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...

Paris Saint-Germain have now won as many matches (5) against Premier League clubs in 2025 as Tottenham Hotspur.

Bodø/Glimt tickets vs Tottenham are at a premium. Some fans have had to get inventive to get their hands on them, including bartering large quantities of local fish and reindeer meat in exchange. @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/633...

Francesco Acerbi's career: recovered from cancer twice aged 25. Only became a Serie A regular aged 26. First trophy aged 31. International tournament debut aged 33. First league title aged 36. UCL final aged 35. Another UCL final aged 37.

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...

🚨MONDAY POD!🚨 No days off for @acjimbo.bsky.social, @danielstorey85.bsky.social, @mattdaviesadams.bsky.social, @colinmillar.bsky.social, @dansheldon.bsky.social & @jackpittbrooke.bsky.social 🔵Chelsea’s vital win 😫Arteta’s team selection 🏆A Man United Spurs Europa League final? pod.fo/e/2d0a2e

Paris Saint-Germain have won more matches (4 - Man City, Liverpool, Villa, Arsenal) against Premier League teams in 2025 than Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton have combined (3 - Bournemouth, Spurs, Ipswich).

It’s #ElGranDerbi right now 🇪🇸 Betis v Sevilla @colinmillar.bsky.social wrote the definitive book about this rivalry Listen to my podcast with him for more 👇🏼 outsidewrite.co.uk/podcast-sevi...

25,000 away fans. Gelsenkirchen to Berlin is over 500km. To watch 14th vs 11th in the second division. Football fandom is so wonderfully irrational.

Saudi Arabian government investment company buys stake in financially-stricken DAZN, who recently bought unwanted Club World Cup TV rights from FIFA, who gift-wrapped a World Cup to Saudi Arabia. An incredible coincidence of entirely unrelated events in which all 3 parties are massive beneficaries.

🚨MONDAY POD!🚨 Join @acjimbo.bsky.social, @colinmillar.bsky.social, @adrianjclarke.bsky.social, @jaydmharris.bsky.social & Tim Spiers 😓Edgy Liverpool? 🤔City ready for Real with @polballus.bsky.social? 😎The fabulous Fulham 😭Misery at Man United & West Ham pod.fo/e/2adb86

Astonishing attendance for today's Dublin derby between Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers. A new League of Ireland record. Great to see clubs engaging meaningfully with communities and fans getting behind them in numbers.

❓QUESTIONS QUESTIONS❓ Marmoush, Merino, Mitoma. What a mmmemorable weekend in the Premier League so far. @acjimbo.bsky.social, @adrianjclarke.bsky.social, @colinmillar.bsky.social & Tim Spiers are convening this evening to discuss that and field some of your questions