Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i World Soccer

Welcome to the 2024-25 season. As always, to kick off the new campaign we’ve tapped into our network of experts from around Europe to bring you the most eye-catching talking points from the biggest leagues as well as some of the smaller – yet no less interesting – ones. Away from Europe, Japan and South Korea’s top flights are approaching the business end with big upsets on the cards, while the rest of Asia is gearing up for a revamped Champions League. Plus, we’ve taken a look ahead to the key games in the September international break.…

Three days into the Olympic Games, when the sporting world’s focus was on Paris, so FIFA slipped out a note that countries chasing hosting rights for football’s 2030 and 2034 World Cups had handed in their bid books. No fewer than seven countries were tied in: Saudi Arabia alone for 2034 after an amalgam of Spain, Argentina, Morocco, Paraguay, Portugal and Uruguay for the 2030 event. “FIFA set clear human rights standards that any bidding country must meet, yet it is clear that Saudi Arabia’s bid for the 2034 World Cup currently falls far short” Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of labour rights and sport In days gone by, the prospect of federations from seven states with all their PR teams jousting for the World Cup would deliver a marvellous…

Could South Korea’s army team finally become national champions? For the past few years, the K-League title race has been dominated by Ulsan Hyundai (now known as Ulsan HD) and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Not in 2024 though. Ulsan are still in the mix – though lost two-time title-winning coach Hong Myung-bo in July – but Jeonbuk are in a relegation battle for the first time in their history. The absence of the Greens has left the path open for others to challenge but nobody saw Gimcheon Sangmu coming through for a title tilt. Owned by Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps, the club exists to give professional football players at other clubs somewhere to complete their 18-month military service, which all able-bodied males must start by the time they are 28.…

It was only 15 years ago that Bordeaux, as French champions, topped a Champions League group featuring Bayern Munich and Juventus. That now seems like a lifetime ago after the club was declared bankrupt, demoted to the French fourth tier and had its players’ contracts terminated. For one of France’s most storied clubs, which has boasted great players such as Zinedine Zidane, Jean-Pierre Papin, Bixente Lizarazu, Alain Giresse, Jean Tigana and Sylvain Wiltord – and more recently Aurelien Tchouameni and Jules Kounde – it is a depressing yet predictable outcome. Back in 2018, the club was sold to two American investment firms, General American Capital Partners’ (GACP) and Kings Street Capital (KCP), for €100m. Barely a year later, the two firms clashed and KCP took full control of the club.…

SPAIN 14 CAPS 3 GOALS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP YOUNG PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT YOUTH RECORDS Lamal is the youngest-ever play to… START IN LA LIGA FOR BARCELONA 16 years, 38 days (Barcelona v Cadiz, August 2023) START IN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 16 years, 83 days (Barcelona v Porto, October 2023) PLAY AND SCORE FOR SPAIN 16 years, 57 days (Spain v Georgia, September 2023) SCORE IN COPA DEL REY 16 years, 195 days (Athletic Club v Barcelona, January 2024) PLAY IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 16 years, 338 days (Spain v Croatia, June 2024) SCORE IN LA LIGA 16 years, 87 days (Granada v Barcelona, October 2023) SCORE IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 16 years, 362 days (Spain v France, July 2024) PLAY IN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE KNOCKOUT PHASE 16 years, 223 days (Barcelona v Napoli, February 2024)…

JURRIEN TIMBER (Arsenal) Riccardo Calafiori’s arrival might make Arsenal fans forget that they also signed a talented and versatile defender last summer too. After a debut campaign ruined by injury, Timber has a point to prove – and plenty of ability. OLLIE WATKINS (Aston Villa) Was last season’s league return of 19 goals and 13 assists a one-off, or part of Watkins’ ascent to elite-level striker status? His semi-final goal at Euro 2024 suggests the latter; the Champions League gives him the chance to prove it. COLE PALMER (Chelsea) Last season’s impressive form was a pleasant surprise for Chelsea, but this term the expectation will be much greater. The pressure is on Palmer to get even better – something that, fortunately, doesn’t seem to bother him at all. JAKE O’BRIEN…

GIRONA’S SECOND SEASON SYNDROME Realistically, the chances of Girona repeating last season’s third-place finish are slim. As well as juggling their first-ever season in the Champions League, they will have to do so without a number of the key men who actually helped achieve European football for the club. Loanees Eric Garcia, Savinho, Yan Couto and Pablo Torre have all gone, while club captain Aleix Garcia (sold to Bayer Leverkusen for €18m) and last season’s league top scorer Artem Dobvyk (Roma for €30.5m) also left. In to replace them came Premier League misfits Bryan Gil, Donny van de Beek and Oriol Romeu, plus highly rated but unproven players like Alejandro Frances, Ladislav Krejci and Abel Ruiz. A top-six spot would be considered a success for the Catalans this campaign. BASQUE…

Bayern Munich usually can be relied upon to swiftly take flight again after plummeting from their perch. Seven out of eight times since 1996, the Bavarians have reacted to a rare Bundesliga wipeout by immediately re-establishing themselves on top of the pile. Like a cornered animal, Bayern are sure to come out growling in 2024-25. But will it be enough to see off reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen, the new number one force in the country? Leverkusen, who last season became the first-ever team to remain undefeated in a Bundesliga campaign, did not merely unseat Bayern; Xabi Alonso’s plucky side obliterated the behemoth from the south, finishing 18 points and two places ahead. A lot of psychological damage was done at all levels in the Bayern ranks and despite a new…

