In one of the most high-profile moves of the 2025 summer Premier League transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur has secured a season-long loan deal for Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush from Premier League champions Manchester City, with a mandatory obligation to convert the temporary move into a permanent transfer for a reported £60 million next summer. The 27-year-old Egypt international, who earned his first senior cap for his national side back in 2021, will link up with his former Manchester City teammate Savio at the north London club, just days after the Brazilian winger completed his £75 million move to Tottenham on Tuesday. In a statement following the confirmation of his transfer, Marmoush expressed his excitement over the switch to one of English football’s biggest institutions, noting that the club’s long-term project was a major draw for him. “Tottenham Hotspur is one of the biggest clubs in England, if not the world, and the project was very attractive to me,” Marmoush said. “I’ve spoken with the head coach [Roberto de Zerbi], I loved what he had to say and I’m sure our passion for the game will go very well together.” Marmoush initially joined Manchester City from Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt for a £59 million fee back in January 2025, and has notched 16 goals across 62 appearances in all competitions for the Sky Blues during his tenure at the Etihad Stadium. After an impressive start to his career at City, Marmoush found first-team opportunities limited in the 2024/25 season, with 13 of his 21 league appearances coming off the bench as Norway star Erling Haaland remained manager Pep Guardiola’s preferred starting central striker. The Egyptian forward’s limited game time continued into the start of the 2025/26 campaign: he came on as a late substitute in City’s 3-0 Community Shield defeat to Arsenal, and did not make it off the bench during last Sunday’s 2-1 Premier League opening-round victory against Bournemouth. The addition of Marmoush caps off a historic summer spending spree for Tottenham, who have splashed out more than £311 million on new incoming transfers during the current window. Prior to Marmoush’s arrival, the club added Portuguese midfielder Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United, Italian midfielder Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United, and Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton & Hove Albion, while also picking up centre-back Marcos Senesi, left-back Andy Robertson and goalkeeper Martin Dubravka on free transfers. De Zerbi, Tottenham’s recently appointed head coach, spoke highly of his new recruit, framing Marmoush as the exact profile of player the club is targeting to build out its new project. “Omar is exactly the kind of player we want at this club – ambitious, hungry and determined to make a difference,” De Zerbi said. “He has incredible attacking quality but what I also love is his desire to improve and to win. He brings pace, intelligence and a real threat in front of goal, and I believe he can take our attacking play to another level.” The transfer has sparked widespread debate among football analysts and fans, with many questioning whether the addition of the out-of-favour City striker will prove to be a transformative move for Spurs, or a high-risk investment that fails to deliver on expectations.
分类： sports
-
All Blacks name Carter to replace Moorby against Springboks in 2nd test
Ahead of the second test of a four-match series between New Zealand’s All Blacks XV and South Africa’s Springboks at Cape Town Stadium this weekend, the All Blacks have unveiled three significant adjustments to their starting lineup, including a tactical swap that sees promising winger Leroy Carter step into the starting left wing position.
Carter’s promotion comes after Josh Moorby, who scored the All Blacks’ second try in last Saturday’s opening test at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park, was dropped to the reserve bench. That opening match ended in a 33-16 win for New Zealand over the world-champion Springboks, putting the All Blacks in a strong position to secure at least a share of the series with a second victory this weekend.
Two of the All Blacks’ changes are enforced, rather than tactical, after starting loosehead prop Ethan de Groot and lock Josh Lord collided heads while executing a double tackle in the first test. Both players are unavailable for selection for Saturday’s match, opening starting spots for George Bower and Tupou Vaa’i respectively. Bower, who delivered a strong impact performance coming off the bench in the opening test, will make his first test start since 2022. His addition is expected to strengthen the All Blacks’ scrum, which was consistently pushed back by South African front row pressure in the first test. Vaa’i’s shift into the starting lock spot created a vacancy at blindside flank, which will be filled by Simon Parker. Two new players, prop Xavier Numia and lock Patrick Tuipulotu, have been added to the matchday reserve squad to round out the All Blacks’ adjustments.
