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Good morning football fans. It’s Friday, July. 24 - Betting irregularities have been flagged at the 2026 World Cup, data shows measures to crack down on time-wasting have worked, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
TOP TALKING POINTS
Premier League Tax
The cost of signing the Premier League’s most valuable players has almost doubled in two years. The average price of a top-end signing has increased from £36.6m in 2024-25 to £70.5m in 2026, according to analysis by Sky Sports. The top-end transfer threshold has also risen nearly threefold, with the entry point now at around £42.8m, compared to £15.5m in 2016-17. Top-end signings are defined as the most expensive 25% of disclosed permanent transfers to Premier League clubs.
The current transfer window is the first in Premier League history to produce three £100m-plus signings. This includes Chelsea’s club-record £117m deal for Morgan Rogers, Manchester City’s club-record £116m deal for Elliot Anderson, and Tottenham’s club-record deal for Sandro Tonali, worth up to £100m. So far, Premier League clubs have spent around €1.6bn (£1.35bn; $1.8bn) in the summer transfer window, according to TransferMarkt.
While Premier League spending has risen, club revenues have also increased substantially, meaning that transfer fees make up a smaller percentage of clubs’ financial capacity than they did in previous decades. Alan Shearer’s £15m move to Newcastle in 1996, for instance, remains the league’s largest transfer relative to clubs’ buying power at the time, with one estimate valuing it at around £235m in today’s terms.
World Cup Irregularities Raised
Seven potential integrity concerns were flagged during the 2026 men’s World Cup by the Group of Copenhagen, an independent network that monitors possible sports manipulation. The findings, which have not yet been fully published, appear to conflict with Fifa’s Integrity Task Force, which said it found no suspicious betting activity or indications of match manipulation anywhere in the tournament.
The Group of Copenhagen outlined seven “yellow notices” — meaning slightly increased concern and not proof of match-fixing — during the tournament. According to sources speaking to The Athletic, three cases included South Africa’s Themba Zwane’s 84th-minute red card against Mexico, $4.8 million wagered on a prediction market that Spain would not beat Cape Verde in a game that ended goalless, and a three-and-a-half-minute VAR delay before Ferran Torres’ goal against Saudi Arabia was disallowed. Analysts say the incidents may have innocent explanations and do not establish manipulation.
Several of the notices centre on prediction market activity, where people trade contracts on real-world events. On one platform, a market was opened on whether Folarin Balogun would play against Belgium despite his red card, three days before Fifa publicly confirmed that his ban had been suspended. The report’s concern is that no comparable markets were reportedly created for the other 14 players sent off during the tournament, raising questions about possible advance or inside information.
Time-Wasting Success
The new measures to crack down on time-wasting appear to have been successful at the 2026 World Cup. The average ball-in-play time of 58 minutes 16 seconds was higher than both the Champions League (56min 43secs) and the Premier League (55min 23sec) last season, figures analysed by The Times show. That is only marginally up on Qatar 2022, where the ball was in play for roughly 58 minutes, but it was achieved in far shorter matches, meaning a materially higher share of each game was live football.
In addition, despite the inclusion of hydration breaks, stoppage time was also reduced compared to the last World Cup. This year’s competition saw stoppage time average 6min 24 seconds, plus a further six minutes for the two three-minute hydration breaks, compared with the average stoppage time of 11min 22secs in Qatar. The data suggest that time-wasting around injuries, substitutions and goal celebrations has been significantly reduced.
Ahead of the tournament, Fifa and football’s lawmakers, Ifab, introduced a number of measures to reduce time-wasting. Perhaps the most significant of the changes were the referees’ five-second countdown when goal-kicks or throw-ins were being delayed, and the time-limited substitutions, with players required to leave the pitch within 10 seconds or risk the replacement having to wait until the first stoppage at least one minute later. Remind yourself of all the World Cup law changes here.
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POLL
Did you feel there was less time wasting at this year's World Cup?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Manchester City have completed the signing of Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for £116m on a five-year deal (More) | Barcelona have signed Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi for an initial €22m, with another €7m in add-ons (More) | Aston Villa have signed Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho on loan until the end of the 2026-27 season, with an option to buy (More) | Arsenal have signed winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge on a five-year deal (More)
> A London-based investment firm has amassed 3.1 million Class A shares of Manchester United, representing 5.6% of the Class A stock of the club (More) | Watford’s owners will sell the Championship club’s women’s team to an investment platform (More)
> Erling Haaland has become the most expensive Fantasy Premier League player in history for the second time, with a starting price of £15.5m (More)
> France is considering a joint bid with Germany to host the 2038 or 2042 men’s World Cup (More) | The French FA is expected to announce Zinedine Zidane as Didier Deschamps’ replacement on Tuesday (More) | The Norwegian FA is set to make a formal complaint to Fifa’s ethics committee over US president Donald Trump’s interference in the USA striker Folarin Balogun’s ban (More)
Americas
> The Premier League is planning to stage fan activations in 15 US cities across the opening weekend of the season (More)
> Antoine Griezmann scored in his MLS debut as Orlando City beat the San Jose Earthquakes 4-0 (More); see all upcoming MLS fixtures (More) and Conference Standings (More)
> NWSL leaders Washington Spirit will face Denver Summit on Sunday (July 26); see every upcoming NWSL fixture (More) and Standings (More) | Denver Summit’s new stadium won’t be ready for the start of the 2028 NWSL season as originally planned (More)
> USL Championship side Miami FC have announced Octavio Zambrano as the club’s new General Manager (More); see upcoming USL Championship fixtures (More) and Conference Standings (More)
Rest of the World
> Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu, who guided his team to the World Cup round of 32, will continue through next year’s Asian Cup and then step away (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Are you looking forward to the Premier League season starting?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Yes (94%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (4%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (2%)
Your punditry takes:
👍 L.J: “Absolutely. There's a plethora of new managers to make things interesting, and although I expect Arsenal will be favourites, I can't recall the last time there were so many genuine title contenders.”
👍 J.C: “Yes! I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself for the next three weeks. We’ve gone from football all day every day, to no football — it’s just cruel!!”
✍️ J.H: “I'm tired. The knife's-edge club season followed by 104 World Cup games has me understanding more than ever why the players need a good break! I'll be excited when it gets here, but I can wait a bit.”
EXTRA TIME
Every transfer in Europe’s top five leagues.
… and 10 transfer storylines you may have missed during the World Cup.
The best upcoming pre-season friendlies.
Spanish players receive 150kg of tomatoes for World Cup victory.
How India hopes to ride the World Cup wave.
Real Madrid unveil new green away kit.
… and Hull’s unique away kit.
Don’t miss Mateus Fernandes’ training ground goal.
GAME FACE ON
Who Am I…
I’m a World Cup winner.
I signed for Manchester City in 2019 but never played a game.
I won the Europa League in 2025, and scored in the semi-final.
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.
He wanted to represent Mali to honour his paternal roots. We convinced him that he would win the World Cup with France.
Answer
Pedro Porro.