Barca Lose Appeal

GM football fans. It’s Thursday, Jan. 02 - The January transfer window, Southgate’s knighthood and everything else you need to know. New to Route One? Sign up here.

Editor’s Note: We hope you had a lovely New Year’s. It feels good to be back – we resume our usual schedule, sending the Daily Brief Monday through Friday each week.

FIXTURES

Scottish Premiership: Rangers vs Celtic, 15:00 / 10:00. Rangers have won just one of the last 14 Old Firm derbies. Celtic are in fine form, having kept 15 clean sheets in 18 league games, all while scoring 52 goals.

Italian Super Cup, semi-final: Inter Milan vs Atalanta, 19:00 / 14:00. Inter Milan come into the match on a five-game winning streak in Serie A. Meanwhile, Atalanta are on a 13-game unbeaten run in the league and set a new club record with 36 wins in 2024.

Results…

• Premier League MW19: Brentford 1 - 3 Arsenal (Full results here)

• Full Championship results here.

TOP TALKING POINTS

Transfer Window Opens

The January transfer window opens for all major European leagues today. While Jan. 31 is a Friday, the top European leagues have all agreed to extend the deadline until after the weekend. Dive deeper into how the January transfer window works here.

FIFA, which sets the regulations governing transfer windows, has adjusted the transfer regulations following a legal ruling involving Lassana Diarra. The interim changes give players more leverage, requiring clubs to provide stronger evidence to prove a player has breached their contract.

In the short term, it could lead to more attempts by players to frustrate contracts to achieve a desired move. Most notably, though, some analysts believe that Diarra’s ruling will eventually collapse the transfer window completely. Meanwhile, Fifa must continue to prove that its transfer window regulations do not breach European labour laws.

Gareth Southgate Knighted

Former England manager Gareth Southgate has been knighted in the 2025 New Year Honours list. He becomes the fourth England manager to receive a knighthood, after Sir Alf Ramsey, Sir Walter Winterbottom and Sir Bobby Robson.

Southgate spent eight years in charge of the Three Lions. During that time, England lost consecutive European Championship finals and were knocked out of the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and quarter-finals in 2022. But the 54-year-old guided England to nine knockout wins at major tournaments, compared to six such victories between 1966 and 2016.

A YouGov poll in July 2024, before the Euro 2024 final, found that 43% of respondents didn’t believe Southgate deserved a knighthood. Only 18% agreed that he should be knighted.

Barca Fight For Olmo

Dani Olmo, who joined Barcelona in August for €60m, cannot be registered as a player at the club, according to a La Liga statement. The Catalan side lost a second appeal to register Olmo for the remainder of the season, with Barcelona unable to meet La Liga’s wage cap. Forward Pau Victor is also unable to register.

Barcelona now claim that they’ve applied for new players’ licenses for Olmo and Victor with the Spanish FA (RFEF). However, RFEF rules mean a player cannot be signed by the same club twice in the same season. Altogether the debacle could cost Barcelona upwards of €263m, SPORT estimates.

Reports suggest that Barcelona remain confident in their appeal. But Premier League clubs have already expressed interest in signing Olmo, should he become a free agent in January’s transfer window.

POLL

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Liverpool have turned down an approach from Real Madrid to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold (More) | West Ham's Michail Antonio 'grateful to be alive' after car crash (More)

> Plymouth Argyle rescue a point off Bristol City in their first game without manager Wayne Rooney; his team was the first Championship side in history to concede 49 goals in 22 games (More) | Stoke City appoint former Coventry City boss Mark Robins as their new manager (More) | See Championship table (More)

> James Sands has signed for Bundesliga side St Pauli on loan from New York City FC until the end of the 2024-25 season (More)

Americas

> Major League Soccer has achieved a record $665m in sponsorship revenue for 2024, marking a 13% increase from 2023 and a 44% rise compared to 2022 (More) | All MLS roster trades, signings and free agents (More)

> Seattle Sounders agree a deal to sign Jesus Ferreira from FC Dallas (More) | Pascal Jensen leaves Ferencvaros to sign as New York City FC head coach (More)

Rest of the World

> Cristiano Ronaldo wants to decide his future this month as his contract with Al Nassr ends in June (More) | The Saudi Pro League has held workshops with its clubs to help them perform better in the January transfer window (More)

> A-League side Central Coast Mariners’ head coach Mark Jackson denies that his side’s poor form is due to a bad attitude within his squad; after winning the treble last season, they now sit 10th in the league (More)

> Hugo Sotil, Barcelona and Peru legend, has died at the age of 75 (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

In our previous edition, we asked you: What competition are you most looking forward to next year?

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🏆 Club World Cup 2025 (18%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🌍 Women's Euro 2025 (14%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🏠 Domestic League (35.5%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🥵 Champions League (29%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (3%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🌍 E.M.R: “Women's Euro is the most interesting one not only for its importance as a top competition but especially for its major influence on the development of women's sport. This goes beyond sport and that's the beauty of it.”

• 🏠 D.McD: “You can’t beat the Premier League for excitement and quality, although I have enjoyed many of the new format European games where every match is a must-win game.”

• 🥵 E.G: “The level and urgency by a couple of the powerhouse teams will be something to watch.”

• ✍️ R.G: “I can tell you which one I am not looking forward to. The Club World Cup. Fixture congestion is madness. Even if one can justify so many games per year football at the very least needs a real off-season.”

EXTRA TIME

ESPN predicts January Transfer Window moves…

… and the best free agents who can negotiate contracts in January.

Why stats alone cannot predict football matches.

The number of managers from the same country as their league.

Why Sir Alex Ferguson gave Di Stefano a bottle of whiskey. (video)

The unwanted Premier League awards of 2024…

… and the winners of 2024’s Premier League stats.

What to look out for in the WSL transfer window.

Alonso, Guardiola, Xavi sketch their favourite goals.

Could Man United really get relegated?

GAME FACE ON

Question: Which Liverpool forward in January became the first Premier League player to register at least 10 goals and 10 assists in all competitions in the 2023-24 season?

Clue: It’s not who you think.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Scottish Premiership

• Aberdeen vs Ross County (15:00)

• Hearts vs Motherwell (15:00)

• Kilmarnock vs St. Mirren (15:00)

• Rangers vs Celtic (15:00)

• St Johnstone vs Hibernian (15:00)

• Dundee vs Dundee Utd (17:30)

Italian Super Cup - Semi-finals

• Inter Milan vs Atalanta (19:00)

*All time in UK. ET -5. CST -6. PST -8. MST -7. CET +1.

Answer

Darwin Nunez.