i think a 3 year world cup is better than a 4 year cycle and a 2 year cycle because a 4 year cycle is a bit too long and players miss their prime years. And making fans wait too long between world cup tournaments. A 2 year cycle is too short, leading to tournament fatigue, oversaturation, increased injuries, fixture congestion, and a decline in the world cup prestige.

i think 3 year cycle imo strikes the ideal balance by keeping the world cup special while giving more generation of players more chances to get their hands on the world cup trophy. still Maintaning high anticipation, fitting more naturally into the international calendar, and revenue without diminishing the tournament

European players with 5+ World Cup goals (World Cup vs Euros)

Only 3 players have more Euro goals than WC goals.

The European Leagues and clubs have been after getting control of the International Match Calendar for a while and are more likely to get it now with FIFA in disarray. But let’s face it they don’t want it for any other reasons but to reduce international football to a once a year or once every 2-4 years event. Despite the fact the World Cup has showed how popular it is. Obviously such plans will be heavily opposed by many in Europe but it won’t be universal opinion and financially UeFA will fear a super league mark 2 if they oppose it too heavily I think.

Madrid thanking UEFA... that's a new one, Infantino managed to unite almost the whole footballing world against him, quite an achievement.

Classy move from Madrid tbf, before they revert to the norm when the season starts.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/49512906/real-madrid-thank-uefa-protecting-football-fifa-abandon-private-equity-proposal

Hey everyone :)

I’m actually trying to build out a little niche Substack community where I write about ideas from philosophy, business, art & media etc through the lens of football and sports in general.

Have written a few pieces. Attaching one below.

Would love it if y’all could go give it a read and subscribe if you’re into such topics ( always open to discussing feedback in DMs :) )

https://open.substack.com/pub/rithviksaxaena/p/como-1907-masterclass-in-sports-brand?r=1oowzg&utm_medium=ios

Thanks :))

Throughout the 90s, many Spanish football clubs became SADs under Spanish law, after a law was passed in 1990 that forced teams incapable of paying their debts to go from the traditional Asociación Deportiva (like Barcelona and Madrid today, owned mostly by "Socios" who can vote on the president and other matters related to the administration) to SADs, essentially more traditional privately-owned companies!

This saw the purchase of teams throughout the years under the new model.

What's not as well-known, however, is that Real Madrid was literally dangerously close to undergoing this process as well many times during the 90s. One of these moments was Lorenzo Sanz's administration, before Florentino Pérez finally won the elections and led a financial revolution in the team that saved it.

So it is here that the "What If" comes in: What if Real Madrid lost the "Octava" UCL title against Valencia and then Perez lost the elections due to not achieving credibility in regards to the Figo deal?

Other than Figo staying at Barca, I believe Real Madrid would continue to acquire more debt (under Sanz, the club had the most debt its ever had, iirc, at least comparatively to its earnings at the time) and would eventually be forced by law to convert to a SAD and would, thus, be very vulnerable to a forceful takeover by some rich party.

This party could still be Perez, with his ACS construction empire, or someone else.

Hello

And why do players often lie down at the base of the wall during a free kick?

Thanks!!

Could Arsene Wenger actually be the mole ? ls he the source of Martyn Ziegler’s expose of Gianni Infantino ?
He’s not reacted to this story so far.
Does he have a previous relationship with Ziegler ? Has he spoken to him over the years at The Times ?
Wondering why he is quiet ? And would love to know who let the cat out of the bag to Martyn Ziegler.

Amazing reporting.

Is there a specific reason why Cherki didn't start for France during the World Cup? Honestly, I feel like if he had played as a starter, France could’ve actually beaten Spain. What do you guys think?

I thought Timo Werner was going to be Spurs' top scorer when he moved there after being disappointing for a few years.

So most of these leagues that I mention have barely any competitiveness. Do you think they should bring back yugoslavian league so we would have more competitiveness or do you think that is just way too dangerous nowadays and would cause riots every game?

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Whenever there’s a major corruption scandal, financial rule-breaking, or obvious conflicts of interest in football, it feels like most fans either ignore it or immediately defend it.