AUGSBURG Manager: Jess Thorup BAYER LEVERKUSEN Manager: Xabi Alonso BAYERN MUNICH Manager: Vincent Kompany BOCHUM Manager: Peter Zeidler BORUSSIA DORTMUND Manager: Nuri Sahin BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH Manager: Gerardo Seoane EINTRACHT FRANKFURT Manager: Dino Toppmoller FREIBURG Manager: Julian Schuster HEIDENHEIM Manager: Frank Schmidt HOFFENHEIM Manager: Pellegrino Matarazzo HOLSTEIN KIEL Manager: Marcel Rapp MAINZ Manager: Bo Henriksen RB LEIPZIG Manager: Marco Rose ST PAULI Manager: Alexander Blessin STUTTGART Manager: Sebastian Hoeness UNION BERLIN Manager: Bo Svensson WERDER BREMEN Manager: Ole Werner WOLFSBURG Manager: Ralph Hasenhuttl…

NICOLO ZANIOLO (Atalanta) Once considered one of the great “promises” of Italian football, the talented Zaniolo gets a chance to put his career back on track in Bergamo after injury-interrupted sojourns with Aston Villa and Galatasaray. MEHDI TAREMI (Internazionale) Thanks to the expected heavy fixture list in this new-look campaign, the vastly experienced Taremi – capped 85 times by Iran (scoring 50 goals) including appearances at the last two World Cups – may find some space with busy Inter. PIOTR ZIELINSKI (Internazionale) In the brave new era of 70-plus games per season, fellow new signing Zielinski will also prove an important addition to the reigning Italian champions’ squad. The Poland stalwart only missed one game in Napoli’s 2022-23 Scudetto. ARTEM DOVBYK (Roma) Bought from Spanish club Girona for a reported €38m…

Dwelling too much on pre-season form is rarely sensible, yet any side hoping to end Celtic’s run of three consecutive Scottish Premiership titles will have been daunted by the Bhoys’ summer tour of the United States. After dispatching MLS side D.C. United 4-0 in Washington, Brendan Rodgers’ team took on Premier League outfits Manchester City and Chelsea, winning 4-3 and 4-1 respectively. True, they were further ahead in their pre-season programme than their English opponents, yet it was part of a serene summer of preparation. Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was the headline signing, reuniting with his former Leicester City boss Rodgers and replacing the retired Joe Hart, while Paulo Bernardo joined permanently from Benfica after his successful loan spell. After they won their first game of the new season 4-0…

BREST BACK DOWN TO EARTH? Brest were Ligue 1’s surprise package last term, securing European qualification for the first time in the club’s history. As they embark on a debut Champions League campaign, the gloss has been somewhat taken off by the news that their stadium does not meet UEFA regulations, meaning they will borrow second-tier Guingamp’s ground instead. More worryingly, Brest appear to be unprepared for the step up. Sporting director Gregory Lorenzi made it clear last season that Champions League qualification wouldn’t precipitate a huge summer of spending at the Breton club, and he wasn’t bluffing. Adding depth and quality has been somewhat of a struggle; even retaining journeyman striker Steve Mounie (ex-Huddersfield Town) proved beyond them. Through a lack of means rather than a lack of ambition,…

Not since 1954 have Sporting Clube de Portugal won back-to-back league titles. The fact the Lisbon club are well placed to do something they have not achieved for 70 years is a measure of the transformative effect manager Ruben Amorim has had not only on Sporting, but on Portuguese football as a whole since his appointment in 2020. Recent history had been especially bleak for Sporting. In practically four decades before the appointment of Amorim, the Lions had been crowned national champions just twice. Porto and Benfica were so far ahead, the country’s traditional Big Three was in serious danger of becoming a Big Two. That all changed when club president Frederico Varandas paid Braga what was considered “crazy money” at the time, meeting the northerners’ buyout clause of €10…

PEER KOOPMEINERS (AZ) The 24-year-old midfielder, and younger brother of Europa League winner and Dutch international Teun, had an excellent season on loan at Almere City and seems ready for his breakthrough. NOAH OHIO (Utrecht) Previously on the books of both Manchester clubs and RB Leipzig but may benefit from a step back. Played for England U16s with Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala but now a Dutch U21 international. SAM LAMMERS (Twente) A move to Rangers didn’t work out, but 11 goals in 20 matches on loan at Utrecht last season – plus 19 goals at Heerenveen in 2018-19 – suggests the 27-year-old is made for the Eredivisie.…

In his 1965 biography of the Princeton college basketball standout – and future US senator – Bill Bradley, legendary The New Yorker magazine writer John McPhee described how the star forward possessed a refined appreciation of where he was on the court at all times; a mastery of the angles, a blink-quick calculation of his distance to the basket and a radar-like ability to locate team-mates with perfect passes. The book, which was an extension of an initial magazine article of the same name, was entitled A Sense of Where You Are. It is a description that springs to mind when analysing Michael Olise; Bayern Munich’s new €60 million man exhibits a similar physical adroitness – the timing of his infield bursts from the wing, precise acceleration that leaves defenders…

The congestion crisis overwhelming the women’s football calendar came to a head as direct qualification to the 2025 European Championship concluded. The final two rounds of fixtures were played in mid-July, either side of the men’s European Championship final. This was nearly two months after the domestic leagues of England, Germany, France and Italy and many others had concluded, and barely a week before the Olympic football programme began. Those teams not at the Olympics – excluding the players from summer leagues such as in Scandinavia – should have been on a beach, or somewhere similarly relaxing, to recover mentally and physically from another demanding season. The players and coaches of France, Germany and Spain, meanwhile, should have been working through a build-up programme designed to return their squads to…

In many ways, substitute Sergio Camello’s extra-time goals that steered his side to Olympic gold were the crowning achievement of Spain’s outstanding summer. In the space of 57 days, the Spanish won Euro 2024, the Under-19 European Championship and the Olympic football tournament, confirming, with aplomb, that they are the futbol nation. At the three tournaments, Spain were not just the winners, but simply the best. At a sun-drenched Parc des Princes in Paris, in the full glow of a mesmerising Olympic summer, France and their coach Thierry Henry found that out the hard way – they had clawed their way back into the final from 3-1 down after Spain’s first-half blitz with three goals inside 11 minutes, but Camello’s two dinks, a combination of skill, precision and timing, were…