South Africa has already announced its own adjusted starting lineup, with four changes headlined by the return of captain Siya Kolisi to the run-on side following a hamstring injury that kept him sidelined for the first test.
In a last-minute officiating adjustment, referees Angus Gardner and Nika Amashukeli have swapped assignments for the remaining tests in the series. Amashukeli was originally scheduled to referee Saturday’s second test, but has not yet recovered from an illness. Gardner, who was originally set to lead officiating for the third test in Johannesburg, will now take over Saturday’s match, while Amashukeli will step into Gardner’s original role for the third Johannesburg test. Gardner most recently oversaw the All Blacks’ narrow 41-35 win over the Lions in a midweek match on Tuesday, giving him recent on-field experience with the New Zealand side ahead of this weekend’s test.
-
Harlequins snap up Zimbabwe winger Sigauke
English rugby union side Harlequins has announced the high-profile signing of 22-year-old Zimbabwean international winger Edward Sigauke, in a move that bolsters the club’s attacking options ahead of the new domestic season.
Since making his senior international debut in 2024, Sigauke has quickly emerged as one of African rugby’s most exciting young talents, turning out 12 times for Zimbabwe and crossing for eight tries at the international level. Most recently, he featured prominently for his nation at the 2024 Nations Cup, starting all three of the side’s group stage matches on the left wing, a performance that further cemented his reputation as a dynamic wide threat.
Jason Gilmore, head coach of Harlequins, expressed the club’s long-running interest in the young winger, confirming that the recruitment team had tracked Sigauke’s progress for a considerable period before finalizing the deal. “Eddie is a player we’ve been tracking and we’re really pleased to get his signing over the line,” Gilmore said. He highlighted the winger’s key on-pitch attributes, adding: “He’s got tremendous speed and footwork that makes him a real handful for any defence, and we believe he’s got all the raw tools to become a weapon for us out wide.”
Gilmore went on to emphasize that the club was most excited by Sigauke’s untapped potential, noting that the 22-year-old is still developing his game at the highest level. “What excites us most is his potential – he’s still developing as a player, and we can’t wait to see how he grows within our environment as he takes the next steps in his career,” the coach added.
Sigauke is set to link up with his new Harlequins teammates at the club’s training facilities starting 1 September, as the squad prepares for the opening of the 2024-25 campaign. Harlequins will kick off their new season with a Prem Rugby Cup home fixture against Leicester Tigers on 5 September, and the new signing will have the opportunity to integrate into the squad ahead of that opening match.
Speaking about his move to the English Premiership side, Sigauke framed the transfer as a pivotal new stage in his professional career. “This is a new chapter for me, and I want to make the most of it – working hard every day, learning from the players and coaches around me,” he said.
-
Champions League draw to be held at gathering of European soccer elite amid UEFA’s crisis with FIFA
Monaco is set to host one of European soccer’s most anticipated annual events Thursday: the group stage draw for the UEFA Champions League, the continent’s premier club soccer competition. But beyond the glamour of assembling the season’s matchups, off-field governance tensions are taking center stage at the gathering of top European soccer decision-makers.
Two hours before the draw ceremony kicks off at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), 55 UEFA member federations will hold their first face-to-face meeting since a month-long global soccer governance crisis erupted. The conflict was triggered by FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s unsuccessful push to sell minority stakes in World Cup commercial profits to private investors. Chaired by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, the gathering comes as UEFA has already publicly declared it has no confidence in Infantino’s leadership, who is standing for re-election as FIFA president in March. Infantino is not expected to attend the Monaco event, a role he once hosted regularly during his tenure as UEFA general secretary before his 2016 election to the top FIFA post.
