Fake shirts crackdown

GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering Chelsea’s bloated squad, banning fake shirts at home games and much more.

STATS

Community Shield: Manchester City 1 - 1 Manchester United (7-6 on Pens)

→ Manchester City have won the Community Shield for the first time since 2019, having been runners-up in the competition in each of the last three campaigns.

→ The team to win the Community Shield has only gone on to win the Premier League title that season in one of the last 13 campaigns, with Manchester City doing so in 2018-19.

Women’s Olympic Football: USWNT 1 - 0 Brazil

→ The USWNT has won nine major women's tournaments (5 Olympics, 4 World Cups), more than all other teams in the world combined (8).

→ The USWNT is the third team to keep clean sheets in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final of a major tournament.

→ Emma Hayes is the fourth coach to win their first major tournament in charge of the USWNT.

Plus…

• Wayne Rooney’s tenure as Plymouth manager starts with a 4-0 thrashing at Sheffield Wednesday (More)

• Manchester United have reached an agreement with Bruno Fernandes to extend his contract (More)

• Riccardo Calafiori makes his debut for Arsenal in 2-0 win over Lyon, as the Gunners score two corners (More)

• Barcelona have completed the signing of Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig for €60mn (More)

PREMIER LEAGUE

Chelsea’s squad grows to 50 senior players

Chelsea have completed the £54mn signing for Wolves winger Pedro Neto. The 24-year-old is Chelsea’s ninth signing this summer, taking their total spent to £245mn since June 14.

The big picture: With Neto on board, the Blues now have 50 senior players at the club and 56 including current loanees:

• At least 14 players will leave Chelsea’s group of 56 at the club and on loan.

• This summer they will do fewer transfers both in and out than last summer under Mauricio Pochettino - but it remains more than any other club in the Premier League.

During Graham Potters's time at the club - when they had a ‘bloated’ 40-player squad - there were reports that first-team squad members were sitting on the floor during team meetings and changing for training in the corridor. It doesn’t look like things are going to be much more comfortable for the players in the upcoming season.

Avoiding PSR, how?

It’s only natural to be confused at how Chelsea continue to spend large sums amid such restrictive Premier League profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

Well, aside from selling hotels to themselves for £77mn, there are some cheeky accounting tricks that clubs can use to essentially ‘gamble’ on PSR rules.

Breaking it down: Firstly, Chelsea have aggressively sold academy players this window because their sale counts as pure profit. The money that’s set to come in from the sale of Ian Maatsen, Lewis Hall, Omari Hutchinson and Conor Gallagher will bring in around £119mn in profit for the Blues.

It was also reported yesterday that Chelsea graduate Trevoh Chalobah was banned from using the club’s first-team facilities. You guessed it - Chelsea are ushering him out the door as they want to sell the defender for pure profit.

Then there’s amortisation - essentially spreading the cost across, in the Premier League’s case, a maximum of five years.

• Chelsea will only be adding around £38.5mn a year onto their amortisation costs. 

• So this year’s profit gives them breathing space when it comes to finding ways to generate additional revenue in other areas - qualification and a good run in the expanded Champions League in 2025 could bring in more than £100mn.

It’s a calculated risk - so only time will tell if Chelsea can weave out of any PSR troubles.

POLL

HEAD START

🟨 Jose Mourinho receives yellow card after 15 minutes into new season. José Mourinho made a dramatic entrance into the Turkish Super Lig as he received a yellow card during Fenerbahçe's opening match against Adana Demirspor. Footage shows the Portuguese tactician arguing with the referee just before receiving the yellow. Edin Džeko’s goal in the 34th minute secured Fenerbahçe’s win in their opening game.

👕 Adidas release iconic trefoil third kits. Adidas recruited veteran stars to model their 2024-25 third kits for Juventus, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Bayern Munich. The all-in-one release includes Del Piero, Zinedine Zidane, Rio Ferdinand, Patrick Viera and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wrexham start with a win on return to League One. After back-to-back promotions, Wrexham made a winning start in their first game in England’s third tier in 20 years, beating Wycombe Wanderers 3-2. With celebrity co-owner Rob McElhenney watching on, Wrexham couldn't have wished to get off to a better start.

COUNTERFEIT CRACKDOWN

Clubs crackdown on fake shirts

Sheffield Wednesday will only allow ‘official’ shirts at their stadium and threatens to remove any fan wearing a counterfeit shirt.

The Championship side said in a statement that knock-off shirts impact the club’s revenues and are “inferior in terms of quality and potentially unsafe due to materials used”.

Sheffield Wednesday charge the most of all four leagues below the Premier League for their short-sleeve shirt at £69. The average across the four leagues is £57.3.

A crackdown on counterfeits

More and more fans are buying fake shirts as prices of some shirts have increased by 30% since 2020. As such, one report has found that 90% of respondents were unwilling to spend the full RRP of official football shirts, and 38% admitted to having purchased a fake in the past.

