office argues that the 65-year-old did not declare income from his image rights in 2014 and 2015. The trial, which will be held in Madrid, is expected to last two days.

State prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to four years and nine months. The significance of this time is that sentences under two years in Spain do not have to be served if the convicted person does not carry a criminal record. Ancelotti has denied any wrongdoing.

Ancelotti is among many high-profile football figures to be pursued by Spain’s tax authorities. In July 2016, Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge, were sentenced to 21 months in prison for evading €4m in tax–they did not serve time in jail due to the sentence length. Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho were also convicted of tax evasion and received suspended sentences, paying €18.8m and €2.2m in fines, respectively.

POLL

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Erling Haaland could miss five to seven weeks with an ankle injury (More) | The FA is lobbying the UK government to make tailgating at turnstiles in stadiums a criminal offence (More)

> Third division side Arminia Bielefeld eliminated Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen from the DFB Pokal (More/Celebrations)

> The Scottish PFL has introduced a new policy whereby clubs can postpone one league match next season to allow preparations for UEFA Play-Off round qualifiers (More) | Police have ended the investigation into Vaclav Cerny spraying water at Celtic fans as a celebration during Rangers’ 3-2 win over their rivals (More)

> Championship side Sheffield Wednesday have failed to pay their players' wages for March due to cashflow problems suffered by owner Dejphon Chansiri (More)

Americas

> Lionel Messi’s bodyguard Yassine Cheuko has been banned from protecting the Argentine from the touchline during Inter Miami matches (More); see him stopping pitch invaders (Watch)

> Seattle Sounders FC have signed former Liverpool, Rangers and Fenerbahce forward Ryan Kent (More)

> Brazil have shortlisted three potential new national coaches in Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti, Man City’s Pep Guardiola and Al Hilal’s Jorge Jesus–and they want the appointment sealed before the Club World Cup in June (More)

Rest of the World

> Melbourne City have announced a $10.68 million funding commitment towards the construction of a new boutique rectangular stadium, called the Casey Mini Stadium (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think there is still a strong pool of world-class centre-forwards in today’s game?

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🤩 Absolutely... (33%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅‍♂️ Nope... (65%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (2%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🤩 J.M: “Probably fewer than back in the 90s and 2000s, but still plenty around. The big difference is that generally they have to be able to contribute more than just out-and-out goal-scoring nowadays.”

• 🤩 C.S: “Lewandowski, Haaland, Mbappe, Kane, Isak, Lautaro, Oshiman, Alvarez, Thuram, Gyokeres... Need I say more? (I missed some, too) Lewa, Haaland and Kane by themselves say it all.”

• 🙅‍♂️ B.M: “A dearth of talent over the past several years. Makes one begin to consider what and where the focus is beginning in the youngest stages of player development.”

• 🙅‍♂️ S.B: “They aren't of Drogba, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, or Diego Costa’s class. Not seeing many with that energy or commitment.”

EXTRA TIME

Kyle Walker’s viral tunnel chat with Felix. (via X)

Should football copy MLB and NBA contract years?

The earliest the Premier League title (and drop) can be sealed.

… and who has the toughest remaining games?

Barcelona’s 25-26 home kit leaked.

Rooney’s first visit to Everton’s stadium.

An unexpected 100-yard goal. (via X)

Opta’s latest Championship promotion predictions.

Photographer’s $6000 camera destroyed by volley.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Which player became the first to score goals in the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1?

Clue: City, Inter, Fiorentina, Sevilla, Hertha Berlin, Monaco.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Premier League

• Bournemouth vs Ipswich (19:45)

• Brighton vs Aston Villa (19:45)

• Man City vs Leicester (19:45)

• Newcastle vs Brentford (19:45)

• Southampton vs Crystal Palace (19:45)

• Liverpool vs Everton (20:00)

Copa Del Rey, Semi-final

• Atletico vs Barcelona (Agg 4-4) (20:30)

DFB Pokal

• Stuttgart vs Leipzig (19:45)

Coppa Italia

• AC Milan vs Inter Milan (20:00)

Coupe de France

• Cannes vs Reims (20:00)

*All time in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.

Answer

Stevan Jovetic. 

Justin Kluivert became the second player to score in each of Europe's top five leagues in 2023.