100,000-seater stadium

GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering United’s 100,000-seater stadium, early fixture complaints, and much more.

Here’s a fact to help with awkward small talk: Today marks 57 years since England won the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley. Geoff Hurst became the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final… helping the Three Lions to a 4-2 victory over West Germany.

STATS

Emile Smith Rowe → Deal agreed with Fulham (More)

→ Across his first two seasons playing regularly in the Arsenal team (2020-21 and 2021-22), Emile Smith Rowe scored 15 goals and recorded nine assists in all competitions.

→ Only Bukayo Saka (101) and Martin Ødegaard (97) created more chances in open play for Arsenal in that time than him (69).

→ Smith Rowe has made just 25 appearances in the last two seasons, and only three of those were starts (0 Goals, 3 Assists).

PREMIER LEAGUE

Manchester United plan to build 100,000-seater stadium

Manchester United will decide by the end of this year on whether they should renovate their existing stadium or invest in a 100,000-seater new-build.

A taskforce set up by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already met four times, with discussions centred on the issue - though it’s clear that the INEOS boss is leaning towards building a stadium from scratch.

The project would cost around £2bn, almost double the cost of renovation, and take six years to complete. But it remains unclear how the club will finance the new stadium.

Why build from scratch? Renovating stand-by-stand will reduce capacity at different points and cause headaches over how to house 51,000 season ticket holders should the number of seats fall below that figure.

The club have already asked 30,000 fans for their thoughts in a survey to gauge the mood of potential works. The results of this survey are yet to be published.

Unlike when Tottenham played at Wembley while their £1.2bn stadium was being completed, United have no obvious alternative ground to use. But United’s ownership is confident that if they build on land owned by the club next to the current ground, then the team can continue to play at Old Trafford through the construction work.

The vision… an economic and social hub

United’s leadership are taking inspiration from the SoFi Stadium, based in Inglewood, California. Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke paid £3.88bn to build the stadium which is home to the LA Rams and LA Chargers NFL sides.

The area surrounding the SoFi Stadium has thrived since with restaurants, retail outlets and a theatre, as well as plans to increase transport links. Ratcliffe aims to create a similar hub around Old Trafford.

The question is: should United stick or twist?

HEAD START

🔴 Riccardo Calafiori has joined Arsenal from Serie A side Bologna. The 22-year-old centre-back and left-back has signed a five-year contract with the Gunners until 2029. It is reported that the deal is worth up to £42mn including add-ons.

🗓️ Champions League second qualifying round resumes tonight. Turkish side Fenerbahcé host Swiss side Lugano tonight at 6 PM BST. In the first leg of the round, José Mourinho’s side won 4-3 after Edin Džeko bagged a hattrick. There are two more rounds before seven additional teams can qualify for the 2024-25 Champions League. Full details here.

🇨🇦 Canada insist they’re not cheaters after keeping Olympic hopes alive. Vanessa Gilles, who scored Canada’s winner against France 12 minutes into second-half injury time, said she nearly broke her hand after punching the wall in anger when she heard about Canada’s six-point deduction for spying. Canada’s women’s team have since launched an appeal against the six-point deduction, but not for coach Bev Priestman’s one-year ban.

FIXTURE COMPLAINTS

Fixture schedule impacts ‘elite’ players - not the rest

Complaints about fixture schedules are nothing new - but ahead of the upcoming 2024-25 season, calls for player welfare are louder than ever.

This week, Pep Guardiola called out “institutions like FIFA, UEFA and the Premier League” for not thinking about players when they’re drawing up fixture schedules. The Manchester City boss will allow players who were on international duty as much time off as they’d like.

Does Pep have a point?

It’s complicated. A report by the reputable Football Observatory found that despite the increase in the number of matches, the average number of minutes played per player per season has remained stable over a ten-year period.

This trend is attributed to the introduction of the five substitutions rule and the expansion of squad sizes… which has allowed for greater player rotation. 

Projections suggest that footballers will play the same amount of minutes but 1.4 per cent more matches on average over the next four years (2024 to 2028) compared to the previous four years (2020 to 2024).

But, there’s a catch…

The ‘elite’ players who aren’t rotated are taking the brunt of the congested fixture schedule:

• Jude Bellingham played 30% more minutes than Wayne Rooney by age 20. 

