Football regulator divides leagues

GM football fans. It’s Thursday, Dec. 5, and we’re covering the independent football regulator, the new Club World Cup deal and much more. First time reading? Sign up here.

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EPL MW14 STATS

Fulham vs Brighton, 19:30 GMT / 14:30 ET. Fulham are unbeaten in all eight of their Premier League games against Brighton, but the Seagulls go into the game four points better than their opponents. Bournemouth vs Tottenham, 20:15 GMT / 15:15 ET. Of all the sides that Tottenham have faced at least 10 times in the competition, only against Swansea City (79%) do they have a higher win rate than Bournemouth (71%).

Plus…

• EPL results: Arsenal 2 - 0 Man Utd | Man City 3 - 0 Nottm Forest | Villa 3 - 1 Brentford | Everton 4 - 0 Wolves | Newcastle 3 - 3 Liverpool | S’hampton 1 - 5 Chelsea (Table)

• La Liga results: Athletic Club 2 - 1 Real Madrid; Mbappe penalty miss (Table)

• US Soccer 2024 end of year award nominees announced; voting closes Dec. 13 (Vote here)

• Full guide to the MLS Cup final (Dec. 7) (More)

• Pep Guardiola denies rumours of a rift with Kevin De Bruyne (More)

• West Ham to decide on Lopetegui's future by the weekend (More)

FOOTBALL REGULATOR

Premier League asks clubs to send letters to local MPs in bid to limit independent regulator

The Premier League has asked its clubs to send a template letter to their local Members of Parliament, with the aim to limit the powers of the proposed independent regulator. The bill is currently being scrutinised by the House of Lords. It could become law as early as summer 2025.

The letter, which has been seen by The Athletic, outlines the importance of the English top flight for the UK economy. This includes its 1.5bn fans in 189 countries, it generates £8bn a year for the economy and supports almost 100,000 jobs.

The Premier League released a statement in October to say that the regulator “could have a negative impact on the League’s continued competitiveness.” The league is particularly unhappy with the regulator’s proposed “backstop” power to force the Premier League to share more of its central income with the rest of the professional game.

Learn more about the regulator here.

POLL

HEAD START

> Man Utd scrapped plans to wear pro-LGBTQ+ jackets for Mazraoui. Manchester United players abandoned the club’s plans to wear an Adidas jacket in support of the LGBTQ+ community. The decision came after defender Noussair Mazraoui refused to join the initiative, citing his Muslim faith as the reason. The Athletic reports that not everyone in the dressing room was happy with this decision. Adidas, whose sponsorship with the club is worth £900mn over a 10-year period, is also reportedly disappointed. United’s decision comes after other players have refused to support the initiative, including Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy who refused to wear a rainbow armband and Crystal Palace’s captain Marc Guehi who wrote a religious message on his.

> PSG open to selling for the right price, sources suggest. According to the French outlet L’Equipe, sources close to Doha claim that the Emir of Qatar and owner of PSG Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is open to selling the French club in the event of a good offer. The same reports suggest that there is concern from the club’s stockholders that interest in PSG has faded in the Middle Eastern country. L’Equipe writes that there is a weariness felt with the prior era of overpaid stars and their attitudes.

> Liverpool progress with contract negotiations with VVD and Salah. Liverpool have reportedly made a contract offer (paywall) to Virgil van Dijk. They’re hoping to keep their 33-year-old captain and end the uncertainty over his future. The Dutchman is among three crucial players – including Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold – whose existing contracts expire in the summer. Liverpool are also expected to make a formal contract offer to Salah, 32, with club sources maintaining preliminary talks have been positive. The Egyptian recently said he was disappointed by a lack of offer from the club. There is currently no news on how discussions are going with Alexander-Arnold, whose age (26) and status as an academy graduate present differences to the other cases.

CLUB WORLD CUP

FIFA agrees Club World Cup broadcast deal with DAZN, concerns over PIF involvement

FIFA agrees a deal with DAZN to broadcast next year’s Club World Cup hosted in the United States. The deal, reportedly worth $1bn (£787mn), gives DAZN exclusive global rights to show all 63 matches during the month-long 32-club tournament.

Unusually for DAZN — which operates a paid subscription platform — the tournament will be shown for free. The platform could sub-license to local free-to-air broadcasters because DAZN is not widely known or watched in the United States.

DAZN has made a huge loss in recent years, including more than $1bn in losses in 2022. As such, industry insiders (paywall) are concerned that the deal has links with a potential $1bn investment in DAZN by Saudi Arabia‘s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Sources close to the broadcaster deny any Saudi Arabia involvement.

The tournament kicks off on June 15 2025 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, with the final at MetLife Stadium in New York.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

Europe

> Wales made history by reaching a major women's tournament, Euro 2025, for the first time after a 2-1 win over Republic of Ireland (More)

> Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer received his first red card in his career after 958 matches played (More)

Americas

> Major League Soccer’s board of governors has extended the contract of commissioner Don Garber through the end of the 2027 season (More)

> USWNT World Cup winner, Ali Krieger, has been inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame (More)

Rest of the World

> Japan’s first Premier League player Junichi Inamoto will retire at the end of the season, aged 45 (More)

> FIFA was urged to not give Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup hosting rights next week without commitments to protect migrant labour workers (More)

ROUTER’S VOICE

Yesterday, we asked you: Do you think it's OK for players to celebrate in front of their former team?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🥳 Yes... (77%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👎 Nope... (20%)

⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!)... (3%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🥳 S.N: “Absolutely!! The point of football is to wind up the opposing fans (or be wound up)! Something armchair fans will never experience.”

• 🥳 G.W: “If one of our players didn't celebrate against his old team then it would just annoy his current team. Which is more important the team that DID pay his wages or the team that DOES? Another example of ‘the games gone’.”

• ✍️ J.R: “All according to how they left the club. If they were undervalued and had bad times, then yeah celebrate right in their faces!!”

EXTRA TIME

The average age of every national team.

Which Premier League team picks up the most points in December?

Landon Donovan’s advice to the USMNT team.

Chelsea set the highest xG (5.29) by an away team in Premier League history.

The new big screen changing the way fans watch football. / Via X

Pep responds to Arne Slot’s 115 comments.

Lamine Yamal already has a signature assist at 17.

The best Fantasy Premier League forfeits.

Time in play ranking per team in La Liga.

GAME FACE ON

Question: How many Champions League finals has Gareth Bale started in?

Bonus: How many goals has he scored in Champions League finals?

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Premier League 

• Fulham vs Brighton (19:30)

• Bournemouth vs Tottenham (20:15)

Primeira Liga

• Moreirense vs Sporting Lisbon (20:15)

Coppa Italia - Last 16

• Lazio vs Napoli (20:00)

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

Answer

Bale started four finals, scoring three goals over two games.