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Good morning football fans. It’s Thursday, May. 21 - The MLS is lobbying to introduce a stopped-clock, Southampton players are considering suing their own club after Spygate, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY RESULT
Europa League final: Freiburg 0-3 Aston Villa. Aston Villa have won the Europa League to end a 30-year wait for a major trophy. It is the club’s second major European honour, 44 years after they beat Bayern Munich to win the European Cup in 1982. Meanwhile, Unai Emery has claimed his fifth Europa League title, joining Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Giovanni Trapattoni on a record five major European trophies as a manager. Read the full match report here.
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TOP TALKING POINTS
Stopped Clock Potential
Major League Soccer (MLS) is speaking with football’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (Ifab), about trialling the use of a stopped clock in matches. “When are we going to move away from all of these stopgap procedures and see if we can address gamesmanship and match manipulation by having the referee have a [stopped] clock?” Paul Grafer, vice president of competition for MLS, said to The Guardian. “We’re open to trials around the world, and working with Ifab.”
Ifab has explored the idea of a stopped clock to tackle football’s time-wasting problem, with matches potentially reduced to 60 minutes of ball-in-play. However, there have been two main concerns about its introduction: first, stopping the clock would make the game time unpredictable for broadcasters, and second, a 90-minute match is so deeply embedded in the game's psyche.
Stopped clocks are common practice in other American sports. It was also briefly used during the MLS’s inception in 1996 until the end of the 1999 season, and is still used in US college soccer. Historically, too, the MLS has been a testing ground for new rules that eventually become implemented more widely. The World Cup, for instance, will introduce measures to combat time-wasting around injuries and substitutions, which were first used in MLS Next Pro. It also partnered with the USL in early 2017 to implement and test VAR, which it adopted for all matches during the 2017 season.
Spygate Legal Threat
Southampton’s appeal against being thrown out of the Championship play-off final for spying on Middlesbrough’s training was rejected by a League Arbitration Panel. Southampton’s players are considering taking legal action against their own club for loss of earnings. Sources close to the dressing room say the players are furious at the verdict, having only learned of the expulsion at the same time as everyone else. Many players took a 40% pay cut after their relegation from the Premier League, which would have been reinstated if they had achieved promotion.
The FA is also considering charging Southampton manager Tonda Eckert. Eckert admitted he was responsible for the club’s decision to spy on opponents to better understand their team selection, tactics, and set-piece routines. Since the practice is widespread in Europe, Eckert reportedly claims he did not know he was breaking EFL rules. Read Southampton’s full statement here.
Hull City are consulting lawyers to see whether they have a case for promotion to the Premier League without having to play the play-off final. The club is reportedly unhappy about facing Middlesbrough after spending over a week preparing for Southampton.
The match will go ahead on Saturday (May 23) between Hull City and Middlesbrough at 15:30 BST (10:30 ET).
Major-Minor World Cup Split
UEFA is changing the qualification process ahead of the 2030 World Cup and the 2032 European Championship so that major countries will no longer play minor nations in a two-tier system. Leading countries and broadcasters had been pushing for Uefa to update a system widely regarded as having gone stale.
The way it will work is that the top 36 teams, based on the most recent Nations League rankings, will be split into three groups of 12 in League A, where each team will play six matches, similar to the model used in the new league phase of the expanded Champions League. Uefa has yet to confirm the precise number of automatic qualification spots and play-off berths. The remaining lower-ranked nations will compete in a separate tournament, designed to create a fairer system and give them a better chance of securing competitive results.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said: "The new formats will improve competitive balance, reduce the number of dead matches, offer a more appealing and dynamic competition to fans, while ensuring a fair qualification chance for all teams and without adding any additional dates in the international calendar.”
POLL
Should football use a stop clock?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> On the final day of the Premier League, should Bouremouth win 5-0 vs Nott’m Forest and Liverpool lose 1-0 vs Brentford, it would result in the league’s first-ever play-off for a Champions League spot (More) | Arsenal are set to break the Premier League record for revenues with up to £770m earned this season (More)
> ITV have released their pundits and presenters for the upcoming World Cup, with Juan Mata, Emma Hayes, and Ange Postecoglou alongside the regular roster (More)
> Manuel Neuer is likely to return to the Germany squad for the World Cup two years after international retirement (More)
Americas
> New York City hotel operators and unions have reached an eight-year labour deal covering about 25,000 workers to avoid strikes during the World Cup (More)
> FIFA is working out how the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national team can safely travel to the United States for the World Cup amid an Ebola outbreak in Central Africa (More) | Hotel bookings for the World Cup are still showing little to no signs of a tourism boom in the United States (More)
> Cruz Azul and Pumas UNAM face off in the first leg of the Liga MX Clausura final on Thursday (May 21) (More)
> USL Championship fixtures — Detroit City vs Miami & New Mexico United vs Tampa Bay Rowdies — will conclude shortly after publication (Live Results); see the USL Championship Conference Standings (More)
Rest of the World
> Zamalek secured their 15th Egyptian Premier League title following a 1-0 victory over Ceramica Cleopatra (More)
> Australia’s FA is preparing for staff cuts following a second consecutive financial loss (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Who is your Premier League player of the season?
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🧤 David Raya (16%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🔴 Declan Rice (26%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🎯 Bruno Fernandes (38%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🛡️ Gabriel (4%)
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🔄 Antoine Semenyo (9%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (7%)
Your punditry takes:
🧤 J.L: “Offence wins games. Defence wins titles. This season, Raya has been the best keeper in the game and anchored Arsenal's stellar defence. Golden Glove and has also been spectacular in the Champions League. With Arsenal winning the Premier League, I have to give the player of the season to David Raya.”
🔴 T.S: “How can you look past the most consistent player in the best team? He has also played the most minutes in the league outside of Raya whilst playing a box-to-box role in midfield – absolute warrior!”
🎯 J.D: “Without Bruno, United’s season could have looked similar to Spurs’. Who needs another year of that?”
🔄 C.S: “Despite finishing second, when Semenyo joined the squad during the January window, along with others, the pace and quality of City’s overall play increased on the pitch.”
EXTRA TIME
The moment Arsenal found out they were champions.
… and players celebrate at 5 am with fans.
Who has won the most league titles without earning an international cap?
Beloved mural in Dallas replaced with World Cup art.
Bayern lifting the Bundesliga title through ref cam.
Manchester City unveil their new home kit.
BBC’s Premier League team of the week.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Can you name the six managers who have finished a league season ahead of Pep Guardiola?
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.
Let me tell you something. Twenty-two years, 22 years. there was laughing, there was joking, they’re not laughing anymore.
Answer
Mourinho (2011-12), Conte (2016-17), Pochettino (2016-17), Klopp (2019-20), Slot (2024-25), Arteta (2024-25 & 2025-26)
Correction in Tuesday’s edition: The True or False question (Antarctica is the only continent to never host a World Cup) referred only to the men’s tournament. Going forward, we will make sure to distinguish between the two.
