Champions League outrage

GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering football’s gambling addiction, the next frontier in football, and much more.

STATS

Erling Haaland’s hat-trick was Man City’s 42nd in the Premier League, the joint-most with Liverpool. The Norwegian’s treble against Ipswich is his seventh in the Premier League and puts him joint-seventh of the all-time list. Chelsea beat Wolves 6-2 despite having lower Expected Goals (xG). The Blues accumulated 1.52 xG compared to the home team's 1.92. Bukayo Saka secured his 100th Premier League win, despite being just 22 years old. Only Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fabregas have achieved this at a younger age. Noussair Mazraoui’s setting up Amad Diallo is the first time Man United have scored a Premier League goal that was both scored and assisted by African players.

Plus…

• Premier League Matchday 2 (Results)

• Fan narrowly missed out on Super 6 jackpot in the last game of Matchday 2 (More)

• Noni Muadeke apologised to Wolves fans after accidentally posting about not liking the City (Watch)

• Ashley Cole will be Lee Carsley’s assistant during his spell as interim manager of England (More)

• Manchester United agree £25m deal to sell Scott McTominay to Napoli (More)

PREMIER LEAGUE

Clubs scramble to find new front-of-shirt sponsors in two years

It’s been just over a year since Premier League clubs agreed it was time to start phasing out gambling sponsors from the front of their team shirts. A ban comes into place in the 2026-27 season - though betting companies can feature on shirt sleeves.

But gambling companies are still ingrained in English top-flight sponsorship. Of the 20 teams in the Premier League this season, 11 have some sort of gambling company as their main sponsor.

Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, West Ham and Wolves will display a gambling company on the front of their shirts.

The heart of the problem: Those working in the industry say football is too tribal for many big brands, meaning “only a handful of Premier League clubs have been able to attract” multinational sponsors outside the gambling industry, per Financial Times.

Still a safe bet 

Spain, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands have all banned front-of-shirt sponsors from betting companies. And they still attract huge brands - Barcelona have Spofity, Real Madrid and AC Milan have Emirates, Ajax have Ziggo.

For ‘smaller’ clubs, attracting sponorship will be harder - but not impossible, especially for the most-watched league in the world.

• Luton Town were among 35 clubs who back The Big Step, with a strong stance against partnering with gambling companies. CEO Gary Sweet estimates it cost them around £3mn last season. Still, they secured a $3.5mn per year sponsorship with Utilita Energy.

• This season Ipswich Town has relied on passionate fan and global star, Ed Sheeran, as its main sponsor.

The clock is ticking: Assuming the Premier League sticks to its plan, clubs now have one to two years to find a main sponsor that’s not a betting company. Some clubs will find it easy, other will need to be more creative in the way they attract investment.

POLL

HEAD START

🎵 Champions League song change causes backlash. UEFA has unveiled the new Champions League television introduction for the 2024-25 football season - a twist on the iconic fan-favourite. The new intro - with a greater emphasis on the vocals - is meant to represent a new era for the Champions League, as it enters a completely new format. Universally, fans online are upset with the change - it’s a classic case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

😕 Sancho’s future at Man Utd uncertain. Jadon Sancho was left out of Manchester United’s squad again on Saturday, when Erik ten Hag’s men lost away to Brighton 2-1. While Juventus are interested in signing Sancho, it has been reported to be difficult to find a financial agreement that satisfies all parties. United are looking for £40mn for the winger but so far no suitors have shown interest in matching that valuation.

😬 Jermaine Jenas admits to “inappropriate messages”. The former footballer, who was tipped to one day replace Gary Lineker as host of Match of the Day, insisted that “nothing physical ever happened” but confessed to “cheating” on his wife. More women have reportedly come forward with allegations against the TV presenter about his workplace conduct, per the Guardian. But these claims have not be substantiated elsewhere.

BIG IDEA

Brazilian top-flight is the next big thing, report finds

Brazilian football is about to attract a huge amount of investment, helping it compete with some of the biggest leagues in the world.

A decade ago, the book ‘Soccernomics’ by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski predicted that Brazil could have “a very good league” post-2014 Brazil World Cup. The authors later admitted that their prediction wasn’t entirely accurate.

Many of the major clubs have underperformed off the pitch - and are barely known outside of Brazil. This comes as a surprise considering Brazil is the world’s main exporter of footballers by far, per Financial Times.

Remember, football is a business

Brazil’s untapped potential was stifled by its traditional non-profit model, with only two top-flight clubs running as a company.

The catalyst for change: A huge turning point came in 2021 when a law was passed that encouraged clubs to operate as a business, per Football Benchmark. The new regime allows clubs to become limited companies and benefit from favourable tax rates. 

This has made high-profile investors - including Emirati royalty and multi-club conglomerates - sit up and take note of potentially the next frontier in global sports.

• John Textor - the potential suitor for Everton - acquired a 90% stake of Botafogo in early 2022 through his company Eagle Football Holdings.

• Private equity firm Treecorp Partners bought Coritiba for $260mn in 2023.