• Kylian Mbappé played 48% more minutes than Thierry Henry by age 24.

And, in theory, Manchester City could play 92 games this season across a full 12-month campaign that began on July 15 and potentially ending with a Club World Cup final on July 13 next year.

Change could be on the horizon… European football leagues and player unions said last week they plan to formally complain to the European Commission about FIFA adding competitions to already congested fixture schedules.

POLL

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

• 🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Paris Saint-Germain have an agreement in principle to sign Jadon Sancho, as Manchester United want €60mn for the winger (More)

• 🇪🇸 La Liga: Kylian Mbappé will miss Real Madrid’s preseason tour of the United States, as Jude Bellingham and Dani Carvajal are also on holiday (More)

• 🇮🇹 Serie A: Raphael Varane joins Cesc Fabregas’ side Como on a free transfer after leaving Manchester United (More)

• 🇺🇸 NWSL: McKenna Whitham made history by becoming the youngest-ever player to appear for a top-flight US soccer team at just 14 years old (More)

• 🇿🇲 Zambia: 31-year-old Kabange Mupopo is the first Zambian in history to compete in two different Olympic sports: football (2024) and the 400 meters (2016).

• 🇳🇱 Eredivisie: Feyenoord now demands €40mn for David Hancko after Atletico’s “downright insulting” offer of less than €20mn (More)

OFF THE PITCH

🍿 Steve Coogan and Eanna Hardwicke cast as Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane in ‘Saipan’ film about Ireland’s infamous 2002 World Cup fallout (More)

📰 Rupert Murdoch is in a secret legal battle with his children over the succession of his media empire (More)

🩸 A new blood test for Alzheimer’s was found to identify the condition around 90% of the time (More)

🧑‍⚖️ The U.S. Department of Justice laid out its case for banning TikTok (More)

🎾 Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in two straight sets at the Paris Olympics (More)

🏊️ Eurosport drop Olympics commentator Bob Ballard after remarks made about female swimmers (More)

ROUTER’S VOICE

Yesterday, we asked you: Are you excited for your club's upcoming season?

Overall, Routers are positive about their club’s prospects for the upcoming season with 48% voting ‘Yes’.

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Yes... (48%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Meh, we'll see what happens... (24%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ No, I'm already having sleepless nights... (28%) 

Your punditry takes:

• 🔴 Liverpool fan Battley voted ‘Yes’: “Only seen the ‘Slot Machine’ (see what I did there?) once so far and it looks like it suits our player’s style of football better. Clearly we’ll see what happens when the big hitters get back but looks very promising!”

• 🔵 Brighton fan Stuart M voted “Yes”: “100% excited. Brighton’s pre-season in Japan has been amazing. New manager, new style of play, new players who can score.... bring it on.”

• 🟠 Hull City fan M Crowan voted “No”: “Major shortage of players in the squad. Not to mention the lack of quality therein. Too many outgoing and very few incoming.”

• 🔵 Chelsea fan Mike H voted “No”: “Chelsea’s new manager is either a football magician about to pull everything together or a complete disaster.”

• 🔴 Bristol fan David S voted “Meh”: “Far too often Bristol City have started like an express train only to fizzle out mid-season and end up mid-table.”

EXTRA TIME

Chelsea reveal their new 2024/25 away kit.

A league table of every English club’s points since inception in 1888.

Away match prices in the 1973-74 season look very different to now…

Does this clip reveal who is in charge of Manchester United’s transfers?

Tottenham's assistant coach can speak seven languages.

David Beckham enjoying life on his farm.

Long read: Five players whose dream Real Madrid transfers quickly turned into a nightmare.

GAME FACE ON

Question: In which year did football first feature in the Olympic Games?

Clue: It was also held in Paris.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

FOOTBALL

The Champions League second qualifying round second leg fixtures can be found here.

OLYMPICS

The 2024 Paris Olympics schedule for today can be found here.

*EST -5. PST -8. CET +1. CST +8. JST +9.

Answer

1900. Only two matches were held between the three clubs - Upton Park FC, Club Français, Université de Bruxelles - and no medals were awarded, though Great Britain’s representative Upton Park FC took home “gold”.

Hottest Take of the Day

The Hottest Take of the Day was submitted by Ryan S from New Jersey: Man United and Chelsea will both finish in the top four this season.

Submit another Hot Take of the Day here.