The 2024 Copa America experience left the guest participants from CONCACAF with plenty to ponder ahead of the 2026 World Cup and, more immediately, heading into the new Nations League season. Regional heavyweights United States and Mexico will both have new faces in the dugout for the 2024-25 Nations League. Their respective head coaches, Gregg Berhalter and Jaime Lozano, were sacked on the back of poor performances at the Copa America – a tournament seen as the last big test before 2026. Canada were the surprise success story from CONCACAF under new head coach Jesse Marsch, reaching the semi-finals before being knocked out by eventual winners Argentina and only losing the third-place match against Uruguay on penalties. The American coach has revived them, but this Nations League will be a…

GROUP A Comoros Madagascar Gambia Tunisia GROUP B C. African Rep Lesotho Gabon Morocco GROUP C Botswana Egypt Cape Verde Mauritania GROUP D Benin Nigeria Libya Rwanda GROUP E Algeria Liberia Eq. Guinea Togo GROUP F Angola Niger Ghana Sudan GROUP G Chad Sierra Leone Ivory Coast Zambia GROUP H DR Congo Guinea Ethiopia Tanzania GROUP I Eswatini Mali Guinea-Bissau Mozambique GROUP J Cameroon Namibia Kenya Zimbabwe GROUP K Congo South Sudan South Africa Uganda GROUP L Burkina Faso Malawi Burundi Senegal…

UEFA club competitions September sees the return of UEFA’s two biggest club competitions in their new-look formats. The Champions League is the first to begin, with Matchday 1 taking place on September 17 and 18, while the Europa League returns the following week on September 25 and 26 with both now comprising 36 teams in the group phase instead of 32. The Conference League, meanwhile, begins on Thursday October 3, also now with 36 participants. We’ll have a guide to all three competitions in next month’s issue. Meanwhile, qualifying for the women’s UEFA Champions League also takes place in September (see more on page 81), concluding with the second legs of the second round on September 25 and 26. The group-stage draw is a day later, with the tournament itself…

AUGUST 23 Borussia M’gladbach v Bayer Leverkusen AUGUST 24 Augsburg v Werder Bremen Freiburg v Stuttgart Hoffenheim v Holstein Kiel Mainz v Union Berlin RB Leipzig v Bochum Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt AUGUST 25 Wolfsburg v Bayern Munich St Pauli v Heidenheim AUGUST 30 Union Berlin v St Pauli AUGUST 31 Bochum v Borussia M’gladbach Eintracht Frankfurt v Hoffenheim Holstein Kiel v Wolfsburg Stuttgart v Mainz Werder Bremen v Borussia Dortmund Bayer Leverkusen v RB Leipzig SEPTEMBER 1 Heidenheim v Augsburg Bayern Munich v Freiburg SEPTEMBER 13 Borussia Dortmund v Heidenheim SEPTEMBER 14 Borussia M’gladbach v Stuttgart Freiburg v Bochum Hoffenheim v Bayer Leverkusen RB Leipzig v Union Berlin Wolfsburg v Eintracht Frankfurt Holstein Kiel v Bayern Munich SEPTEMBER 15 Augsburg v St Pauli Mainz v Werder Bremen SEPTEMBER…

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THE AJAX WAY By Dylan O’Connell (Pitch Publishing) The Ajax Way is a map of European football which tells the story of the game’s tactical development through the club that spawned Total Football. Packed with tactical insight and social history, this is a story – with Ajax Amsterdam and their roster of stars at its core – that spans three centuries and stretches across the globe, sparing no detail in exploring Ajax’s rich history and the various teams they’ve inspired. LOS LEONES By Christopher James Evans (Pitch Publishing) Los Leones: The Unique Story of Athletic Club Bilbao tells the incredible story of the unique Basque club. Along with Real Madrid and Barcelona, Athletic Club have never been relegated, and Los Leones’ rich history and Basque-only philosophy cause intrigue across the…

“I would like to work with the FA, the Scottish FA, the Welsh and the Northern Irish FA, if we can make it happen. Because it would be brilliant for football, for youth football and football in general”British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Anson confirms he would like a men’s Team GB side at the 2028 Olympics Alexander SORLOTH To date, Sorloth’s career has followed a similar pattern: impress, earn a move, fail, move on, then shine again. The Norway striker first caught the eye in 2015 with Bodo/Glimt, but a subsequent move to Eredivisie side Groningen failed to work out. He rediscovered his goalscoring form at Midtjylland to earn a move to Crystal Palace, but flopped again. His best season came on loan at Trabzonspor, notching 24 goals on…

In the summer of 2023, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) took over the country’s four biggest clubs and many felt that would be that as far as the title hopes of the rest of the country went, for a few years at least. Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Ittihad and Al Ahli were successful even before the massive injection of funds and here they were signing Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Riyad Mahrez. Even established clubs such as Al Shabab, with six championships in their Riyadh trophy room, complained at the far from level playing field. It may not, however, be Shabab that are the focus of non-Big Four headlines for the 2024-25 season, which kicked off in late August, as Al Qadsiah have been making waves. A…

With the 2026 World Cup less than two years away, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has appointed two familiar figures to lead the national team into the tournament that they will co-host: Javier Aguirre and Rafael Marquez. Former coach Jaime Lozano was replaced after an underwhelming showing at this summer’s Copa America, and the FMF wasted little time in appointing his successor. For 65-year-old Aguirre, this will be his third spell in charge of the national team after leading them at both the 2002 and 2010 World Cups, reaching the last 16 on both occasions. A former international midfielder of 59 caps, he also holds the unwanted record of being the first Mexican to be sent off at a World Cup, doing so on home soil during the 1986 quarter-final…