Speculation over potential successors to Infantino has increasingly centered on Nasser al-Khelaïfi, president of defending Champions League title holder Paris Saint-Germain, who will be in attendance at the draw. Al-Khelaïfi has not yet publicly confirmed whether he intends to run for the FIFA presidency.
This year’s Champions League iteration brings several notable firsts to the competition alongside the off-field political friction. Four clubs will make their debut in the main 36-team league phase: Italy’s Como, coached by former Spanish international star Cesc Fàbregas; Austrian side LASK; Norwegian club Viking; and Azerbaijani champion Sabah, which was only founded in 2017. Sabah’s head coach Valdas Dambrauskas has already drawn media attention for his unique origin story: as a young aspiring coach in his native Lithuania, he funded a study trip to England to learn coaching tactics with prize money he won competing on the television quiz show *Who Wants to be a Millionaire*. Another historic milestone for this season sees Yaya Touré, the former Manchester City and Barcelona midfield star, become the first African coach to lead a team into the Champions League main phase after guiding Slovakian champion Slovan Bratislava through qualifying this week.
Off the pitch, the Monaco agenda also includes meetings for the influential European Football Clubs association, UEFA’s club competition oversight committee, and a special caucus of UEFA member federations. Delegates are set to formally formalize the withdrawal of their earlier threat to boycott FIFA competitions, a threat issued in response to Infantino’s secretive plan to sell stakes in a new FIFA commercial subsidiary to a group of investors led by Joshua Kushner.
For the draw itself, UEFA uses a specialized seeding and pairing system to set up the new expanded league phase. Seeding is determined by each club’s competitive performance in UEFA competitions over the past five seasons, with 36 teams divided across four seeding pots. Each team will be drawn to play eight total matches — four at home and four away — with two opponents drawn from each pot, and no club will face a team from its own national federation. The first round of matches kicks off September 8-10, with the first six matchdays wrapping up by December. The league phase resumes in January, with the final round of matches scheduled for January 27.
Under the new competition format, the top eight teams in the final league phase standings automatically advance to the round of 16 in March. Teams finishing between 9th and 24th place will compete in knockout playoffs in February to claim the remaining eight spots in the round of 16, while clubs finishing 25th to 36th are eliminated from the competition. The 36 qualified teams will split a total prize pool of roughly 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion), one of the largest prize pools in global club soccer.
The 36-team field is headlined by defending champion PSG, alongside perennial contenders including 15-time European champion Real Madrid, German giant Bayern Munich, Spanish side Barcelona, and last season’s runner-up Arsenal. The full seeding breakdown for Thursday’s draw divides teams as follows:
Pot 1: Paris Saint-Germain (France), Bayern Munich (Germany), Real Madrid (Spain), Liverpool (England), Inter Milan (Italy), Manchester City (England), Arsenal (England), Barcelona (Spain), Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Roma (Italy), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Aston Villa (England), Porto (Portugal), Manchester United (England), Club Brugge (Belgium), Real Betis (Spain), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Pot 3: Feyenoord (Netherlands), Lille (France), Napoli (Italy), Leipzig (Germany), Villarreal (Spain), Fenerbahce (Turkey), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Galatasaray (Turkey)
Pot 4: Slavia Prague (Czech Republic), Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia), Stuttgart (Germany), AEK Athens (Greece), LASK (Austria), Como (Italy), Lens (France), Viking (Norway), Sabah (Azerbaijan) -
Fan backlash as gay World Cup star joins Saudi club
Veteran Spanish women’s football forward Esther Gonzalez, a 2023 World Cup winner and recent Euro 2025 runner-up with Spain, finds herself at the center of widespread controversy after confirming a high-profile move to Saudi Women’s Premier League club Al Qadsiah. The 33-year-old’s transfer came just weeks after she agreed to a mutual termination of her contract with defending National Women’s Soccer League champions Gotham FC, a move the club initially framed as a temporary break from professional football to address personal matters back in her home country of Spain.
