Ticket scams rise

GM football fans. Route One here, and we’re covering Premier League ticket scams, the EFL broadcast shake-up, and much more.

It’s never fun receiving a call from your boss on holiday - and even worse when he finds out you ignored it. When Jude Bellingham ignored Carlo Ancellott’s call this week, the Italian boss asked Vini Jr to give his teammate a call. Bellingham answered immediately… only to hear Carlo’s voice on the other end. At least the five-time Champions League-winning boss could see the fun in it all.

STATS

Women’s Olympic Semi-Final: Brazil vs Spain (Today at 20:00 BST)

→ Spain are attempting to become the first women’s football team to win gold at the Olympics whilst being the current World Cup champions.

→ Spain are strong favourites going into the game after winning their last five games in all competitions.

Women’s Olympic Semi-Final: United States vs Germany (Today at 17:00 BST)

→ The United States have kept two clean sheets in four games at these Olympics, scoring 10 goals along the way and remaining unbeaten.

→ Record four-time gold winners, the United States have failed to reach the final in each of the last two Olympics, with their best return during that time a bronze at Tokyo 2020.

Men’s Olympic Semi-Final Results

• Spain 2 - 1 Morocco

• France 3 - 1 Egypt

Breaking transfer updates: West Ham sign Borussia Dortmund striker Niclas Fullkrug for £27mn (More) | Newcastle are close to signing Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi for more than £60mn (More)

PREMIER LEAGUE

Huge increase in football ticket scams ahead of new season

With just ten days before the new Premier League season, football fans must be aware of the rising threat of online ticket scams.

Thousands of young people in the UK were tricked into paying money for non-existent Premier League football tickets last season, according to an estimate by Lloyds Bank.

Specifically, reports of football ticket scams more than doubled (+101%) last season compared to the season before, with Manchester United and Liverpool fans most likely to be targeted.

• More than 90% of football ticket scams reported during the 2022-23 season started on just three online platforms: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

• Last season, people lost £177 on average, with some fans losing more than £1,000.

• Those aged between 18 and 24 years old were most likely to fall victim to the scams.

How does the scam work?

Probably as you’d expect. Fraudsters create fake posts on social media or online marketplaces to advertise tickets that don’t exist. But they will include pictures of real tickets to convince the buyer that they are genuine.

The victim then makes the payment, usually by bank transfer. And once the money has been transferred, the fraudster disappears.

The best way to avoid the scam: Lloyds recommends only buying tickets by credit card or debit card as fans will benefit from the Section 75 and Chargeback rules. Bank transfers aren’t protected in the same way as credit or debit cards are.

And, if possible, only buy tickets from clubs or authorised ticket partners.

Next steps: Social media companies must do more to tackle the issue given the vast majority of fraud starts on their platforms. But without that being a reality in the immediate future, fans must stay vigilant.

POLL

HEAD START

🏟️ Manchester United’s sponsor wants stadium naming rights. American tech company, Snapdragon, who is Manchester United’s new front-of-shirt sponsor are open to taking over the naming rights of Old Trafford. If United’s owners decide to build a costly new stadium to replace the 114-year-old Old Trafford then Snapdragon would jump at the opportunity to have their name attached to the new build. Last month, the new shirt sponsor agreed to a three-year deal worth £180mn. 

🔵 Conor Gallagher verbally agrees to join Atletico Madrid. The English international has approved his move to the Spanish giants Atletico Madrid after their £34mn bid was accepted by Chelsea. Gallagher, 24, was told that he would be excluded from The Blues’ first-team squad if he rejected the move.

😲 Former Barcelona striker wants to buy Espanyol. Martin Braithwaite who is reportedly worth over £200mn after investing in his uncle’s property business is interested in buying his former club. Braithwaite blames the Espanyol hierarchy for him not being selected for the Denmark Euro 2024 squad after they did not allow him to leave last summer to search for a new club.

ENGLISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE

New EFL deal to shake up fan experience

This Friday, the most transformational broadcast deal for football since Sky’s £304mn deal for the Premier League back in 1992 is taking place.

Sky’s new deal with the English Football League (EFL) is going to shake up second, third and fourth tier of English football. The broadcaster will show 1,059 EFL matches this season as part of a five-year deal worth £935mn, per The Times.

More problems than solutions?

It was only a matter of time before lower leagues secured a lucrative broadcast deal. But it does come with its problems:

• Fans can now opt to watch games at home for cheaper, potentially reducing matchday revenue for football clubs.

• The 3 PM Saturday blackout, which prevents broadcasters from showing English football matches, means that fixture times will change to accommodate the broadcaster. And often the new kick-off times are undesirable.

