World Cup Hosts Tensions Grow

Good morning. Tension over who's going to host the 2030 World Cup final, Mauricio Pochettino claims Chelsea should be stripped of their Premier League title, and everything else you need to know.

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Premier League MD4: Chelsea vs Hull, Sat 12, 15:00 BST / 10:00 ET. Chelsea have never lost in 10 Premier League games with Hull City, but the Blues have failed to win any of their last four home league games against newly promoted sides. Sunderland vs Arsenal, Sat 12, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Arsenal will feel confident, having lost just one of their last 14 league visits to Sunderland. However, Sunderland have won their last two league home games, both against London sides — Chelsea and Fulham. Manchester United vs Manchester City, Sun 13, 16:30 BST / 11:30 ET. Man United won this fixture last season 2-0 but haven’t beaten Man City at home twice in a row in the Premier League since 2010-11. Meanwhile, Man City have won just one of their last four league games against Man United, while the latter has won nine of their 10 league home games since Michael Carrick took over. See every Premier League fixture here and the table here.

Results…

The 2030 World Cup final will be held in Casablanca, the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation claims. Fifa has denied that a decision has been made on the venue, and the location has been a point of contention between Morocco and Spain, who are co-hosting the tournament alongside Portugal.

“The province of Benslimane will have the honour of hosting the 2030 World ⁠Cup final,” the Moroccan FA president said. El Mansouria, in Benslimane province near Casablanca, will be home to the Hassan II stadium, which is being built for the World Cup and is set to be the largest football-specific stadium in the world, with a capacity of 115,000. See concept images of the stadium here.

Earlier this month, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Rafael Louzan, told the media that “Spain should host the final”. He has previously argued that Spain has “proven its organisational capacity” to stage it. “Where would it be held if not in Spain?” he asked.

Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham should have been awarded the 2016-17 Premier League title following Chelsea’s punishment for 74 rule breaches during the Roman Abramovich era. Spurs finished seven points behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea that season on a club-record 86 points, but Pochettino argues the two teams were not competing under the same rules. “They were punished, they admitted, so that’s it. The title should be for the team that was second,” he said.

Chelsea's breaches spanned 2011 to 2018 and included undisclosed payments to unregistered agents in deals for players including Eden Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic. The club were fined £10.75m by the Premier League and £10m by the FA, plus transfer bans, although the Premier League concluded the payments would not have breached its financial rules. Pochettino insisted that if a club breaks the rules, “you need to give it to another team”.

The USMNT manager also revealed Tottenham approached him during last season's relegation fight, before Roberto De Zerbi was appointed, but said it “never was close” as he was committed to preparing the USA for the World Cup. Pochettino said he would still return to Spurs in future even if the club were in the Championship, calling Tottenham “the only club” he would always be open to helping. He also said he would consider managing England one day.

Major League Soccer teams spent $370m on player acquisitions in 2026, breaking last year’s record of $336m and more than double the $172m spent in 2023. At the same time, MLS clubs collectively generated a record $218m in transfer revenue, including Colorado Rapids’ sale of Lucas Herrington to Hull City for $17m and Real Salt Lake’s sale of Zavier Gozo for $15m to Crystal Palace.

Eight clubs also set their own transfer records, with Toronto paying an initial $22m to acquire forward Josh Sargent from Norwich City, and St. Louis breaking their transfer record twice. The incoming transfers included 30 players with World Cup experience, and 20 of them were included in 2026 World Cup squads.

The Cash For Player Trade Rule, the intra-league transfer mechanism recently introduced by MLS, has driven more spending on players. MLS clubs spent $46m on intra-league player trades in 2026, with 96% of those deals involving a Designated Player or U22 Initiative signing.

Dive deeper into the key takeaways from the MLS transfer window here.

• The Premier League will return to its traditional Boxing Day fixtures for the 2026-27 campaign (More) | Tottenham striker Richarlison is considering legal action to terminate his contract with the club after having been left out of the first-team squad (More) | Mikel Arteta is near extending his deal as Arsenal manager (More)

• Todd Boehly and Mark Walter are nearing a deal to sell their Chelsea stakes to Clearlake Capital (More/paywall)

• West Ham host Wrexham on Friday (Sept 11) to kick off Matchday 7 of the Championship; see all upcoming Championship fixtures (More)

• Barcelona’s squad spending limit has risen by almost €150m to €582m, though it sits well behind Real Madrid’s €832m cap (More) | Real Madrid midfielder Arda Guler has agreed to sign a new deal valid until June 2032 (More); see upcoming La Liga fixtures (More)

• Matchday 2 of the WSL kicks off with West Ham vs London City Lionesses on Saturday (Sept 12); see every upcoming WSL fixture (More)

• The French Football Federation has pulled its support for Fifa president Gianni Infantino (More) | Paris Saint-Germain will be seeking their first win of the Ligue 1 season when they face Brest on Sunday (Sept 13); see the Ligue 1 table (More)

• Toronto extended its unbeaten run to seven games following their 2-1 win over MLS Eastern Conference leaders Nashville (More); see upcoming MLS fixtures (More) and Standings (More)

• The NWSL’s African representation grew with Washington Spirit signing Tanzanian forward Clara Luvanga and Denver Summit signing Cameroon forward Naomi Eto (More); see all upcoming NWSL fixtures (More)

• The USL has agreed to a revenue-sharing model, allowing men’s professional teams to participate in the growth of the USL's national revenues (More) | Athletic Club Boise will move from USL League One to the USL Championship for the 2027 season (More); see upcoming USL Championship fixtures (More) and Standings (More)

• Samuel Eto’o, the president of the Cameroonian FA and former Barcelona striker, has been accused of mishandling more than €500,000 paid by Russia into his personal bank account (More/paywall)

Yesterday’s Poll: Jamie Carragher said Erling Haaland could end his career as the best goalscorer of all time. Do you agree?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (69%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅‍♂️ Nope (27%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (4%)

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Question: The Premier League introduced the Golden Glove award in 2004-05. Who was the first goalkeeper to win it for a second time?

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.

Answer

Pepe Reina.