Should you blink while travelling south from Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, to the Albanian border, you risk missing the town of Tuzi. Sat in the foothills of the ominously named Accursed Mountains, Tuzi, with its population of approximately 5,000, is an unlikely point of interest on the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League map. Tuzi is the home of Montenegrin champions FK Decic, who earned a Champions League first qualifying round place after their first-ever title win. In what appears to be a fairy-tale story, Decic were playing in the second tier as recently as 2020, rising to become national champions in just four years and ending FK Buducnost’s and FK Sutjeska’s seven-year duopoly on the title. It was an impressive achievement for head coach Milorad Pekovic, who was only appointed in September…

SPOTLIGHT ON NEW COACHES New faces and familiar faces all face up to pressure in the dugout. At Chelsea, Enzo Maresca cannot risk a poor start, or the fans’ initial doubts will intensify around an inexperienced head coach. Maresca has plenty of talent to work with, including the nerve-free Cole Palmer, but should beware imposing his style of building slowly from the back and inverting full-backs on a squad built for other approaches. Liverpool will miss the charisma and footballing smarts of Jurgen Klopp but Arne Slot will definitely be given plenty of time and the Kop’s backing. He inherits a strong squad; any side with Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah will be respected. At Ipswich Town, Kieran McKenna will continue to win many admirers with his progressive football,…

Since signing Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, Real Madrid have exceeded the Portuguese forward’s €80 million transfer fee three times – Gareth Bale (2013), Eden Hazard (2019) and Jude Bellingham (2023) – yet none arrived in Madrid with the same combination of pedigree, potential and glamour as Kylian Mbappe. The France captain arrives as a six-time Ligue 1 champion, a World Cup winner with France, and Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time record goalscorer. He has a strong case for being the world’s best player and, at the age of 25, has the potential to get better. The only notable club trophy omitted from his CV, the Champions League, makes him even more of a perfect fit for Real, a club that has won the trophy four times since Mbappe made his professional debut…

ALAVES Manager: Luis Garcia ATHLETIC CLUB Manager: Ernesto Valverde ATLETICO MADRID Manager: Diego Simeone BARCELONA Manager: Hansi Flick CELTA VIGO Manager: Claudio Giraldez ESPANYOL Manager: Manolo Gonzalez GETAFE Manager: Jose Bordalas GIRONA Manager: Michel LAS PALMAS Manager: Luis Carrion LEGANES Manager: BorjaJimenez MALLORCA Manager: Jagoba Arrasate OSASUNA Manager: Vicente Moreno  RAYO VALLECANO Manager: Inigo Perez REAL BETIS Manager: Manuel Pellegrini REAL MADRID Manager: Carlo Ancelotti REAL SOCIEDAD Manager: Imanol Alguacil REAL VALLADOLID Manager: Paulo Pezzolano SEVILLA Manager: Garcia Pimienta VALENCIA Manager: Ruben Baraja  VILLARREAL  Manager: Marcelino…

ERMEDIN DEMIROVIC (Stuttgart) The Hamburg-born Bosnia international, 26, excelled for Augsburg last season as a deep-lying forward, the perfect link between midfield and attack. The Reds have just invested €21m in his creativity, goals and mobility. ALEIX GARCIA (Bayer Leverkusen) Outstanding Spanish midfield tempo-setter and strategist, who swapped Girona this summer for the Rhineland. A key figure in Girona’s Champions League qualification last season, he can operate in central defence too. JONATHAN BURKARDT (Mainz) After 12 months out with a complicated knee problem, the ex-Germany Under-21 captain roared back to life in 2024. The forward was a real go-to performer and inspirational anti-relegation figurehead, scoring eight goals in 21 games. SERHOU GUIRASSY (Borussia Dortmund) Fresh from contributing 28 goals to Stuttgart’s stunning silver medal in the Bundesliga last term, the…

Fans of Greek football can only hope that the new Super League campaign is as competitive and dramatic as it was in 2023-24. All those irked by Olympiacos’ one-club rule over the last three decades – champions on no fewer than 22 occasions since 1997 – would have loved the almost surreal events of last season: the top four clubs separated by just four points in the regular championship and the compelling excitement of the play-offs, where Salonika’s PAOK snatched the title away from Athenian giants AEK in sensational fashion, beating all their main rivals (AEK, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and Salonika rivals Aris) in their final four fixtures. History says that PAOK will find it very difficult to claim back-to-back crowns. They have only achieved four national titles in their entire…

COMO OUT TO IMPRESS Of this year’s three promoted teams, Como prompt the most curiosity. While Parma return to the top level after a three-year absence and Venezia just two, it is 21 years since Como were last here. The team is now coached by ex-Spain, Arsenal and Barcelona star Cesc Fabregas who, after ending his playing career with Como, subsequently joined their coaching staff. As interim coach last season (he lacked the required coaching licence), he was clearly a key factor in the club’s promotion, earning himself a four-year contract as head coach in July. Como is owned by Indonesia’s wealthiest family, the Hartono Family, which owns Bank Central Asia and the tobacco giant Djarum, and some high-profile names have been added – most notably Raphael Varane, out of…

No Kylian Mbappe, no Neymar, no Lionel Messi; for the first time since 2017, Paris Saint-Germain go into a Ligue 1 campaign without one of the world’s iconic footballers among their ranks. After three years of dominance in France, culminating in a domestic treble last season, does the departure of the final Galactico vanquish their air of infallibility? Perhaps a little, but certainly not entirely. In appointing Luis Enrique and then more importantly backing him, most notably through supporting his decision to drop Mbappe, Les Parisiens have put a strong and principled manager at the heart of the project. In their pursuit to not only bridge the gap to PSG, but to surpass them, rivals have now followed suit. None of the top three have changed managers: PSG retained Luis…

