Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to give up her premium seat for the opening match of the 2026 World Cup to a young woman who could not afford to attend. More from @colinmillar.bsky.social

Football players from Galatasaray and Besiktas are among 1,024 players suspended by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) as part of an investigation into betting. More from @colinmillar.bsky.social

The Rwanda Football Federation (FERWAFA) has accepted three top clubs from Sudan, where there is an ongoing civil war, into its domestic league for the 2025-26 season. More from @colinmillar.bsky.social ⤵️ www.nytimes.com/athletic/674...

Don't ignore what is happening in Sudan, where Civil War continues. Despite everything, football continues. The top clubs from Sudan - who remarkably qualified for this year's AFCON - will play this season in Rwanda, 2,500km south. @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/674...

"A club from here, for here." Meet Supra du Quebec: football's newest club and the first Canadian Premier League team from the French-speaking region. "This club will exist to serve the players of this province," says its president. Story @theathleticfc.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/athletic/672...

"A club from here, for here." Meet Supra du Quebec: football's newest club and the first Canadian Premier League team from the French-speaking region. "This club will exist to serve the players of this province," says its president. Story @theathleticfc.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/athletic/672...

🚨MONDAY POD!🚨 It's @mattdaviesadams.bsky.social, @danielstorey85.bsky.social, @tomwfootball.bsky.social & @colinmillar.bsky.social after a jaw-dropping weekend 😲 👿 Maguire makes it 4 defeats in a row for Liverpool 🌳 The end of Ange at Forest 🧮 How many will Haaland get? pod.fo/e/340198

San Marino are the lowest ranked of all 210 men's teams in international football. They have lost all seven World Cup qualification matches so far. This explains why they can still qualify if they (heavily) lose one more. @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/671...

Cape Verde Islands, population 525k, qualify for their first World Cup on Monday if they beat Eswatini. Tickets in the 8k-seater Estádio da Várzea are gold dust. There is no online sale but 5 different sale points for tickets: the stadium, 3 petrol stations, and a bakery.

🚨 THURSDAY POD! 🚨 Try telling @acjimbo.bsky.social, @colinmillar.bsky.social, @oilysailor.bsky.social & Carl Anka there isn't plenty to get stuck into over the international break... 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tuchel's challenges 🌍 CAF qualifying w/ @mahermezahi.bsky.social ✈️ La Liga & Serie A on tour pod.fo/e/33a50e

UEFA has approved a landmark move to allow Italian and Spanish domestic league matches to be staged abroad while reiterating its “clear opposition” to the plans, which it has granted “on an exceptional basis amid regulatory gaps at global level”. ✍️ @colinmillar.bsky.social 🔗 bit.ly/3IZCRNJ

FIFA has changed the men’s international calendar for the 2026-2030 period by merging the September and October international breaks into one. More from @colinmillar.bsky.social

United States-based female refugee soccer players from Afghanistan will not have access to FIFA-organised training camps that determine the selection process for the newly-created Afghanistan women’s refugee team. More from @colinmillar.bsky.social ⤵️

🚨 THURSDAY POD! 🚨 @acjimbo.bsky.social, @colinmillar.bsky.social, @oilysailor.bsky.social & @cdeccleshare.bsky.social get stuck into... 🏆 UCL MD1 fun and games 🔴 Another Liverpool late show ⚽️ Kane at the double 🤔 Is Mou really still box office? 🍿 Merseyside derby intrigue pod.fo/e/32cfab

Any questions? 🤔 @acjimbo.bsky.social, @oilysailor.bsky.social, @cdeccleshare.bsky.social & @colinmillar.bsky.social looking back on Tuesday & Wednesday's UCL action - and ahead to a busy weekend of Premier League football! Do you have thoughts?

UEFA have delayed deciding whether to give approval to staging of regular-season league games outside Europe, following requests from La Liga & Serie A. UEFA say stakeholders to be taken into consideration on the outcome will include fans @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/661...

