GM football fans. It’s Thursday, Mar. 20 - historic promotion-relegation vote in US football, age-fraud allegations in academies, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
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KEY FIXTURES
UEFA Nations League, Quarter-finals: Croatia vs France, 19:45 / 15:45. Croatia have lost just one of their last seven home matches, but they’ve beaten France only once in their last 10 meetings. Italy vs Germany, 19:45 / 15:45. Italy have won four of their last six matches under Luciano Spalletti, but haven’t beaten Germany in their last four meetings. Germany, meanwhile, are unbeaten in six and averaging three goals per game in this Nations League campaign. Netherlands vs Spain, 19:45 / 15:45. The Netherlands are unbeaten in their last seven home matches, scoring 24 goals in that run. However, Spain have won 14 of their last 15 matches and are on a five-game Nations League winning streak. See every Nations League fixture here.
Results…
TOP TALKING POINTS
Historic Relegation Vote
The United Soccer League (USL) owners have voted to become the first professional football entity in the United States to introduce promotion and relegation. Reports suggest the owners passed the vote with a supermajority.
Last month, the USL, which currently operates second and third divisions in the US, announced it will launch a new Division I league. The new top tier will compete with Major League Soccer (MLS) as the highest division in the country and intends to begin play in 2028. The existence of a top division completes USL’s three-tiered pyramid, enabling a promotion-relegation system.
More broadly, the move would force the sport’s governing body to rethink the stringent guidelines for Division I teams to accommodate teams that move up and down within USL’s pyramid. See the men’s Division I requirements here.
Age-Fraud Scandal
The academies at Manchester United and Manchester City are being questioned over potential age fraud (paywall) involving several of their foreign-born players. Evidence has emerged that up to six players may be older than their stated age, or even adults.
While there is no suggestion that either of the Manchester clubs have knowingly enabled age-cheating at their academies, it has raised questions about whether enough has been done to verify their ages. The Football Association (FA) will face the same scrutiny, as at least three players in question have played for England youth teams.
While photographs indicated that the players had played in much older year groups in their homelands, parents at the academies had reportedly raised concerns before the latest evidence emerged. Both clubs are confident they have performed adequate checks on the players in question.
Dive deeper into how age is verified and historical cases of age fraud in football here.
Last International Side
The Marshall Islands, the seventh-smallest country in the world by area, will play their first 11-a-side fixture. They’re the last country in the world without a football team.
In August, the Pacific Island nation will face the Turks and Caicos Islands and Guam in a mini-tournament, the Outrigger Cup. The matches will take place 6,200 miles away from the island in Springdale, Arkansas–home to the largest Marshallese population outside of the nation itself. While other nations are also not recognised by Fifa, the Marshall Islands, which has a population of around 42,000, is the final nation to have never played an 11-a-side match.
The Marshall Islands Soccer Federation hopes to crowdfund £20,000 to cover the costs. Last month, the country released a ‘vanishing football kit’ to represent the threat the island faces amid rising sea levels. See images of the kit here.
POLL
Do you think the promotion-relegation system make the USL more appealing than the MLS?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Chelsea are considering whether to pay a “significant fee” to get out of their obligation to buy Jadon Sancho from Manchester United this summer (More) | Women’s League Cup to be scrapped as part of a planned revamp of the women’s game (More)
> UEFA has charged Rangers over an anti-woke banner displayed by supporters which read "Keep woke foreign ideologies out - defend Europe" (More)
> Real Madrid have almost agreed a new long-term contract with defender Raul Asencio (More)
> Serie A is considering India as a potential host for the Italian Super Cup to broaden the tournament’s global audience (More)
> Women’s football is putting player safety at risk with the standard of pitches, the Professional Footballers’ Association has said (More) | Ian Wright called the pitch for Arsenal’s Women’s Champions League match against Real Madrid a “disgrace” (See Pitch via X)
Americas
> The US Open Cup prize money doubles to a record $1m (More); see all results and fixtures for the US Open Cup (More)
> Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American body CONMEBOL, apologised for his remarks comparing Brazilian clubs to a chimpanzee from Tarzan films (More)
> MLS All-Stars to face the best of Liga MX on Wednesday, July 23 at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas (More)
Rest of the World
> Papiss Cisse, 39, has come out of retirement ot sign for UAE side Al Qabila FC (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think SAOT should be introduced late in the season? And why?
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👍 Yes... (23%)
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅♂️ Nope... (70%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (7%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 J.C.A.F: “With eight games left, Liverpool may have it wrapped up. It’s better to test it out when the season winner looks to be in hand. The variable could be how it affects the Champions League and Europa Cup placements. Does that outweigh compromising a new season from the start?”
👍 J.M: “It is not changing any rules, just improving the ability to adjudge the existing rules. It is like giving a referee glasses, they still referee the same rules, they can just see better now!”
🙅♂️ S.F: “VAR has been shown to be totally unfit for purpose. An 8-minute delay is absolutely absurd and endangered players standing around. It should only be introduced when it works completely 100% of the time. The only part of it that should be retained is goalline technology, everything else should be scrapped.”
🙅♂️ M.S: “Really need a consistent process for a single season. Otherwise, over a single season, games and advances are awarded differently. Example situation: a play resulting in an offside call and no goal at the beginning of the season, would be on side with goal awarded at the end of the season, strictly by the rules.”
EXTRA TIME
The best cities for football fans.
How each nation can qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
The Premier League’s best and worst 1v1 defenders.
‘Big’ teams that haven’t won a major trophy in 10 years.
Betis’ new Naruto kit is certainly unique.
Why Everton’s new stadium has steep seats.
Taxonomy of MLS team names.
Predicting every remaining Premier League matchweek.
Morgan Gibbs-White reveals Thomas Tuchel's surprise call. (via X)
GAME FACE ON
Question: Who is the youngest player to have won the Ballon d'Or?
Bonus: Who came second in the ranking that year?
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
UEFA Nations League, Quarter-finals
Croatia vs France (19:45)
Denmark vs Portugal (19:45)
Italy vs Germany (19:45)
Netherlands vs Spain (19:45)
CONCACAF Nations League, Semi-finals
United States vs Panama (23:00)
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers
Paraguay vs Chile (23:00)
*All time in UK. ET -4. CST -5. PDT -7. MDT -6. CET +1.
Answer
Ronaldo Nazario is the youngest winner of the Ballon d'Or. He won the prize in 1997 when he was 21 years and 95 days old. See all his goals for Barcelona that season here.
Bonus: Predrag Mijatovic came second in the rankings (Player Profile).
The best players in the world are athletes. There is no longer a player who is technically tremendous but not an athlete.