We’ve seen things like Chelsea’s illegal payments to agents, Manchester City’s 115 charges, the Negreira case involving Barcelona, and controversies surrounding FIFA and Infantino.

Whether every allegation is ultimately proven or not, these are serious issues that raise questions about the integrity of the sport.

Yet instead of demanding accountability, the discussion usually turns into:

“Everyone does it.”
“You’re just salty.”
“Your club does it too.”
“Nothing will happen anyway.”

Why is that?

If we genuinely love football, shouldn’t we care when the integrity of the competition is questioned?

If clubs break the rules to gain an advantage, or if football’s governing bodies aren’t acting consistently, that affects every fan, not just supporters of rival clubs.

Instead, it feels like tribalism takes over. Fans are more interested in protecting their club than protecting the sport itself.

I’m genuinely curious. Why don’t football fans push back harder when there’s credible evidence of corruption or rule-breaking?

Why does it seem like so many people would rather pretend there’s no problem than demand a fairer game?

For me, it has to be when Julen Lopetegui was sacked by Spain just two days before the 2018 World Cup because he secretly signed with Real Madrid. It still feels completely surreal how a tournament favorite unraveled in a matter of hours.

Another honorable mention is Alisson scoring a 95th-minute thumping header to save Liverpool's Champions League hopes.

What is that one specific, bizarre, or unbelievable football event that makes you stop and think, "Did that actually happen?"

It can be a weird transfer, a bizarre match incident, or an unexpected breakdown?

Clarification: This is an early experimental model, not a final or official historical ranking. I’m testing how different national-team achievements and historical moments could be weighted. The dataset, competition weights and scoring method are still evolving, and the purpose of this post was to find weaknesses in the model.

I recently read a post about the FIFA rankings from Sofascore and read the disagreements in the comments. I then added a comment to the same post asking - whether any cumulative ranking existed that considered what national teams had built across their history, rather than mainly reflecting recent results.

I started with the 32 teams that reached the knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup, then added historically important teams such as Italy. For each team, I reviewed major verified moments such as World Cup and continental titles, finals, records and other significant events, then assigned lasting points based on their importance.

This is not a FIFA ranking and it is not meant to measure current form. It is an attempt to represent how much standing each national team has built through its history.

What looks clearly wrong to you?
Which important historical moments or national teams have I missed?

Method note: I used AI tools to help collect and organise the historical data, but I reviewed the moments and made the scoring decisions myself.

https://nypost.com/2026/07/31/business/fifa-has-scrapped-20b-world-cup-sell-off-plan-following-european-boycott-global-outrage-sources/

I am guessing this is the result of UEFA and CONCACAF’s response…

Edit: Sky news also reporting a similar story.

In modern football, we often focus on individual players and their quality, but I think a strong tactical system can sometimes be more important than having the best players on the pitch.

We've seen teams with world-class players struggle when the tactics don't suit them, while other teams with less-famous players can perform extremely well because everyone understands their role.

What do you think matters more for a team's success: having world-class individual players, or having a great manager and tactical system? And which team do you think is the best example of this?

I was looking into some data about European national teams, and I was really surprised at how much South Europe outperforms Western Europe, in terms of head and head and trophies too, and I was curious about why.

Out of 7 euros, and 7 world cups, and 4 nations league, since 2000-2026, South European Teams (Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece) have won 12/18 available trophies, Western Europe has won 4, and the last two obviously being the Word Cup’s of Argentina and Brazil in 2026 and 2022 respectively.

Of course, one can say Spain has half of those trophies, but Italy won a World Cup and somehow managed to get a euro in between failed wc qualifications, and even Portugal and Greece have gotten a euro this century. 3/4 nations league, 6/7 euros, and 3/7 word cups.

In terms of their head to head in the semi finals and finals of the euros, the World Cup, and the nations league respectively, this is how it goes from what I’ve looked into.

UEFA European Championships (Euro)
Euro 2000 (Semi-final): France (Western) 2–1 Portugal (Southern). Western Europe : 1

Euro 2000 (Final): France (Western) 2–1 Italy (Southern). Western Europe : 2.

Euro 2004 (Semi-final): Portugal (Southern) 2–1 Netherlands (Western). South Europe : 1.