James Milner scored today against James Trafford, who was 2 months old when Milner scored his first Premier League goal. Brajan Gruda, who scored Brighton's second, would not be born for another 17 months. Erling Haaland was a 2-year-old. Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler was aged 9.

The Premier League issued a reminder to clubs ahead of the season that material which could be considered ‘politically motivated’, which could include symbolism of countries in conflict, should not be permitted in stadiums. Story @theathleticfc.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/athletic/657...

Rubén Amorim has managed Manchester United in 28 matches against current Premier League teams. He has overseen 4 wins. A win percentage rate under 14.5 percent. 2 of those wins came in his first month in charge.

Lots of Barcelona match squads will include Toni Fernández and Guillermo Fernández this season. The two teenagers are cousins, born less than a month apart. The really weird thing is that not only are the players two fathers brothers, but their two mothers are sisters too.

Tottenham's last six permanent head coaches have now all defeated Pep Guardiola's Manchester City at least once with a clean sheet. Thomas Frank joins Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou in the win-to-nil club.

MLS will allow the display of a Palestinian flag at Columbus Crew home games in support of new signing Wessam Abou Ali but a league-wide ban will remain, according to multiple people briefed on the situation More from @henrybushnell.bsky.social & @colinmillar.bsky.social ⤵️

"Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?" wrote Mohamed Salah in a pointed response to a UEFA post about the death of Suleiman Obeid. @jacobwhitehead.bsky.social speaks to Obeid's friends and family in Gaza to answer those questions and tell of the life of the 'Palestinian Pele'.

Crystal Palace's last 10 games have included Arsenal away, Liverpool away, Chelsea away, Spurs away, FA Cup semi-final vs Villa, FA Cup final vs Man City, Community Shield vs Liverpool. They are unbeaten in all those 10 games and won 2 trophies. Oliver Glasner 📈👑

When league games move abroad - which will happen, because money dictates everything in football - it will be a death knell. A disaster for the integrity of the competition, the home/away balance, the fabric of the sport, and the pretence of clubs as community institutions.

Your annual reminder that the FA were required to rename the Charity Shield to the Community Shield in 2002 after the Charity Commission found the minimum transparency requirements in funding charities were not being met.

Mohammed Siraj is the ultimate team player. Competitive spirit is off the scale. Steps up to be the main threat in the absence of Bumrah. Fitting he had the final say after his boundary error on the Brook catch looked to have been the pivotal moment. The player of the series.

England played 360 minutes of regulation knockout football at Euro 2025. They were behind for 173 minutes (2 hours, 53 minutes) They were ahead for 1 minute.

Crystal Palace and Drogheda United are easy targets to punish. On technicalities, the decisions are correct. But the decisions are not about addressing the problems engulfing football, they are about bureaucracy. And how easily that bureaucracy is bypassed by richer, more powerful clubs.

The Chinese Professional Football League (CFL) has fined Changchun Xidu 30,000 yuan (£3,070) for placing ‘feudal superstitious items’ in the away team’s dressing room in their stadium. www.nytimes.com/athletic/647...

Denmark vs Sweden one of 4 international matches in which the scoreboard would read one nation with the leftover letters spelling the other (Swe-Den, den-mark) See also Cyprus-Russia (Cyp-Rus, rus-sia) Poland Andorra (Pol-And, and-orra) Bhutan-Tanzania (Bhu-Tan, tan-zania)

Here's @acjimbo.bsky.social, @jameshorncastle.bsky.social, @oilysailor.bsky.social, @colinmillar.bsky.social, @caoimhesport.bsky.social & Tim Spiers on what Diogo Jota meant to football fans. Also Club World Cup quarter-finals and @meganferinga.bsky.social at #WEURO2025 pod.fo/e/2f5d5f

❓QUESTIONS QUESTIONS❓ Club World Cup, Euro 2025, Inter Totally Cup - so much for @acjimbo.bsky.social, @oilysailor.bsky.social, @jacklang.bsky.social and @colinmillar.bsky.social to discuss when they make their way into the studio tomorrow. What say you?