• England fans spent £2mn on fake football shirts during this year’s Euros, with Nike reportedly losing out on £6.5mn.

• And this was despite German authorities potentially issuing a €5000 fine for anyone found in possession of fake items.

Looking ahead: In response to the rise of fakes, the Premier League increased its funding for the Anti-counterfeiting Programme as it estimates that counterfeiting goods has contributed to funding £900mn a year on criminal activity.

With social media helping with the distribution of fake shirts, it’s likely that more clubs will follow Sheffield Wednesday’s stance this season and beyond.

If you’re wondering how you can know whether a shirt is fake or not, check out this guide here.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish Premiership: Celtic sit top of the Scottish Premiership with two wins from two after a 0-2 win over Hibernian | Aberdeen make it six wins from six in all competitions under new boss Jimmy Thelin with their 3-1 win over St Mirren (More) 

🇭🇷 Croatian Football League: Ivan Perišic has been dropped from Hajduk’s squad by manager Gennaro Gattuso due to his behaviour (More)

🇮🇹 Serie A: Former Manchester United keeper David de Gea, 33, joins signs for Fiorentina after one season as a free agent (More) | Former Arsenal and Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez, 35, has rejoined Udinese on a free transfer, 18 years after first signing (More)

🇧🇷 Brazil: Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer Marta said she has likely played her last game for her country after her side lost to USWNT in the Olympic Gold final (More)

OFF THE PITCH

🥇The United States tops the medal table at the Paris Olympics with 30 golds, finishing above China only by virtue of their 44 silvers (More)

❌ Gymnast Jordan Chiles was forced to return her gymnastic bronze medal after a court ruling decided her score had been improperly judged (More)

🏅 Team USA won its fifth straight Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball after defeating France, and USA women’s win eighth straight gold medal after defeating France (More)

🇿🇦 First deaf Miss South Africa crowned (More)

📸 Camera-carrying sea lions are mapping uncharted areas of the ocean (More)

PHOTO OF THE DAY

On this day in 1967. The 1967 Charity Shield - now the Community Shield - was played at Old Trafford between League champions Manchester United and FA Cup winners Tottenham Hotspur. While George Best, Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, Jimmy Greaves and Alan Gilzean were on the pitch, the memorable goal was scored by the goalkeeper, Pat Jennings. The Northern Ireland goalkeeper booted the ball from his penalty area and the ball bounced over the head of the United goalkeeper Alex Stepney. The match finished 3-3 in front of 54,106 fans with the clubs sharing the trophy for the season.

Did you know? The FA was legally forced to change the name from Charity Shield to Community Shield in 2002 after they failed to meet the minimum legal transparency requirements of how much money actually went to charities.

ROUTER’S VOICE

On Friday, we asked you: How effective do you think Mikel Arteta’s unique management techniques are?

Routers voted that Arteta’s unusual tactics are effective for Arsenal.

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👍 Definitely effective... (61%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🫤 Nope, I don't see the benefit... (32.8%)

⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!)... (5.4%)

Your punditry takes:

• 👍 Cincy S voted ‘Definitely effective’: “Reframing the player’s thoughts enables paradigm breakthroughs leading them to attempt things they otherwise would not.”

• 🫤 NS voted ‘Nope’: “I’m all for using imaginative tools to help instil a culture or practice but the light bulb analogy wasn’t exactly a novel way to demonstrate the importance of “connectivity”. It felt like a bit of a showpiece for Arteta to show off his knowledge about who invented the light bulb (let’s face it none of the players would have known) and to jump around in his designer gear. The players on the other hand looked like they had to hold back laughing. Managers should probably leave these sorts of tactics to the professional away day setting.”

• ✍️ Elliot voted ‘Other’: “Wouldn't say they play a big impact on how the team plays/performs but could give the players a better idea of how they have to work together by using obscure ideas such as a lightbulb than giving a boring speech.”

EXTRA TIME

Early footage of Kylian Mbappé in Real Madrid training.

Plymouth have misspelt their player’s name.

Harry Kane refuses to lift the preseason trophy against Spurs.

Wrexham playing impressive football in League One.

ESPN ranks the top 50 Premier League players for 2024-25.

Jamie Carragher’s top 6 predictions ahead of the Premier League’s return.

Contender for miss of the season.

Diogo Jota’s volley against Sevilla is simply incredible.

Analysis: Can Dominic Solanke finally fulfil his potential at Tottenham?

GAME FACE ON

Question: Name one of the two players in the Premier League last season who earned their team the most points per goal.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

FOOTBALL

EFL Championship

• Luton vs Burnley (20:00 BST)

Copa Italia

• Frosinone vs Pisa (17:00 BST)

• Leece vs Mantova (17:30 BST)

• Salernitana vs Spezia (19:45 BST)

• Cagliari vs Carrarese (20:15 BST)

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

Answer

Dominic Solanke scored 18 goals, earning Bournemouth 15 points.

Cole Palmer scored 22 goals, earning Chelsea 15 points.