“… It is literally the same people. Club owner. Government. Football match. Bodies. The choice is simple. You either care or you don’t.” Important piece by @barneyronay.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Heart-warming story of the day on.ft.com/47Kk7dz

If you read anything this weekend, make it this by @barneyronay.bsky.social - www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Congratulations Gianni Infantino for making FIFA a late night punchline again “It’s going to be hilarious when they give it to Obama again.” youtu.be/91i0FxWCCSM?...

FIFA Will Award Its Own Peace Prize Next Month in Washington www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/w...

What can you give your mate who’s desperately upset on missing out on the Nobel Peace Prize? FIFA announce new peace prize to be handed out in * can I shock you * Washington 🙀

Too much from the Mary Earps industrial attention complex now. Maybe time to go for a breather?

Not a bad start for the manifesto pledge on affordable homes.

If they hadn't just sacked him Vítor Pereira would be one of the favourites for the Wolves job.

Pep Guardiola on refs: ‘I'm one decade here and we know each other quite well. I'm so pleased what we achieved with Man City despite everything. It has been so good. So good.’ What else is one decade? The length of City’s alleged cheating of PL financial rules. And still we wait for a verdict.

Trends.

It is now 1,000 days since Manchester City were charged by the Premier League.

The good news is Gianni Infantino and FIFA will come riding to the rescue — This is the venue for 2026 World Cup draw on Dec 5. Comes after FIFA also took up office space in Trump Tower.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia have used their wealth and influence to tilt the football world in their favour, but now, for the first time, they have tilted the playing field too. Story on how opaque rule changes that paved Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s path to 2026 World Cup www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/w...

Qatar and Saudi Arabia have used their wealth and influence to tilt the football world in their favour, but now, for the first time, they have tilted the playing field too. Story on how opaque rule changes that paved Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s path to 2026 World Cup www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/w...

The state of this.

Real Madrid/A22 will seek significant compensation for losses from the super league fiasco after a court ruling in their/Super League promotors’ favour. My sense is this will drag on for years and will be settled with (some degree) of change to governance and control of club football competitions

In a complex world, some of the same people in the UAE linked to the alleged arming this Sudanese rebel group tied to a popular Premier League football team in Manchester www.wsj.com/world/how-u-...

That is a particular choice of photo for this announcement. (Press release itself doesn’t mention Saudi.)

All in one night. "Gaza's health ministry said a total of 104 people were killed, including 46 children and 20 women, and that more than 250 others were injured."

This really is the pits. This is not a design that — whatever you think of them — Saudi Arabia, the organisers of the 2034 World Cup have anything to do with. Has popped up randomly on social, caught fire and now pushed for attention by the Mail. Pathetic business.

Super interesting article on private credit and the risk of contagion that could lead to another financial crisis. Why does it matter to football? The lenders are the same/in same business that have lent to the likes of Textor, 777 and others. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/o...

The data doesn’t tell you what your eyes can. Liverpool as vulnerable and brittle as they have been all season.

New Libero El Clasico: still the biggest game in the world? @brewin.bsky.social @jonawils.bsky.social @tariqpanja.bsky.social pod.fo/e/343860

So much inevitability to what’s happened with sports betting indictments in the US. Once sports gambling was rolled out it was a matter of time. We’ve seen this type of thing before in football, cricket etc. No reason to think it wouldn’t happen in the US. NBA leadership had been v pro gambling.

Speculating on the “why” here is 🤢

Court in Brazil clears all remaining defendants in case that followed truly awful — and entirely avoidable — incident in which 10 players in Flamengo’s academy died after a fire engulfed a temporary, unlicensed dormitory in 2019. Awful news for the families. oglobo.globo.com/google/amp/e...

Might be a freak match week, but the batterings dished out in the Champions League this week, the way in which most of the biggest teams have destroyed their opponents, suggests competitive balance (UEFA’s job to address) is now completely out of whack. Ridiculously easy some of these games.

Galatasaray tonight. Image posted on club’s social media. Event governed by UEFA, like Villa’s game v Maccabi. Villa fans warned against “political” messaging by club with threat of stadium ban. PSG fans, others and UEFA themselves (obliquely below) have posted messages too.

Villarreal-Barca in Miami off after organisers Relevent pull the plug www.laliga.com/en-GB/news/o...

More nuance. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Morocco have beaten Argentina in the U20 World Cup. Comes after senior team reached semifinals at the Qatar World Cup where they ran France close. Result of seriously significant investment in youth football development there.

It’s so easy to create chances against Liverpool. No matter how much possession they have, or if they look dangerous at the other end, they are always likely to cough up good chances. Best form of defence is to attack them. Like Chelsea the other day.

Man who benefits from curbing regulation rails at regulation.

Should not be taking this long.

Not surprising given the disinformation era we are living in, but the Aston Villa story appears to have given rise individuals getting considerable airtime as representatives of supporter groups that didn’t appear to exist until the story blew up. This type of thing quite dangerous.

🫨

Would be something if Villarreal and Barca players stood still for 90 mins in Miami. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

‘One of the oldest urban centres on the planet’: Gaza’s rich history in ruins. My @guardian piece on the erasure of Gaza's past. As we mourn incalculable human losses, learning about its past can help us better understand the present www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Shameless behaviour from politicians/some commentators suggesting what’s happened with Villa-Maccabi game, could mean away fans would be barred from games in the Premier League as man on radio suggesting today. “There might be violence up and down the country this weekend,” former Leeds MD on radio.

Football executives run football, busy trying to squeeze the lemon as hard as they can. But it's the players that take the field and play the game yet are largely ignored. apnews.com/article/flic...

While visiting fans have been barred from attending games on security grounds elsewhere this season, the decision to bar fans of an Israeli club has led to outrage in British politics, claims of discrimination and pressure from the UK leader to reverse the ban. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/w...

As Syria’s regime collapsed last year, the world’s eyes were on President Bashar al-Assad’s getaway flight. Behind him, officials key to his brutal rule made a mass exodus, virtually undetected.

💣 ⚽️ 👮 🙀 Josh Wander, the brash American businessman who came close to buying Premier League team Everton, once one of the biggest multi club investors in football, is charged with fraud by US authorities. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...

John Textor not paying his bills. This time Atlanta United and the MLS the victims of Textor's multi club chaos with Botafogo missing millions of committed transfer payment. apnews.com/article/cas-...  Brazilian club Botafogo in court for $21M transfer fee dispute with Atlanta United and FIFA

FIFA effectively agreeing the Donald Trump and remove cities from World Cup hosting with this statement. He suggested yesterday Gianni would agree with whatever he wanted.

Elon Musk's key ventures: SpaceX xAI Model X YaXley-Lennon

The UAE - a country where it’s notoriously hard to get citizenship— have really worked the global transfer market to come up with their “national” team. This is the lineup for massive game v Qatar. A World Cup place at stake. Qatar on the other hand somehow given home advantage for qualifying comp.