GM football fans. It’s Monday, May. 12 – Fifa votes to expand the Women’s World Cup, the Premier League plans for lower broadcast deals, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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KEY FIXTURES

Championship Promotion Play-offs, Semi-Final, Leg 2, 20:00 / 15:00. Sheffield United vs. Bristol City, Agg 3-0. Bristol City are winless across their last eight games against Sheffield United in all competitions. Plus, a three-goal advantage means that Opta’s prediction model sees Sheffield United as 98.3% favourites to advance to the play-off final. The winner of the tie will face either Sunderland or Coventry (Agg 2-1) in the final.

Results…

• Premier League: Newcastle 2-0 Chelsea | Man Utd 0-2 West Ham | Forest 2-2 Leicester | Spurs 0-2 Palace | Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal (Table) (Full Results)

• La Liga: Barcelona 4-3 Real Madrid (Report) (Table)

• Serie A: Torino 0-2 Inter | Napoli 2-2 Genoa (Table)

• Scottish Premiership: Rangers 4-0 Aberdeen (Report)

• MLS (Results) | USL (Results) | NWSL (Results)

TOP TALKING POINTS

Expanded Women’s World Cup

The Women’s World Cup will expand to 48 teams starting from the 2031 edition. Hosts for the 2031 and 2035 editions, expected to be the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, have yet to be ratified.

The number of matches will rise from 64 under the 32-team format to 104, mirroring the men’s 2026 World Cup. Players’ union FIFPro has welcomed the expansion “in principle” but called for several issues in the women’s game to be addressed, including improved working conditions.

The Women’s World Cup increased from 24 to 32 teams for the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand. It will remain at 32 teams for the 2027 edition in Brazil—see the eight host stadiums confirmed last week here.

More PL Broadcast Changes

The Premier League has asked clubs to give broadcasters the right to film inside dressing rooms or conduct live in-game player interviews from next season. This push comes after the league warned that future media rights deals could be devalued without increased broadcast access.

Reports suggest that the traditional ‘Big Six’ are reluctant to allow cameras in their dressing rooms as they want to save behind-the-scenes content for their own channels. Other clubs–including Brentford, Brighton, Wolves and Nottingham Forest–have trialled dressing-room cameras this season. Watch an example of it in action here.

Under the league’s current proposal, clubs would also be required to allow either a half-time player interview or a substituted player interview at two home games. These suggestions are part of a wave of broadcast enhancements being considered for the English top flight–see previous write-up.

Life-Threatening Promotion

A Hamburger SV fan suffered “life-threatening injuries” and 19 others were seriously injured during Saturday’s celebrations following the club’s promotion back to the Bundesliga. The six-time German champions returned to the top-flight after a seven-year absence.

When thousands of fans flooded the field (see here), the Hamburg Fire Department declared a “major emergency response.” In total, 44 supporters required medical attention, with 25 taken to local hospitals.

HSV were long known as “Der Dino” (The Dinosaur) because they were the last club to have played in every Bundesliga season from its inception in 1963 until their first relegation in 2018.

Dive deeper into the history of the club here.

POLL

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ON THE BALL

Europe

> Barcelona beat Real Madrid 4-3 in the final El Clasico of the season, widening the gap at the top of La Liga by seven points with three matches remaining (Report) (Highlights / US Readers)

> Benfica and Sporting, level on points at the top of Liga Portugal, drew 1-1 on Saturday; Sporting’s three-goal advantage separates them on goal difference going into this weekend’s final game (More); Watch Vangelis Pavlidis' brilliant assist (Watch)

> Xabi Alonso has confirmed he will leave Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the season; Real Madrid is likely his next destination (More)

> Chelsea Women have become the first team in Women’s Super League history to go unbeaten in a 22-game season; they also reached 60 points, the highest points tally in the history of the league (More)

> PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has written to all 600 club staff to say they will receive free tickets and travel to the Champions League final (More)

Americas

> For the 2026 World Cup, tickets for the group stage will average at $305 (More)