When Gonzalez first announced her departure from the New York-based side, she emphasized that her choice was driven exclusively by strictly personal considerations, adding that Gotham FC would forever occupy a special place in her heart. Her contract with the NWSL club was not set to expire until 2027, making the sudden mutual termination all the more surprising. The forward had built an impressive legacy during her three seasons in the United States, claiming two NWSL championship titles, an NWSL Challenge Cup, and a Concacaf W Champions Cup trophy after moving to the league from Spanish giants Real Madrid.
But the veil of secrecy around her exit was lifted on Sunday, when Al Qadsiah officially announced the signing of the Spanish striker, immediately igniting fierce backlash from multiple groups. Gotham FC supporters have expressed deep disappointment over the misleading nature of the exit narrative, pointing out that the club missed out on collecting a transfer fee for the player due to the mutual termination agreement. Fans across social media have also questioned the forward’s true motivations for the sudden career shift.
Criticism has been particularly sharp from members of the global LGBTQ+ community, due to Saudi Arabia’s strict laws that criminalize same-sex relationships and sexual activity. Spanish news outlet El Mundo has reported that since finalizing the deal with Al Qadsiah, Gonzalez has removed all social media posts and photographs showing her with her wife and their first child, who was born in January this year. That reporting has only intensified calls for accountability and amplified public criticism of the transfer.
Gonzalez is far from the first high-profile footballer to face widespread condemnation for choosing to continue their career in Saudi Arabia. In 2023, England men’s midfielder Jordan Henderson drew fierce backlash after his move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq. Henderson, who had long positioned himself as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community – wearing rainbow laces during Premier League matches, sporting the pro-diversity One Love armband at international tournaments, and writing messages of solidarity for queer fans in matchday programs – received particular condemnation from openly gay English footballer Jake Daniels, who described the move as a “slap in the face” after he had received a public message of support from Henderson when he came out. Henderson ultimately left Al-Ettifaq after just six months at the club.
Al Qadsiah, the club that Gonzalez has now joined, finished fourth in the Saudi Women’s Premier League 2025-26 season. BBC Sport has reached out to Gotham FC to request an official statement on the recent developments, but no comment has been released as of yet.
-
Dinusha’s century helps Sri Lanka snatch a draw in second test but India wins series 1-0
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – In a dramatic final-day showdown at the second Test between India and Sri Lanka, a heroic unbeaten century from Sonal Dinusha and a gritty rearguard stand with Sri Lanka’s lower-order tailenders secured an unlikely draw for the hosts on Thursday. Despite the match ending in a stalemate, India walked away with a 1-0 victory in the two-match Test series. Dinusha’s performance made history: his 133 not out in the second innings, following a 103-run knock in the first, marked only the third time any player has hit twin centuries in a Test after being forced to follow on, joining elite company of India’s Vijay Hazare and Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower. The match had been shaping up heavily in India’s favor from the opening day. After winning the toss, India elected to bat first and posted an imposing total of 503 for nine wickets before declaring their innings. Standout batting performances from Devdutt Padikkal, who notched 117 runs for his second century of the series, and wicket-keeper Druv Jurel, who contributed a solid 115, anchored India’s big first-innings total. Indian bowlers capitalized on the momentum, bundling Sri Lanka out for just 290 runs in their first turn at the crease, giving India a commanding 213-run lead that allowed them to enforce the follow-on. By the close of play on Day 4, Sri Lanka had batted back to a narrow 16-run lead with six wickets down, reaching 229-6 before early rain cut the day’s play short. Half-centuries from Pasindu Sooriyabandara and Kamindu Mendis gave Sri Lanka a foothold heading into the final day, but the hosts still faced an uphill battle to save the match, resuming Thursday with just four wickets in hand and needing to bat through the remaining overs to force a draw. Dinusha stepped up to deliver one of the great rearguard Test innings, spending a full seven hours at the crease facing 264 deliveries, striking two sixes and eight boundaries on his way to an unbeaten 133. He got crucial support from his tailend partners: No. 8 batter Keshara Nuwantha held firm for 46 runs off 150 balls, while No. 10 Lahiru Kumara survived 90 deliveries to score 12 runs, grinding down the Indian bowling attack and eating through valuable overs. By the time stumps were called, Sri Lanka had declared their second innings at 429 for nine wickets, setting a nominal lead of 216 runs with just 17 overs left in the day, securing the draw. For India, left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Manav Suthar shared the bulk of the bowling wickets, picking up three wickets apiece for totals of 94 and 121 runs respectively. At the end of the match, Dinusha was honored with the player of the match award for his historic batting performance. Padikkal, who scored 167 runs in the first Test at Galle and 117 in this second match in Colombo, was named player of the series for his consistent contributions with the bat throughout the tour.