ANGERS Manager: Alexandre Dujeux AUXERRE Manager: Christophe Pelissier BREST Manager: Eric Roy LE HAVRE Manager: Didier Digard LENS Manager: Will Still LILLE Manager: Bruno Genesio LYON Manager: Pierre Sage MARSEILLE Manager: Roberto De Zerbi MONACO Manager: Adi Hutter MONTPELLIER Manager: Michel Der Zakarian NANTES Manager: Antoine Kombouare NICE Manager: Franck Haise PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN Manager: Luis Enrique REIMS Manager: Luka Elsner RENNES Manager: Julien Stephan SAINT-ETIENNE Manager: Olivier Dall’Oglio STRASBOURG Manager: Liam Rosenior TOULOUSE Manager: Carles Martinez Novell…

ROGER FERNANDES (Braga) It seems he’s been around for years after becoming Braga’s youngest-ever goalscorer at 15. Having improved year-on-year and still only 18, the forward is ripe to explode this season. GIANLUCA PRESTIANNI (Benfica) A series of scintillating displays in pre-season catapulted the diminutive, skilful and quick-witted 18-year-old Argentine from a potential loanee to a probable starter for Benfica. GEOVANY QUENDA (Sporting) Born in Guinea-Bissau, the Portugal youth international is an exciting left-footed winger with wonderful dribbling technique and remarkable maturity for a17-year-old.…

Is Ludogorets’ hegemony good or bad for Bulgarian football? With an incredible record of 13 league titles in a row, Ludogorets are the undisputed kings of Bulgarian football. Since the club was bought by entrepreneur Kiril Domuschiev in 2010, the club’s strategy has been flawless, drawing plenty of foreign admirers. During this period, they have qualified for the Champions League group stage twice – in 2014-15 and 2016-17 – reached the last 32 of the Europa League on four occasions – including getting to the last 16 in 2013-14 – and reached the Conference League knockout round play-offs last season, all of which helps raise the profile and the coefficient of the Bulgarian league. Critics argue that this success, which is largely thanks to the input of foreign players, does…

You’ve worked in football for more than 40 years – what is your impression of the Faroes? I have been really impressed from the start with the football federation here. They have the right structure in place, the people are hardworking and if they say they are going to do something, they do it. And remember, many of the players playing in the Faroes have jobs too. When they have training, they have to fit that around their schedule, and when domestic teams play in Europe [current champions Klaksvik Sports Club made it to the UEFA Conference League group stage last season], many players will be back at work at seven the next morning. How important has the UEFA Nations League been for the development of countries like the Faroe…

Twelve months after they had each suffered their worst World Cup performances, the United States, Brazil and Germany took the medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In a result that highlighted both how evenly-matched the elite end of the sport now is, and how the established powers are never down for long, the trio were delighted with gold, silver and bronze respectively after going in with low expectations following a year of change – both of coaches and players. Not so world champions Spain who left empty-handed, admitting they did not play at their best. A year of achievement and turmoil had finally caught up with them, mentally and physically. They were not the only players running on fumes and memory by the end. The tight schedule meant the…

The international football wheel never stops turning. Less than two months after the 2024 European Championship final, the fourth campaign of the UEFA Nations League gets underway, with participants either aiming to follow in the footsteps of previous winners Portugal, France and Spain, shooting for promotion within the pyramid, or looking to gain lucky loser status in 2026 World Cup qualification. No one can deny that in the eyes of some top nations and overworked elite players, the Nations League is regarded as something of an irrelevance, just more additional fixtures in an already stuffed schedule. Yet, further down the international hierarchy, it certainly has its supporters. Thanks to the breaking down of the UEFA family into four mini-leagues, even the so-called minnows have a rainbow to aim at. Everyone…

LEAGUE A GROUP A Costa Rica Guadeloupe Guatemala Guyana Martinique Suriname GROUP B Cuba French Guiana Honduras Jamaica Nicaragua Trinidad & Tobago LEAGUE B GROUP A Bonaire El Salvador Montserrat St Vincent & Grenadines GROUP B Curacao Grenada Saint Martin St Lucia GROUP C Aruba Haiti Puerto Rico Sint Maarten GROUP D Antigua & Barbuda Bermuda Dominica Dominican Republic LEAGUE C GROUP A Bahamas Barbados US Virgin Islands GROUP B Anguilla Belize Turks & Caicos GROUP C British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands St Kitts & Nevis…

Jamaica’s Arnett Gardens emerged as winners of the seventh edition of the Caribbean Shield as Rushane Thompson’s stunning strike from outside the penalty box was enough to end a surprise run to the final by Grenades from Antigua & Barbuda. The Caribbean Shield started in 2018 as an annual second-tier competition for clubs in the region, but was administered by CONCACAF, which had taken control of much of the Caribbean Football Association’s activities following the corruption scandal in 2011. With the CFU now seemingly rehabilitated, the organisation has recently been handed back some competitions to organise and the 2024 Caribbean Football Union Shield in Curacao was the highest profile. The Shield is a second-tier competition, a level below the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup. Out of 31 CFU members, 20 associations met…

AUGUST 16 Manchester United v Fulham AUGUST 17 Ipswich Town v Liverpool Arsenal v Wolves Everton v Brighton Newcastle United v Southampton Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth West Ham United v Aston Villa AUGUST 18 Brentford v Crystal Palace Chelsea v Manchester City AUGUST 19 Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur AUGUST 24 Brighton v Manchester United Crystal Palace v West Ham United Fulham v Leicester City Manchester City v Ipswich Town Southampton v Nottingham Forest Tottenham Hotspur v Everton Aston Villa v Arsenal AUGUST 25 Bournemouth v Newcastle United Wolves v Chelsea Liverpool v Brentford AUGUST 31 Arsenal v Brighton Brentford v Southampton Everton v Bournemouth Ipswich Town v Fulham Leicester City v Aston Villa Nottingham Forest v Wolves West Ham United v Manchester City SEPTEMBER 1 Chelsea v Crystal Palace…