Take Swansea’s opening match against Middlesborough which kicks off at 12:30 PM. As The Times highlights, that’s a 300-mile trip for Swansea fans which will mean the supporter’s coach has to leave at 4 AM. Talk about ruining the fan experience.

The big picture: While it’s a step in the right direction, EFL clubs will share £119mn in broadcast rights a year across 72 clubs. To put that into perspective, just 20 Premier League clubs will share £1.3bn a year.

With such a large gap between the English top flight and the lower leagues, many EFL clubs remain loss-makers. 

But, on a positive note, if the EFL is successful over the next five years, it won’t be long until the lower leagues can demand some serious cash.

AROUND THE FOOTBALL WORLD

🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Paris Saint-Germain have signed João Neves until 2029 from Benfica for a deal worth €70mn (More)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England national team: The FA have given formal approval for the appointment of a foreign manager to replace Gareth Southgate (More)

🇪🇸 La Liga: Jude Bellingham’s role at Real Madrid will not change following Kylian Mbappé’s arrival, says manager Carlo Ancelotti (More)

🇩🇪 Bundesliga: RB Leipzig have confirmed that Xavi Simons will stay at the club for a second season-long loan from Paris Saint-Germain (More)

🇺🇲 USMNT: Hoffenheim boss Rino Matarazzo responds to reportedly being offered U.S. Men's National Soccer Team job by saying “I am fully committed here. I am the coach of TSG Hoffenheim, fully engaged.” (More)

OFF THE PITCH

🎨 Banksy reveals new London artwork of goat perched on a wall (More)

📺 The Last of Us Season 2 trailer has been released (More)

⚡ US sprinter Noah Lyles won the Olympic 100m title by 0.005 seconds (More)

🕺 Strictly Come Dancing announce the first blind contestant (More)

🏏 Former England and Surrey batsman Graham Thorpe has died at the age of 55 (More)

PHOTO OF THE DAY

1909 FA Cup final. A reader and regular contributor to R1, David S, shared a brilliant anecdote on the 1909 FA Cup final…

“My late wife's neighbours were at the 1909 FA Cup final between Man United 1 Bristol City 0 and this was long before radio and an eternity before HDTV so unless you were at the match I doubt there was even a silent film clip of the match to ensure any video evidence of the event existed and yes even after a 65-year gap a Man U fan still gloated!

The man concerned (and his wife) I met around the time of our wedding in October 1974 and he remembered the Bristol City centre half who also played for England his name was Billy “fatty“ Wedlock.”

Have any stories to share with us? Hit reply to this email and let us know.

ROUTER’S VOICE

Yesterday, we asked you: Would you rather your side win the Community Shield or the first game of the season?

Routers voted that the first game of the season was more desirable than winning the Community Shield.

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🏆 Community Shield... (32%)

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 ✅ First game of the season... (68%)

Your punditry takes:

• ✅ Seadar voted ‘First game of the season’: “The community shield is often considered a non-entity and meaningless in any grand scheme of things except padding the cabinet. The EPL is a marathon of fortune where literally every game counts from day 1 and those that are still asleep from the short summer downtime can suffer league-long failure by getting off to a slow start to the season.”

• ✅ Nicola T voted ‘First game of the season’: “It's a Mickey Mouse kinda trophy to those of us whose team has never been in it or had a sniff of it. It's an extra cost for the fans to fork out for. Sorry that's just my view of it.”

• 🏆 John E voted ‘Community Shield’: “First trophy of the season, then when you win the League Cup, F.A. Cup and win the Premiership then you can do a Man City! And win the English quadruple!”

• 🏆 Danny L voted ‘Community Shield’: “It’s a trophy and sets a winning mentality for the season ahead.”

EXTRA TIME

Opta’s Championship predictions for the 2024-25 season…

… and the League One predictions.

Did Darwin Nunez just leak Trent Alexander-Arnold’s next move?

Emile Smith Rowe’s goal for Fulham on his debut.

Endrick’s little brother hilariously wraps himself in a rug.

Snoop Dogg learns how to commentate on Olympic football.

Sergio Busquets beating the press.

Another 2024 Puskas award contender…

Erling Haaland shows us his routine for dealing with a seven-hour flight.

Hot debate: Are the Chelsea owners destroying the club by selling Conon Gallagher?

GAME FACE ON

Question: Who am I… I have won the Champions League twice, I played at the 2012 Olympics and I have played with Raheem Sterling at club level.

Extra: I have a famous celebration.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

FOOTBALL

Olympic Women’s Semi-Finals

• United States vs Germany (17:00 BST)

• Brazil vs Spain (20:00 BST)

UEFA Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round

• Fixtures can be found here.

English FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replays

• Fixtures can be found here.  

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

Answer

Daniel Sturridge. 2x Champions Leagues with Chelsea (11/12) and Liverpool (18/19).