-
Tolu Koula expected to be fit for the World Cup as Manly fights for a miracle finals berth
Tonga’s preparations for the upcoming 2026 Rugby League World Cup have been handed a major encouraging update, with star speed and center Tolu Koula on track to be fully fit for the nation’s opening tournament match, according to his Manly Sea Eagles club coach Kieran Foran.
Koula suffered a high-grade two syndesmosis ankle injury during last week’s victory over the Newcastle Knights, when he was taken out of the game by a high-impact hip-drop tackle from Knights winger Dom Young. The injury has ruled the 8-cap Tongan international out for the remainder of the 2026 National Rugby League (NRL) regular season, even in the extremely unlikely scenario that Manly claw their way into the finals and advance all the way to the grand decider. NRL physiotherapy experts have noted that the mechanism of the tackle — where the tackler’s full weight lands on the outside of a trapped lower leg, forcing the ankle outward and knee inward — creates elevated risk for both syndesmosis and medial collateral ligament (MCL) injuries.
In a positive twist for both Koula and Tonga’s World Cup campaign, Foran confirmed that the injury will not require surgical intervention. The young back is expected to complete a four-week rehabilitation program to restore full strength and flexibility to his injured ankle, putting him on track to be match-ready for Tonga’s first World Cup fixture against England on October 17.
“It’s looking like he’ll be out for a month. It’s disappointing, but there’s not much you can do about it,” Foran told reporters. “He’s a really positive young guy. He’s naturally disappointed that the injury has happened, but he’s got to get on with his rehab and get his ankle back to full strength and full flexibility. They (the medical team) are pretty comfortable and confident that they’ll be able to rehab it without surgery, so that’s a bonus for him. He’s looking to get himself right for that campaign.”
Foran also touched on his club’s current position in the NRL ladder, with Manly holding an extremely slim chance of qualifying for the finals after snapping a six-game losing streak with the win over Newcastle. After opening the season with three consecutive losses that led to the early departure of former head coach Anthony Seibold, Foran said the club has focused on incremental growth and sticking to its process to close out the season.
Realistically, Manly needs to win its remaining two matches against the Dragons and Warriors, and rely on upset losses from three of the top-eight contenders South Sydney Rabbitohs, North Queensland Cowboys and Canterbury Bulldogs to secure a finals spot. Foran said the squad is keeping its focus on its own performance rather than speculating on external results.
“We’re trying not to put our focus on external results,” he said. “We’ve got to focus on what we need to get right against the Dragons on Friday evening. If we get that part right then we’ve done our role there. Then it’s about hoping that results fall our way. We don’t want to put our energy into that because then we’ll miss the mark on what we need to do in our backyard. We’re really proud of the growth in the footy that we’ve played. We found ourselves in a really challenging patch for a bit that we would have loved to have been able to come away with a few more wins and put ourselves right up there. I think we’ve done the best job possible, and that’s all you can do.”