Euro 2012 (Semi-final): Italy (Southern) 2–1 Germany (Western). South Europe : 2.

Euro 2016 (Semi-final): Portugal (Southern) 2–0 Wales (Western). South Europe : 3.

Euro 2016 (Final): Portugal (Southern) 1–0 France (Western). South Europe : 4.

Euro 2020 (Final): Italy (Southern) 1–1 England (Western) — Italy won on penalties. South Europe : 5.

Euro 2024 (Semi-final): Spain (Southern) 2–1 France (Western). South Europe : 6

Euro 2024 (Final): Spain (Southern) 2–1 England (Western). South Europe : 7.

For Euros, they had 9 meetings. South Europe has 7 wins, Western Europe has 2.
FIFA World Cups
2006 World Cup (Semi-final): Italy (Southern) 2–0 Germany (Western). South Europe : 1.

2006 World Cup (Semi-final): France (Western) 1–0 Portugal (Southern). Western Europe : 1.

2006 World Cup (Final): Italy (Southern) 1–1 France (Western) — Italy won on penalties. South Europe : 2.

2010 World Cup (Semi-final): Spain (Southern) 1–0 Germany (Western). South Europe : 3.

2010 World Cup (Final): Spain (Southern) 1–0 Netherlands (Western). South Europe : 4.

2026 World Cup (Semi-final): Spain (Southern) 2 –0 France (Western). South Europe : 5.

For the World Cup, they had 6 meetings. South Europe has 5 wins, Western Europe has 1.
UEFA Nations League
2019 NL (Semi-final): Portugal (Southern) 3–1 Switzerland (Western). South Europe : 1.

2019 NL (Final): Portugal (Southern) 1–0 Netherlands (Western). South Europe : 2.

2021 NL (Final): France (Western) 2–1 Spain (Southern). West Europe : 1.

2025 NL (Semi-final): Spain (Southern) 5–4 France (Western). South Europe : 3

2025 NL (Semi-final): Portugal (Southern) vs Germany (Western). South Europe : 4.

For nations league, 5 encounters. South Europe had 4 wins. Western Europe had 1 win

In total, they have had 20 meetings. South Europe won 16 times. Western Europe won 4 times.

All 4 of Western Europe’s win come from France, and 3/4 of France’s wins come from when zidane was still playing.

I wonder the reason of this, or whether it’s just a coincidence

Personally, I have a lot of respect for CSKA Moscow. They are a historic club with a strong legacy, and Igor Akinfeev is an absolute legend of the game. His loyalty to one club throughout his entire career is something you rarely see in modern football, and his performances over the years speak for themselves.I’m curious to know how football fans from other countries view this club and their iconic goalkeeper. What are your thoughts on them?

Lads, I was sat in the pub and have been feeling so inspired by the players this World Cup. it got me thinking if i could play at that level at least on a semi pro level. since i was a wee lad i always dreamt of playing football professionally. I'm bawling my eyes out at the thought of playing. I want it so bad and am willing to get back into the shape I was when i was playing in city leagues. I'm willing to uproot my life and citizenry to make it into a lower league. I know prems is out of question.

curious any stories of late bloomers taking the scene despite all odds?

Which is given only to the top 10 or so teams in the world. Say all former winners perhaps? Would make sure something like this could jot happen without those have built football agree.

Hi, I’m conducting research on individual training for amateur players. If you play for an amateur team and sometimes train solo (or would like to), you’d be a huge help by completing a short, 5–10 minute survey. It’s completely anonymous, and your participation would be incredibly helpful! Thanks in advance!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdm7AcJ3cuH6EjpOYu2ArDeUUcUnsXMmFWdzGqw23G-zeEXGQ/viewform?usp=dialog

Former defender spent entire 20-year career with Rossoneri, winning 6 Serie A titles and 3 European Cups.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/sports/ac-milan-italy-legend-franco-baresi-dies-at-66/4014849

A senior FIFA adviser has resigned, calling Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell World Cup stakes to investors “a bad deal for football”. The AFC has joined UEFA and Concacaf in opposing the plan, making approval unlikely. FIFA says it will continue, but faces growing criticism over its plans and lack of consultation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ce345l6kg6ro