A timely reminder that 3 of London's tube lines temperatures exceed 30 degrees - which is the legal limit for transporting cattle. (source: makingmoveslondon.co.uk/blog/data-pr...)

Only 1 of every 200 academy players make a career in football. Johnny Gorman has asked what happens to the 99% who don't 'make it'. The results are alarming. Many are identityless, isolated from society, fragile. Football must do more. @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/644...

🚨BRAND NEW POD!🚨 @acjimbo.bsky.social, @oilysailor.bsky.social, @cdeccleshare.bsky.social & @colinmillar.bsky.social are in the studio🎙️ 🇧🇷Brazil bossing the CWC with @jacklang.bsky.social 🥵Let's talk about the weather 💔Where's the Lautaro love? 🤯The Sampdoria saga pod.fo/e/2edc89

❓QUESTIONS QUESTIONS❓ Joining @acjimbo.bsky.social to pod first thing tomorrow, it's @jacklang.bsky.social, @oilysailor.bsky.social, @cdeccleshare.bsky.social and @colinmillar.bsky.social with all that Club World Cup jazz. What's on your brain?

Serie A is in talks to play Milan vs Como in Australia. In what would be the first European league fixture to be played abroad, plans are being discussed for the fixture to be staged in the Western Australian city of Perth on the weekend of February 7-8, 2026. www.nytimes.com/athletic/641...

18 months ago, Iranian women legally attended a men's football match for the first time in 42 years. My @theathleticfc.bsky.social piece detailed their ongoing fight for freedom, why there is still a long way to go, and why football needs to do more. www.nytimes.com/athletic/564...

Mikel Oyarzabal has played in 5 finals in his senior career. Copa del Rey 2020, Euro 2024, Olympics 2020, Nations League 2021, Nations League 2025. He has scored in all 5 of those finals.

The Bolivian Football Federation say they were given no explanation by Venezuelan authorities after their charter flight back to La Paz was denied takeoff on Friday. Bolivia say they were told "all international flights have been cancelled...ours was the only one". www.nytimes.com/athletic/641...

Inter returned to Milan this morning after their most humbling night. They were welcomed at the airport by one fan. "I'm the only idiot," Marco told Gazzetta. "But these guys still deserve applause." www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Champ...

🚨BRAND NEW POD!🚨 It's @acjimbo.bsky.social, @jacklang.bsky.social, @tomwfootball.bsky.social & @colinmillar.bsky.social with big things to discuss: 🔵Chelsea's #UECL win with @sjohnsonsport.bsky.social 🏆Inter v PSG with @zonal-marking.bsky.social 🇧🇷Ancelotti unveiled pod.fo/e/2dc2a9

❓QUESTIONS QUESTIONS❓ Two European finals down, one to go. Please send correspondence to @acjimbo.bsky.social, @tomwfootball.bsky.social, @jacklang.bsky.social & @colinmillar.bsky.social ahead of tomorrow’s pod

Its very easy to be gaslit into thinking otherwise but tonight's outpouring of people offering spare rooms, hotel rooms, lifts, spreading awareness and general assistance to those in need is a timely reminder that humanity is powerful and community spirit will never be broken.

"I assume at some point somebody will tell me something. If not, I'm just gonna roll up next year and be a bit like George Costanza from Seinfeld. I'll just sit in the desk and get on with my job." That reference alone should be enough to keep Ange Postecoglou in post for a little while.

Luka Modric will leave Real Madrid as one of the most decorated, and influential, midfielders of the modern era. Worth remembering the Catalan press mocked Madrid for signing him in 2012 and he was voted the worst signing of the year by Madrid fans in the same season.

Kylian Mbappé scoring a hat-trick in a World Cup final and in El Clásico - the biggest matches in international and club football - but being on the losing side in both games, is quite something.

Ruben Amorim has been Manchester United manager for 24 matches against teams who will play in next season's Premier League. 3 wins, 14 defeats.

Afghanistan's women's football team is not recognised by football's authorities. Their players live in exile. The Taliban ruined their dreams, but hasn't broken their spirit. Their struggle to play together again continues. @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/628...