Potential off the charts: Football Benchmark’s latest report also shows that the growth potential is huge. Revenue in Série A has grown +30% over the past five years, outpacing all the European Big Five leagues - whose growth rates ranged from 13% for the Italian Serie A to 26% for Ligue 1.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will Brazilian football. It still has its issues, like a poorly timed calendar and challenges with restructuring clubs’ debts which have piled up over the past decade. 

But investors are interested in the country’s passionate fans, unrivalled talent factory, and vast audience. And the potential move to create a league controlled by the clubs, not the national confederation, might be icing on the cake.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

🇪🇸 La Liga: Kylian Mbappe has failed to score for a second La Liga game in a row, Ancelotti isn’t concerned (More) | Jude Bellingham has sustained a calf injury in training, reports in Spain suggest he will be unavailable until late September (More)

🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Serge Gnabry scored a late winner for Bayern Munich as manager Vincent Kompany's first Bundesliga game in charge ended in a 3-2 victory against Wolfsburg (More)

🇮🇹 Serie A: Napoli are close to signing Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea for a fee of about £30mn (More)

🇯🇲 Jamaica: Mason Greenwood has begun the process of gathering personal documents so he can gain Jamaican citizenship and play for the country at international level, a move away from the England squad (More)

🇨🇲 Cameroon: The Cameroon men’s national team head coach Marc Brys has alleged that the country’s FA has physically threatened him and intimated players (More)

LOWER LEAGUE LOUNGE

Championship

Sunderland and Watford are top of the table. Both sides have won all three of their opening games this season. Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth Argyle went down to nine players. Despite this, they earned a point against QPR after holding them to a 1-1 draw. Will Keane ensured Preston made a winning start to life under new manager Paul Heckingbottom. His goal was enough to win the game against Luton at Deepdale. Cardiff City remain bottom of the table after three games despite drawing 1-1 to rivals Swansea City in an end-to-end game. Substitute Callum Robinson scored a 79th-minute equaliser after Liam Cullen put the Swans one up in the first half.

League One

Stockport County, Huddersfield Town and Charlton Athletic have won all three opening games. Stockport lead with a +7 goal difference, and Huddersfield and Charlton are level with +4. Wrexham remain unbeaten after defeating Reading 3-0 at home. Since the start of last season, Wrexham have scored more home goals than any other team in the top four divisions of England football. Six teams are still yet to secure a win this season. Both Leyton Orient and Shrewsbury are the only sides to have lost all three opening games.

League Two

Gillingham top the table with two wins and a draw. Bradford follow closely behind, with only one less goal difference; +3 compared to +4. Newport County are back on track with successive home wins. After their opening day shock defeat to Cheltenham Town, Newport have beaten Doncaster Rovers and Accrington Stanely 3-1. Morecambe fail to earn a point from the opening three games. A 1-0 loss to Doncaster Rovers was their third consecutive loss in the league.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Match-winning save. Arsenal’s return of zero points from two matches against Aston Villa last season ultimately cost them the Premier League title. The two sides met in the second game of this season. At 0-0, the ball rebounded off the top of the crossbar and was met with a header from Ollie Watkins. Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya recovered from the ground to make a statement for the save of the season. The Gunners won the game 2-0 with back-to-back clean sheets.

💉Quick hit: Six of Leandro Trossard’s 14 Premier League goals for Arsenal have been as a substitute, the highest share of any player to score 10+ goals for the club in the competition (43%).

ROUTER’S VOICE

On Friday, we asked you: Do you think INEOS will make Man Utd a Premier League contender again?

🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 👍 Yes, they're doing the right things... (47.25%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🙅 Nope, still a long way to go... (53.85%)

Your punditry takes:

• 👍 J.L: “They have put a Senior Management team in place who know what they are doing and have a proper long-term plan. In 3 years time the club will be unrecognisable from what's gone on in the past 10 years. Building a proper foundation just like Fergie and hopefully the building of a new stadium will have commenced - onwards and upwards. ”

• 👍 B.B: “They are starting with the basics of having the right people in the right jobs as opposed to having money men make lots of major football decisions and which is a fundamental point of successful business.”

• 🙅 K.M: “Ratcliffe is only a mouthpiece for the Glazers.”

EXTRA TIME

Football brothers, you might not have known. 

Endrick’s first goal for Real Madrid.

Trent Alexander-Arnold doesn’t look happy when Slot explains why he took him off.

A history of Premier League transfer spending since its inception.

Alexia Putellas’ goal had everyone stunned…

… and so did Oxford’s Mark Harris’s volley from 35-yards.

Ten Premier League players who need a move before the deadline.

When Gary Neville answers your call in an emergency.

GAME FACE ON

Question: Kai Havertz’s goal for Arsenal against Wolves in the opening game of the season was his 33rd Premier League goal. Who is the only German to score more in the competition?

Clue: Back again.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

English National League

• Full list of fixtures can be found here.

La Liga

• Villarreal vs Celta Vigo (20:30 BST)

Serie A

• Cagliari vs Como (17:30 BST)

• Verona vs Juventus (19:45 BST)

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

Answer

Ilkay Gundogan. He’s scored 44 goals for Manchester City in the Premier League.