-
‘Blown out of proportion’: Bulldogs Covid nightmare over as emerging superstar signs huge extension with club
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs head into a season-defining NRL clash against the Penrith Panthers on Friday with two much-needed pieces of positive news, after navigating a disruptive COVID-19 outbreak within the squad that sidelined eight players earlier this week. Head coach Cameron Ciraldo has confirmed that all eight affected players have been cleared to take the field, keeping his side’s fragile 2024 finals hopes alive ahead of the virtual elimination final.
The cluster was first identified on Monday, when eight players and two support staff were isolated from the main training group as a precaution. The disruption even forced retired former Bulldogs outside back Steve Turner to step in to fill the fullback position for a light training session, with Ciraldo also forced to miss the session amid precautionary protocols. But speaking this week, Ciraldo downplayed the severity of the outbreak, noting the entire squad was cleared for Thursday’s captain’s run at Belmore Sports Ground, including club captain Stephen Crichton, who was among the players to contract the virus.
“It was probably a little bit blown out of proportion,” Ciraldo told reporters. “A couple of weeks ago we had influenza A go through the camp that hit a number of our guys pretty hard, so we were extra cautious when a few boys started getting runny noses this time around. It was just a precautionary move at the start of the week to separate the group after our light early-week session, and we kept them apart until after our scheduled day off. Everyone was back in full training yesterday, preparations went really well, and we’re all excited for the opportunity tomorrow.”
Along with the clear medical bill of health for his squad, Ciraldo received a second major boost on Wednesday, with young edge forward Jacob Preston signing a four-year contract extension to remain at Belmore. The deal ends months of speculation that the rising star back-rower would enter the free agent market on November 1, with two expansion franchises, the proposed Brisbane Bears and Gold Coast Chiefs, linked with aggressive approaches to poach the 20-something talent.
Club powerbroker Phil Gould led the re-signing negotiations, and Ciraldo said the outcome is a massive vote of confidence in the culture the Bulldogs are building. “It’s been awesome watching Jacob’s journey over the last four years – he’s grown so much both as a player and as a person, and we’re really excited to have him around for a lot longer,” Ciraldo said. “Jacob was always very clear: he loves this club, he loves the environment we’ve built here, and he believes he can play his best footy right here. I was always confident he wanted to stay, and we wanted to keep him, so I’m just happy it’s all done now. I don’t get involved in the contract details – that’s between Gus, Jacob and his management – but this is a great result for the whole club.”
All focus now turns to Friday night’s clash at Penrith, a match the Bulldogs must win to keep their post-season aspirations alive. Currently sitting two points behind the eighth-placed North Queensland Cowboys, who hold the last finals spot, Canterbury knows only a win will keep their 2024 campaign alive. In a promising sign for the club, the Bulldogs already upset the Panthers in round 6, handing the reigning premiers their first loss of the 2024 season.
Instead of looking at the big-picture pressure of the match, Ciraldo said his squad is focused only on the 80 minutes of play ahead. “We’re not talking about what’s on the line in the grand scheme of things,” he said. “We’ve got a very short-term focus: we just want to stay present throughout every minute of the game. If we can do that and play our style of footy, we’ll give ourselves a good shot. There’s no point worrying about anything that happens outside those 80 minutes.”
-
Ruthless Bayern target treble as rivals reboot on Bundesliga return
As Germany’s top-flight football league Bundesliga kicks off its new campaign this Friday, defending double champions Bayern Munich have entered the season with high ambitions of claiming an unprecedented treble, while their closest competitors have executed major offseason overhauls in a bid to close the growing gap on the Bavarian giants.
Bayern Munich will kick off their title defense at home against Stuttgart, the 2025-26 German Cup runners-up, fresh off a historic domestic campaign that saw the club claim both the Bundesliga and German Cup titles, secure the fourth-highest points total in league history, and set a new goal-scoring record of 122 goals across 34 regular-season matches. Led by star striker Harry Kane, who lined up alongside lethal wingers Michael Olise and Luis Diaz, Bayern dropped just one domestic fixture all last season, with Kane netting a hat-trick to seal the Cup final win over Friday’s opening opponent. The only significant setback of Bayern’s 2025-26 campaign came in European competition, where they bowed out of the Champions League semi-finals in a tight 6-5 aggregate defeat to eventual tournament winners Paris Saint-Germain.
