GM football fans. It’s Thursday, Oct. 2 - Fans are being notified about World Cup tickets, Uefa is delaying its vote on excluding Israel, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURES
UEFA Europa League (Oct 2): Celtic vs. Sporting Braga, 17:45 BST / 12:45 ET. Celtic are undefeated in normal time across 11 games in all competitions, though they sit second behind Hearts in the Scottish Premiership. Braga are a mixed bag, winning two, drawing two and losing two in their last six matches. Feyenoord vs. Aston Villa, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Aston Villa secured back-to-back home victories against Bologna and Fulham, following a winless six-game start. In 20 Europa League away games, Feyenoord have won only once. Nottingham Forest vs. Midtylland, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Forest have failed to win any of their opening five matches across all competitions with Ange Postecoglou in charge. Meanwhile, Midtjylland are in good form with four wins in five in all comps, though they’ve only beaten English opponents once in four attempts. See every Europa League fixture here.
Results…
Champions League: Arsenal 2-0 Olympiakos | Barcelona 1-2 PSG | Leverkusen 1-1 PSV | Dortmund 4-1 Athletic Club | Monaco 2-2 Man City | Napoli 2-1 Sporting CP | Villarreal 2-2 Juventus | Qarabag 2-0 Copenhagen | Saint-Gilloise 0-4 Newcastle (League Stage Standings)
EFL Championship: Millwall 0-4 Coventry City | Norwich 0-1 West Brom | Portsmouth 2-2 Watford | QPR 0-0 Oxford
TOP TALKING POINTS
WC26 Tickets Update
Fans who applied for Fifa’s World Cup ticket lottery are being notified this week if they were successful. These fans can now purchase seats in one of four categories: Category 1 is the best seats, Category 4 is somewhere around the tops of stadiums. Rejection emails will be sent out at the end of Phase 1, which is expected to conclude in mid-to-late October.
The 1 million buyers will be selected from among the 4.5 million applicants in the lottery that took place last month. The top three nations of interest were the hosts of the tournament: the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The rest of the top 10, in order, were Germany, England, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, and Italy.
Separately, Fifa has confirmed that European teams will not be guaranteed (paywall) broadcast-friendly kick-off times during the World Cup. The governing body cited the difficulties in juggling demands for player-friendly temperatures with broadcasters’ requests for primetime kick-off slots.
UEFA Delays Vote
UEFA has reportedly paused plans to ban Israel from European football after U.S. President Donald Trump announced proposed peace plans for the region. It was expected that a vote would take place this week, following pressure from several national federations and athletes. Fifa vice-president Victor Montagliani yesterday also confirmed that Uefa has delayed the vote, but said he was "unaware" of Fifa’s investigation into the potential banning of Israel.
National federations that had been supportive of a ban accepted the decision to pause, with sources saying they understand why Uefa won’t take action while collective peace efforts are underway.
Uefa never officially confirmed that it was considering a vote on whether to exclude Israel, but several reputable media outlets confirmed the proposal was in its advanced stages. Any vote would have been called at short notice, leaving the possibility of a vote to be called should the peace talks collapse suddenly.
Expected Premier League Table
Liverpool should be seventh, not first, in the Premier League table after the first six matches, according to Sky Sports analysis. The analysis is based on an expected goals (xG) formula–read the full analysis here.
The data suggest Liverpool have only been statistically better than their opponent in two of their six Premier League games so far this season. Newly-promoted Sunderland are the only side in the league to have overperformed by a higher margin. Nevertheless, Opta’s prediction model still has Liverpool as 42% favourites to win the league, with Arsenal closely behind with a 37% chance.
The xG data says that Crystal Palace, who scored late to beat Liverpool on the weekend, should be top of the league. Notably, it also claims Manchester United, currently 14th, should be a place higher than Liverpool, at sixth.
POLL
If a match is stopped mid-game, should it be replayed in full or resumed from the minute it left off? (Relates to first story in On The Ball)
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Championship match between Blackburn and Ipswich to be replayed despite the hosts leading 1-0 in the 80th minute against the 10-man away side (More)
> Manchester United are considering the possibility of playing a mid-season friendly in Saudi Arabia (More)
> Former Liverpool forward John Barnes has been declared bankrupt after his company accumulated debts of £1.5m (More)
Americas
> Campeones Cup final between LA Galaxy and Toluca will conclude shortly after publication (Live Result)
> Canadian Championship final between Vancouver Whitecaps and Vancouver FC to conclude shortly after publication (Live Results)
> New York City FC sporting director David Lee is leaving the club to take over as president of football operations and general manager of Sporting Kansas City (More) | Chicago Fire clinched their first play-off spot since 2017 following their 5-3 win over Inter Miami (More)
> Angel City’s first-ever captain Ali Riley will retire at the end of the 2025 season (More)
Rest of the World
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ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think footballers are paid too much?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🤑 Yes (70%)
🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (27%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)
Your punditry takes:
🤑 L.B: “The numbers are beyond ridiculous. But professional athletes all over the world are overpaid. The worst of it, however, is that the money comes out of the pockets of the fans. That’s fair, but there comes a point where the costs associated with buying a ticket, or a shirt, are just way out of line. I think we have long since reached that point in football.”
🤑 K.F: “Do you have to ask? They make many times more in a year than most fans make in a lifetime.”
🙅♂️ M.T: “The market sets a player's value, not the player themselves. If Barca is willing to pay 110m for a player and Real Madrid is willing to pay 120m then that player is worth 120, simple economics. And on the subject of playing too many matches and minutes, it’s nonsense! No one has forced these players to become professional footballers. They are free to choose another profession. It has become a year-round sport for sure, given all of the tournaments being played outside of regular league play. But maybe that is another reason footballers are paid so well.”
✍️ J.S.S: “Like every sport, some are paid an insane amount, a few a goodly amount, and the vast majority of journeymen work hard for little money during a short and insecure career.”
EXTRA TIME
Adidas illuminated the Las Vegas Sphere to tease WC ball.
Ranking every women’s Champions League kit.
Which Prem manager has had the highest low-possession record?
Opta’s latest Europa League projections.
VAR audio for Gyokeres’ overturned penalty vs Newcastle.
How Midtjylland became a hotbed for set-piece experts.
Rooney discusses his funny Tweets.
GAME FACE ON
Question: Antoine Griezmann became the first player in Atletico Madrid's history to score 200 goals for the club. Can you name the only two other players to have scored over 100 goals for Atletico in the 21st century?
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
UEFA Europa League
Celtic vs. Sporting Braga (17:45)
Roma vs. Lille (17:45)
Feyenoord vs. Aston Villa (20:00)
Nottingham Forest vs. Midtylland (20:00)
Lyon vs. Red Star (20:00)
Sturm Graz vs. Rangers (20:00)
See every fixture here.
UEFA Conference League
Dynamo Kyiv vs. Crystal Palace (17:45)
See every fixture here.
*All times in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.
Answer
Fernando Torres (129) & Sergio Aguero (101).
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
Liverpool need to go back to what they were last season and try to build some confidence and some stability.