AUGUST 17 Genoa v Internazionale Parma v Fiorentina Empoli v Monza Milan v Torino AUGUST 18 Bologna v Udinese Verona v Napoli Cagliari v Roma Lazio v Venezia AUGUST 19 Lecce v Atalanta Juventus v Como AUGUST 24 Parma v Milan Udinese v Lazio Internazionale v Lecce Monza v Genoa AUGUST 25 Fiorentina v Venezia Torino v Atalanta Napoli v Bologna Roma v Empoli AUGUST 26 Cagliari v Como Verona v Juventus AUGUST 30 Venezia v Torino Internazionale v Atalanta AUGUST 31 Bologna v Empoli Lecce v Cagliari Lazio v Milan Napoli v Parma SEPTEMBER 1 Fiorentina v Monza Genoa v Verona Juventus v Roma Udinese v Como SEPTEMBER 15 Atalanta v Fiorentina Cagliari v Napoli Como v Bologna Empoli v Juventus Genoa v Roma Lazio v Verona Milan v…

Internationals 2026 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS SOUTH AMERICA fixtures 6 direct slots available, plus 1 play-off slot Matchdays 7-8 Sep 5-6: Bolivia v Venezuela; Argentina v Chile; Uruguay v Paraguay; Brazil v Ecuador; Peru v Colombia Sep 10: Colombia v Argentina; Chile v Bolivia; Ecuador v Peru; Venezuela v Uruguay; Paraguay v Brazil ASIA fixtures 8 direct slots available, plus 1 play-off slot Group A Sep 5: Iran v Kyrgyzstan; Qatar v United Arab Emirates; Uzbekistan v North Korea Sep 10: United Arab Emirates v Iran; Kyrgyzstan v Uzbekistan; North Korea v Qatar Group B Sep 5: South Korea v Palestine; Iraq v Oman; Jordan v Kuwait Sep 10: Oman v South Korea; Palestine v Jordan; Kuwait v Iraq Group C Sep 5: Japan v China; Australia v Bahrain; Saudi Arabia…

The key question over whether Lee Carsley can go from England’s interim head coach to permanent appointment is simple: will Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and the players buy in? If the players respond positively to Carsley’s opening address, his first training session at St George’s Park and his attacking tactics and game management in the forthcoming UEFA Nations League ties – coupled, of course, with England wins – then momentum will build around the 50-year-old’s suitability for the job long-term. Players taking to Carsley as man and manager would certainly make the FA’s life a lot easier. The pool of potential candidates is hardly deep. Eddie Howe is busy building Newcastle United. Mauricio Pochettino is out of the running, having been tempted by the USA men’s job. Graham Potter is…

It wasn’t quite the big-man summer it looked like it might be. There was a moment in the first week of the Euros when it seemed the tournament might be witnessing the unexpected renaissance of the target-man but, as it turned out, Niclas Fullkrug, Wout Weghorst, Olivier Giroud and Ivan Toney were limited to cameos, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku – both now transformed into target-men as their pace and mobility declines – were largely notable for their ineffectiveness. Alvaro Morata, meanwhile, for all he captained the winning team, remains a baffling presence, with the physique of a big man but few of the attributes. The impact made by Fullkrug and Weghorst in particular was striking. In both cases, there was a sense that they were a Plan B,…

“There was…a box with a pig’s head and a bullet in the forehead, and a note that said that if I returned to [Rosario] Central, the next head was that of my daughter”Argentina legend Angel Di Maria reveals why he pulled out of a move to first club Rosario from Benfica 9 European Under-19 Championships won by Spain after they defeated France in the 2024 final, making them the most successful country in the tournament’s history. £2.09m Fine handed out to Manchester City by the Premier League for persistently delaying kick-offs. 38 Years since Mircea Lucescu last managed Romania, before he took charge of his national team again. The 79-year-old is one of the most decorated coaches of all time, with over 30 trophies to his name. 1 Asian teams…

Machida Zelvia, the 2023 second-division champions and Tokyo’s newest first-division club, were the surprise leaders in Japan, five points clear of their nearest rivals, Gamba Osaka and Kashima Antlers, as the J. League entered its mid-summer break in July. It has certainly been all change in the J1 League this season with Kawasaki Frontale and Yokohama F. Marinos, the two giants of recent years, slipping far down the table and even the new defending champions, Vissel Kobe, struggling to repeat last year’s consistency. Whereas resurgent Gamba (twice) and Kashima (eight times) are both former league champions, Machida are a wholly new face on the block. The little club in Tokyo’s western suburbs only won promotion to the J2 League for the first time in 2012 and went straight back down…

Brommapojkarna graduates… Viktor Gyokeres Last season two headlines dominated Swedish football: international striker Viktor Gyokeres scoring 43 goals in 50 games for Portuguese champions Sporting, and midfielder Lucas Bergvall becoming the most expensive player in Allsvenskan history after completing a €10 million move to Tottenham Hotspur. Incidentally, both players came through the ranks of lesser-known club IF Brommapojkarna. Situated in Stockholm, Brommapojkarna is not a juggernaut of Swedish football, far from it; the club only played in the top flight for the first time in 2007. It’s not even one of Stockholm’s top three most popular clubs, with AIK, Hammarby and Djurgardens dominating the local football scene. However, what Brommapojkarna is renowned for is producing elite footballing talent. Bergvall and Gyokeres are not the first talents to have come through…

“This Is Our Time”. Arsenal’s ambition spelled out in large words in white on the red corridor wall by the home dressing-room at the Emirates. It really could be Arsenal’s time for a first title since 2003-04, when the Invincibles reigned supreme and Bukayo Saka, incidentally, was just two years old. This season’s title race looks a two-horse contest, and Manchester City will be most people’s choice. Any hopes that four consecutive titles will have dampened their appetite are fanciful; with Pep Guardiola they always have huge hunger. Where will the best performances come from? Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish are fully rested after enjoying the summer off; 21-year-old Norwegian Oscar Bobb could impress once he returns from a leg fracture; Mateo Kovacic is one of those underrated performers who…