This offseason, Bayern has reinforced its title-chasing squad by adding Moroccan World Cup standout Ismael Saibari and young German defender Nathaniel Brown, building on a already dominant core. The club’s hunger for silverware remains unquenched, as demonstrated by their recent 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup. Speaking to reporters after the Super Cup win, Kane made clear the team’s intentions for the new season, framing the early win as a warning to the rest of the league. “We fell just short in the Champions League, but our momentum is to keep pushing, pushing each other, pushing this team to see how far we can go,” the England captain said. “Our aim is to continue to dominate in Germany, and I think winning here is a great statement.”
Kane, who joined Bayern from Tottenham Hotspur in 2023 after years without major silverware in England, has already claimed three domestic trophies and two Super Cup titles with the Bavarian side, following a 61-goal haul across all competitions last season. The 33-year-old also has extra motivation for a strong start to the new campaign: the Ballon d’Or award will be presented in October in his home city of London, and Bayern’s leadership has publicly thrown their full weight behind Kane’s candidacy. “It can only be Harry Kane. We can just give it to Harry already,” Bayern board member Rouven Kasper told AFP. Sporting director Christoph Freund echoed that sentiment, noting “[Kane] deserves to win the Ballon d’Or — he had an outstanding season.”
Off the pitch, Bayern has also been navigating a health concern for star playmaker Jamal Musiala. The 23-year-old German international, who revealed this summer he is living with a neurological disorder that caused two on-pitch collapses during pre-season, is expected to be gradually eased back into the starting lineup, with Saibari’s arrival providing the squad with enough depth to cover for his slow return. Bayern’s technical staff has expressed confidence that Musiala will return to his best form in due time.
While Bayern enters the season as the overwhelming favorite, their Bundesliga rivals have all undergone major changes in the offseason in an attempt to mount a credible title challenge. Longtime Bayern challenger Borussia Dortmund, after years of prioritizing established senior players, have returned to their historic model of investing in high-potential young talent, sinking a reported 110 million euros into new signings this summer. That total matches Bayern’s own offseason spending on Saibari and Brown, with Dortmund adding 19-year-old winger Konstantinos Karetsas, teenager defender Joane Gadou, 23-year-old midfielder Giannis Konstantelias, and experienced midfielder Joey Veerman to their ranks.
For Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac, who won the Bundesliga title with Bayern in 2018-19, the gap between his current side and the defending champions remains sizable, even after the summer investment. “A lot must happen to close the gap,” Kovac told AFP. “We must play over our capacities, I would say. And then Bayern Munich play under their capacity. But you can be sure we will try everything.”
Elsewhere across the league, Stuttgart, who have qualified for the Champions League in two of the three full seasons under manager Sebastian Hoeness, has achieved a rare offseason stability: for the first time since Hoeness took charge in 2023, the club has managed to retain all its top talents despite interest from bigger European clubs, rather than selling key stars. 2023-24 Bundesliga winners Bayer Leverkusen have turned to Spanish manager Carles Martinez Novell to continue the club’s rebuild that began when former coach Xabi Alonso departed in 2025. RB Leipzig, who finished third last season to qualify for the Champions League, has appointed Argentine manager Martin Demichelis to replace outgoing coach Ole Werner, and has seen major squad turnover after selling star midfielder Yan Diomande to Real Madrid for 120 million euros. Despite bringing back fan favorite Christopher Nkunku on a season-long loan from AC Milan, the squad still lacks top-level experience in key positions heading into the opener.
As the first kickoff of the new Bundesliga season approaches, all eyes will be on whether Bayern can turn their domestic dominance into a historic treble, or if the league’s revamped challengers can finally dethrone the Bavarian giants.
