PSR Avoided

GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Jan. 15 - Premier League clubs avoid PSR charges, the Bundesliga sets a new policing precedent, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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FIXTURES

Premier League MW21: Arsenal vs Tottenham, 20:00 / 15:00. Arsenal have won six of their last eight league games against Spurs, and will be looking to maintain their unbeaten record at home this season. Everton vs Aston Villa, 19:30 / 14:30. Everton have failed to score in eight of the last 10 league games. Meanwhile, Villa are unbeaten in their last five trips to Goodison Park. Newcastle United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers, 19:30 / 14:30. All 20 of Wolves’ top-flight games in 2024-25 have had at least two goals – only three teams have ever had a longer such run from the start of a Premier League season. See the remaining Premier League fixtures here.

Results…

• Premier League: Brentford 2-2 Man City | Chelsea 2-2 Bournemouth | West Ham 3-2 Fulham | Nottm Forest 1-1 Liverpool (League Table)

• Bundesliga: Holstein 4-2 Dortmund | Leverkusen 1-0 Mainz 05 | Frankfurt 4-1 Freiburg | Wolfsburg 5-1 M’gladbach (League Table)

• Serie A: Como 1-2 AC Milan | Atalanta 1-1 Juventus (League Table)

• Scottish Premiership: Dundee 3-3 Celtic (League Table)

TOP TALKING POINTS

Clubs Avoid PSR Charges

The Premier League has not charged any clubs for breaches of its financial rules for the three-year period between 2021-2024. Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) permit clubs to lose up to £105m over a three-year reporting cycle.

While no clubs were charged, Leicester City are still at risk amid ongoing proceedings. In September, Leicester won an appeal following an alleged PSR breach during the previous reporting cycle. The club successfully argued that it was not part of the Premier League when it submitted its financial accounts on June 30, two weeks after relegation. The Premier League has appealed the verdict and can only bring new charges to Leicester once this case concludes.

Several clubs expect Leicester to be in breach of PSR. The club recorded a pre-tax losses of £89.7m for 2022-23 and £92.5m in 2021-22, plus its PSR threshold was reduced from £105m to £83m due to time spent outside the Premier League.

Dive deeper into how each team avoided PSR here.

Bundesliga Police Precedent

German clubs must pay their share of increased policing costs during high-risk matches, the country’s highest court has ruled. The German Football League (DFL), which operates the Bundesliga, says that around one in 12 matches in Germany’s top two divisions are regarded as high risk.

The court ruled that a 2014 law of Bremen, whereby clubs must pay their share of such increased costs, was in accordance with the constitution. The dispute started in 2015 when Bremen police sent the DFL an invoice of €450,000 for police operating a match between Werder Bremen and Hamburg. Despite challenges to the law, Bremen's right to pass the costs on to clubs was upheld twice in higher courts.

This ruling sets a precedent for leagues around Europe. Premier League clubs only cover the cost of police officers inside their stadiums, not outside, while the Spanish government takes full responsibility for security costs at La Liga matches. Meanwhile, Serie A and Ligue 1 are taking a similar approach to the Bundesliga as their clubs contribute towards police expenses.

Ukraine’s Amputee Tournament

Organised by Ukraine’s FA, the ‘League of the Mighty’ is the first football championship for war amputees. The players were chosen from among the thousands of Ukrainians wounded in the war. See a clip of the tournament here.

The tournament is a seven-a-side format. Outfield players, all lower-limb amputees, and goalkeepers with upper-limb amputations played without prostheses, relying on wrist crutches for control.

With more than 100,000 amputees in the country, most of which are soldiers who fought in the war, the tournament has become a “priority for the next few years”, says Andriy Shevchenko, Ukrainian FA president. The tournament boasts at least 60 professional amputee players in Ukraine, a significant number considering there are around 1,000 worldwide.

POLL

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Manchester City have reached a £29.4m agreement in principle to sign defender Vitor Reis, 18, from Palmeiras (More) | City have announced the passing of former captain and manager Tony Book, aged 90 (More) | Southampton majority shareholder Dragan Solak becomes the club’s new chairman (More)

> Arsenal are set to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad for £51m (More) | Gabriel Jesus has suffered an ACL rupture, potentially missing the rest of the season (More) | Aston Villa have signed Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of €23m (£19m) plus €3m (£2.5m) in add-ons (More)

> Fifa has reportedly imposed a three-year transfer ban on two La Liga clubs, Rayo Vallecano and RCD Mallorca; the reason for the bans are yet to be made clear (More)

> Up to 70 parents have made allegations that they have lost money to former international footballer Natasha Harding (More)

Americas

> James Rodriguez, 33, signs with eight-time champion Leon in the Mexican first division; Leon is one of three Mexican teams which qualified for this year’s Club World Cup (More)

> Twelve Los Angeles professional sports teams have pledged $8m to support victims of Los Angeles wildfires; Angel City FC, LA Galaxy and LAFC all included (More)

> Javier Mascherano’s first game as Inter Miami’s new coach is this weekend (More)

Rest of the World

> Cristiano Ronaldo will reportedly renew his contract with Al-Nassr until June 2026 and earn an annual salary of €200M (More)

> Mahsa Ghorbani, a female Iranian international referee, has fled to Sweden following security threats and unfair treatment (More)

> Rigobert Song, former Cameroon captain and coach, has been appointed to take over the Central African Republic’s national team (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Yesterday’s Poll: Would you rather see extra time in knockout games, or should tournaments go straight to penalties?

🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⏳ Extra Time... (38%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🫣 Penalties... (51%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other... (10%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🫣 D.W: “I thought there was a drive to reduce the playing times for the players, however I do believe the media companies are driving this forward to provide 'entertainment' for the fans.” 

• 🫣 M.W: “I’m always gutted when someone scores in extra time, penalties are far more interesting/exciting/nerve-racking!”

• ⏳ T.S: “Going straight to penalties will mean some teams will play defensive football and play for pot-luck penalties. It will only make the game more boring for us fans.”

EXTRA TIME

Who is Man City’s new 18-year-old Brazilian talent?

… and South American stars making moves to Europe this year.

Iconic football stadiums that no longer exist.

Behind the scenes of Nigeria and Libya’s airport saga.

Opta says Arsenal are “huge” favourites in the North London derby...

… and Sol Campbell pokes fun at Spurs in Google’s new advert. (via X)

How Forest built an unlikely title bid.

Should junior football be regulated to avoid one-sided outcomes?

Lazio sack Falconer after he shared nude videos of himself online.

Possibly the strangest finish you’ll see. (via X)

GAME FACE ON

Who is next in the sequence: Alexis Sanchez (2018-20), Edison Cavani (2020-21), Cristiano Ronaldo (2021-22)...

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Premier League

• Everton vs Aston Villa (19:30)

• Leicester vs Crystal Palace (19:30)

• Newcastle vs Wolves (19:30)

• Arsenal vs Tottenham (20:00)

Bundesliga

• Bochum vs St. Pauli (17:30)

• Bayern Munich vs Hoffenheim (19:30)

• Stuttgart vs Leipzig (19:30)

• Union Berlin vs Augsburg (19:30)

• Bremen vs Heidenheim (19:30)

Serie A

• Inter Milan vs Bologna (19:45)

Copa Del Rey, Last 16

• Almeria vs Leganes (18:30)

• Pontevedra vs Getafe (18:30)

• Barcelona vs Betis (20:00)

• Elche vs Atletico (20:30)

Scottish Premiership

• Rangers vs Aberdeen (20:00)

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

Answer

Mason Mount. The connection is Manchester United's number sevens.