ARSENAL Manager: Mikel Arteta ASTON VILLA Manager: Unai Emery BOURNEMOUTH Manager: Andoni Iraola BRENTFORD Manager: Thomas Frank BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION Manager: Fabian Hurzeler CHELSEA Manager: Enzo Maresca CRYSTAL PALACE Manager: Oliver Glasner EVERTON Manager: Sean Dyche FULHAM Manager: Marco Silva IPSWICH TOWN Manager: Kieran McKenna LEICESTER CITY Manager: Steve Cooper LIVERPOOL Manager: Arne Slot MANCHESTER CITY Manager: Pep Guardiola MANCHESTER UNITED Manager: Erik ten Hag NEWCASTLE UNITED Manager: Eddie Howe NOTTINGHAM FOREST Manager: Nuno Espirito Santo SOUTHAMPTON Manager: Russell Martin TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR Manager: Ange Postecoglou WEST HAM UNITED Manager: Julen Lopetegui WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS Manager: Gary O’Neil…

ALVARO DJALO (Athletic Club) Born in Madrid, of Bissau-Guinean descent, the versatile winger qualifies for Athletic after spending part of his youth in the Basque Country. He got eight goals and five assists in the Portuguese league for Braga last season. PAU VICTOR (Barcelona) The 22-year-old winger joined from Girona last summer and impressed for Barcelona’s B team in 2023-24. One of the club’s standout stars in pre-season, notching a match-winning brace against Real Madrid in New Jersey. IAGO ASPAS (Celta Vigo) Celta’s all-time top goalscorer turned 37 in August and has just one year left on his current deal. It could be his final season in Spain, although reports suggest the club are open to offering him a “lifetime contract”. OLI McBURNIE (Las Palmas) The 28-year-old Scotland striker swapped…

RELEGATION WORRIES Union Berlin, who in the first half of last season were abysmal and only survived thanks to a stoppage-time winner in their final fixture, may not be so lucky this time around. New coach Bo Svensson needs to make them less one-dimensional and a good start would be to cut out the excessive use of long hopeful punts up field. Heidenheim, who in their first season in the top flight exceeded all expectations by coming eighth, could be in trouble after their highly productive front-line duo of Tim Kleindienst and Jan-Niklas Beste moved on this summer to Borussia Monchengladbach and Benfica respectively. Gladbach, who finished 14th last season will need their new recruit to impress; only one team gained fewer Bundesliga points than them in last season’s Spring…

Serie A’s ranking has dramatically improved to the extent that this season Italy will field five clubs in the Champions League When the new Serie A season kicked off in mid-August, the omens were both good and bad. The bad omens were obvious enough: namely, Italy’s desperately disappointing showing at Euro 2024. It was not just the Azzurri’s second-round exit at the hands of Switzerland that hurt; arguably more painful was the imperious manner in which the eventual winners, Spain, hounded and humiliated Italy off the pitch in their 1-0 group-stage victory. It was a display that prompted much soul-searching, with Gazzetta dello Sport carrying the headline: “Piccola Italia” (Little Italy) – had the four-time world champions really sunk that low? The national team, so often a source of pride,…

ATALANTA Manager: Gian Piero Gasperini BOLOGNA Manager: Vincenzo Italiano CAGLIARI Manager: Davide Nicola COMO Manager: Cesc Fabregas EMPOLI Manager: Roberto D’Aversa FIORENTINA Manager: Raffaele Palladino GENOA Manager: Alberto Gilardino HELLAS VERONA Manager: Paolo Zanetti INTERNAZIONALE Manager: Simone Inzaghi JUVENTUS Manager: Thiago Motta LAZIO Manager: Marco Baroni LECCE Manager: Luca Gotti MILAN Manager: Paulo Fonseca MONZA Manager: Alessandro Nesta NAPOLI Manager: Antonio Conte PARMA Manager: Fabio Pecchia ROMA Manager: Daniele De Rossi TORINO Manager: Paolo Vanoli UDINESE Manager: Kosta Runjaic VENEZIA Manager: Eusebio Di Francesco…

GEORGES MIKAUTADZE (Lyon) Euro 2024’s joint-top scorer almost single-handedly kept Metz in Ligue 1 last season with 13 league goals, despite spending half of the season at Ajax. Now at boyhood club Lyon, his goals could propel a title challenge. JONATHAN CLAUSS (Nice) After two years at Marseille, the France right-back has reunited with former coach Franck Haise, under whom his electric form for Lens originally earned him his international call-up. Their partnership could prove very productive for Nice. FOLARIN BALOGUN (Monaco) After a tricky “period of adaptation”, as he put it, Balogun, now unburdened by the pressure of competing with departed club captain Wissam Ben Yedder, looks primed to rediscover the goalscoring touch that made him such hot property. BRADLEY BARCOLA (Paris Saint-Germain) Having more than exceeded expectations in his…

No prizes for predicting who will be the centre of attention in this season’s Super Lig. After three decades working – and often winning – in Portugal, Spain, England and Italy, Jose Mourinho is now at the helm of Istanbul giants Fenerbahce, where his mission is to bring an immediate end to ten years of domestic title drought. Mourinho, who was sacked by Roma early this year, is thirsting to disprove the theory that he is yesterday’s man and, fortunately for him, has taken over a club team in robust sporting health. Despite narrowly losing out to archrivals Galatasaray in last season’s championship title race, there was much for the Fenerbahce faithful to enthuse about: a meaty 99-point haul built on 31 victories and just one defeat, the collective grit…