-
UEFA set to withdraw FIFA boycott threat ahead of Champions League draw
As European football’s elite clubs gather in Monaco for Thursday’s 2025-26 UEFA Champions League draw, the long-simmering dispute between UEFA and FIFA over a controversial private investment plan for World Cup commercial operations is set to de-escalate, multiple sources confirmed to AFP.
The conflict erupted in late July, when news broke that FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s administration had proposed launching a commercial subsidiary under the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) initiative, which would allow private investors to purchase equity stakes in the entity that operates FIFA’s flagship events, including the men’s and women’s World Cup and the Club World Cup.
The proposal triggered immediate and fierce backlash from UEFA, which controls the lion’s share of global football’s multi-billion-dollar economy through its top club competitions and member association revenues. Led by president Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA slammed the plan in unvarnished terms, calling it a “shady, opaque backroom deal” that threatened the fundamental structure of the global game. The governing body issued a blunt ultimatum: no UEFA national or club teams would take part in any FIFA competition as long as the proposal remained on the table. That hardline stance was widely credited with forcing FIFA to shelve the controversial plan almost immediately.
Now, ahead of Thursday’s draw, sources close to UEFA’s executive committee and member association talks in Monaco told AFP the threatened boycott will “likely” be withdrawn. UEFA had laid out two non-negotiable conditions for backing down from the threat: a full scrapping of the original investment proposal, and a permanent guarantee that no similar attempts to restructure FIFA’s top event commercial operations would be advanced in the future. One senior source confirmed Wednesday that UEFA has now received the required assurances, satisfying both conditions.
The decision to drop the boycott threat also removes a major point of internal friction for UEFA, which has pushed for Infantino to step down over the controversy. A split among member associations over a boycott would have undermined the bloc’s unified front calling for the FIFA president’s departure, a risk that is now eliminated. The timing also removes immediate uncertainty for upcoming FIFA events: the Under-20 Women’s World Cup is set to kick off in Poland next month, and European qualifying for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil is already underway.
With the governing body dispute moving toward resolution, focus has fully shifted to the draw itself, which will set the stage for the new season of Europe’s most prestigious club competition. Defending champion Paris Saint-Germain enters the draw chasing an unprecedented three-peat in the modern era; the French side retained their title last season after beating Arsenal on penalties in the Budapest final, and only Real Madrid, who won three consecutive Champions League crowns between 2016 and 2018, have achieved the three-peat feat in the last 50 years. PSG manager Luis Enrique reiterated the club’s ambitions earlier this month, saying “We have won the last two, which means we can win a third. It will be very hard, but that is our ambition.”
This season marks only the third iteration of the Champions League’s revamped format, which expanded the competition to 36 teams competing in a single unified league phase, with each side facing eight different opponents before the knockout round. The new format has amplified the growing polarization of European club football, with the wealthiest clubs from the continent’s top four leagues set to dominate participation and capture the bulk of competition prize money. Half of all 36 competing clubs hail from the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga. The English Premier League leads all leagues with five entrants: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Aston Villa. La Liga also has five representatives, including Real Betis, who return to the Champions League group stage proper for the first time in 20 years.
The draw will also feature several historic debuts for underdog clubs who defied expectations to reach the league phase. In Italy, Como, coached by former Arsenal, Barcelona, and Spain midfield star Cesc Fàbregas, will make their first ever Champions League appearance after upending more established Italian sides to qualify. Azerbaijan’s Sabah will also make their debut, having fought through four qualifying rounds starting from the very first preliminary round to earn their spot. Austria’s LASK completes the list of first-time qualifiers, pulling off a stunning late comeback to beat Celtic in the play-off round to secure their place in the 36-team league.
The first matchday of the league phase is scheduled for September 8 to 10, with the league phase wrapping up in late January 2026. This season’s Champions League final will be hosted at Atlético Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium on June 6, 2026.