> Supporters for Nashville’s MLS team cancelled game-day activities, citing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Tennessee (More) | Inter Miami lost 4-1 to Minnesota as Javier Mascherano’s side concede 14 goals in five games (More) | Western Confernece leaders Vancouver Whitecaps to play LAFC; result decided shortly after publication (All Results)

> Orlando Pride drop points again in a 1-1 draw to North Carolina (Highlights) | KC Current go three points clear after their 4-1 win over Bay FC (Standings)

> Loudoun United lead USL’s Eastern Conference after a comfortable 5-1 win over Lexington SC; San Antonio and Monterey Bay are level at the top of the Western Conference, though San Antonio have a game in hand (Standings)

> Boca Juniors claimed a 4-2 penalty shootout win over Lanus on Saturday to reach the Argentine Apertura tournament quarter-finals (More)

Rest of the World

> Central Coast Mariners beat unbeaten premiers Melbourne City with a 121st-minute winner to reach the women’s A-League Grand Final (More) | The semi-finals of the men’s A-League Finals Series have been locked in (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Friday’s Poll: Do you think football will challenge North America's 'Big Four' sports after hosting the World Cup?

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👏 Absolutely... (31%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅‍♂️ Nope... (65%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (4%)

Editor’s Note: Today’s Routers’ Voice is longer than usual due to the volume and quality of comments. Thank you all for the submissions!

Your punditry takes:

• 👏 P.F: “I believe that there will be a spike in attendance at soccer (football) matches after the World Cup, however, how it will affect the long-term popularity of the sport is a tough call. In my opinion, the sport is quite popular and has built a strong base. Not gonna say that it will challenge any of the well-established sporting leagues, but it will no doubt have a large impact on how the sport is viewed and accepted.”

• 👏 J.M: “I think it will definitely grow significantly in popularity, especially if the US do relatively well in the tournament. I do not think it will overtake any of the ‘Big Four’ but you might have to start talking about a ‘Big Five’ as it will be close enough to the others.”

• 🙅‍♂️ L.K: “History says no. Everyone thought the last World Cup would cause football to take off in the US. Everyone will say the same, but the level of play in the US still doesn't hold a candle to Europe.”

• 🙅‍♂️ T.A: “Most likely not, however, the closest league to MLS in terms of attendance revenue and TV viewership is the NHL. There could be a world where MLS jumps the NHL, but it's not really close to the NBA, MLB and NFL. There is zero chance a foreign league will ever be viewed as a top league/sport in America.”

• ✍️ L: “Yes and no. Yes, it will challenge because the younger generation in America watches football (soccer) more than any other generation. But no, because I think it will take more than just the World Cup coming to make that happen. I think it will take a better product domestically for that to happen… MLS has to get better in order for the sport to grow here and challenge. They are the Big Four because America is good at them and Americans will only watch the best (hence why we all watch the Premier League).”

EXTRA TIME

Muller bids farewell to the Allianz Arena.

… and he tries stand-up comedy in front of the Bayern crowd.

Nottm Forest owner berates Nuno on the pitch.

The club that hasn’t played in 18 months.

PSG 25-26 home shirt leaked.

Southampton hilariously bite back at Ruben Dias’ comments.

Lamine Yamal or Ryan?

What makes Fulham’s stand the best in the world?

It was painful to be a GK back in the day.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Who is the missing player from the list? 

Arjen Robben, Ilkay Gundogan, Cristiano Ronaldo, ____ and Mohamed Salah.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Championship Play-offs, SF

• Sheffield United vs Bristol City (Agg 3-0) (20:00)

Serie A

• Venezia vs Fiorentina (17:30)

• Atalanta vs Roma (19:45)

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

Answer

Antoine Griezmann. The sequence is: the last five players to take a penalty in a Champions League final–excluding penalty shoot-outs. Credit: The Athletic.

Want more? Try our daily football Wordle – guess the name of a current or former player in six tries. Play it here.