It’s not just that PSV were so impressive last season, finishing seven points clear at the top of the Eredivisie, that makes them such clear favourites for the title; it’s also that their main rivals are all in transition. For Feyenoord, new coach Brian Priske must show that there is life after Arne Slot, and faces a daunting task in replacing someone who not only delivered silverware but also was highly popular. Meanwhile, at Ajax, new coach Francesco Farioli needs all his enthusiasm and optimism to get the team out of the doldrums. A team that only lost one game, scored the most goals and conceded the fewest, will be hard to catch. PSV, unlike their counterparts in Amsterdam, seem to have their house order. The backbone of the team…

Bernard TEKPETEY (Ludogorets Razgrad) The 26-year-old forward joined Ludogorets from German club Schalke, initially on loan, in 2020 and scored a career-best 15 goals in all competitions last season. He won two Ghana caps in 2017, but as he was younger than 21 at the time he could still switch international allegiance after gaining a Bulgarian passport. An injury sustained in a 2-1 defeat to Qarabag in 2024-25 Champions League qualifying interrupted the start of his season, but also meant a proposed move to Italian club Parma fell through.…

The AFC Champions League started in 2003 and was won by Al Ain. The team from the United Arab Emirates also claimed the latest edition back in May but much else has changed over the intervening 21 years. The first competition featured four groups of four but the last one saw 40 teams divided ten ways. It was felt by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that involving more and more countries and clubs would help increase the tournament’s profile, popularity, appeal and its revenue-gathering capability. The schedule was also changed, with the most recent competition running from autumn to spring, like Europe, a move away from the traditional spring to autumn. Now though, the tweaking has stopped and from September, fans will see a genuine revamp. The AFC Champions League…

With six rounds of matches coming up in the next few months, by the middle of November South America’s marathon World Cup qualification campaign will be two thirds complete. The first third was crammed in between last September and November – the shortest-ever gap between the end of one World Cup cycle and the start of another. Going into the campaign, only world champions Argentina had played a competitive game under their coach, and it showed: the teams looked extremely raw, and Argentina sit at the top of the table. Since then, of course, there has been a Copa America, meaning that teams have had time to get together and work on the training ground. In theory, this should make a substantial difference; in practice, this might not entirely be…

LEAGUE A GROUP A1 Croatia Poland Portugal Scotland GROUP A2 Belgium France Israel Italy GROUP A3 Bosnia-Herzegovina Germany Hungary Netherlands GROUP A4 Denmark Serbia Spain Switzerland LEAGUE B GROUP B1 Albania Czech Republic Georgia Ukraine GROUP B2 England Finland Greece Republic of Ireland GROUP B3 Austria Kazakhstan Norway Slovenia GROUP B4 Iceland Montenegro Turkey Wales LEAGUE C GROUP C1 Azerbaijan Estonia Slovakia Sweden GROUP C2 Cyprus Kosovo Lithuania Romania GROUP C3 Belarus Bulgaria Luxembourg Northern Ireland GROUP C4 Armenia Faroe Islands Latvia North Macedonia LEAGUE D GROUP D1 Gibraltar Liechtenstein San Marino GROUP D2 Andorra Malta Moldova…

For the first time in its 16-year existence, the Europeada trophy was won by a team other than South Tyrol. Friuli, a corner of Italy that borders with Austria and Slovenia, came out on top in the fifth edition of the competition. The tournament is arranged by the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), which represents the continent’s minorities, and is staged every four years usually to run in conjunction with UEFA’s European Championship. Sudtirol – or South Tyrol, which represents Italy’s northernmost, German-speaking, region – won the first tournament in 2008 and each of the subsequent competitions in 2012, 2016 and two years ago, when the Carinthian Slovenes were edged out 1-0 in Austria. This year’s tournament was staged in Northern and Southern Schleswig with four official hosts: the…

AUGUST 15 Athletic Club v Getafe Real Betis v Girona AUGUST 16 Celta Vigo v Alaves Las Palmas v Sevilla AUGUST 17 Osasuna v Leganes Valencia v Barcelona AUGUST 18 Real Sociedad v Rayo Vallecano Mallorca v Real Madrid AUGUST 19 Real Valladolid v Espanyol Villarreal v Atletico Madrid AUGUST 23 Celta Vigo v Valencia Sevilla v Villarreal AUGUST 24 Osasuna v Mallorca Barcelona v Athletic Club Espanyol v Real Sociedad Getafe v Rayo Vallecano AUGUST 25 Real Madrid v Real Valladolid Leganes v Las Palmas Alaves v Real Betis Atletico Madrid v Girona AUGUST 26 Villarreal v Celta Vigo AUGUST 27 Mallorca v Sevilla Rayo Vallecano v Barcelona AUGUST 28 Athletic Club v Valencia Real Valladolid v Leganes Atletico Madrid v Espanyol Real Betis v Getafe Real Sociedad v…

AUGUST 16 Le Havre v Paris Saint-Germain AUGUST 17 Brest v Marseille Reims v Lille Monaco v Saint-Etienne AUGUST 18 Auxerre v Nice Angers v Lens Montpellier v Strasbourg Toulouse v Nantes Rennes v Lyon AUGUST 25 Lens v Brest Lille v Angers Lyon v Monaco Marseille v Reims Nantes v Auxerre Nice v Toulouse Paris Saint-Germain v Montpellier Saint-Etienne v Le Havre Strasbourg v Rennes SEPTEMBER 1 Angers v Nice Brest v Saint-Etienne Le Havre v Auxerre Lille v Paris Saint-Germain Lyon v Strasbourg Monaco v Lens Montpellier v Nantes Reims v Rennes Toulouse v Marseille SEPTEMBER 15 Auxerre v Monaco Lens v Lyon Marseille v Nice Nantes v Reims Paris Saint-Germain v Brest Rennes v Montpellier Toulouse v Le Havre Saint-Etienne v Lille Strasbourg v Angers SEPTEMBER 22…