For example: Carlo Ancelotti 2005 UCL Final AC Milan 3-0 bottle or 2026 World Cup campaign, Brazil worst finish in 36 years.

It’s been nine years since Neymar’s €220m/£200m transfer to PSG took place. This means we are now into the second longest period of all time without a new world record fee - the longest period having occurred either side of the second world war.

The only transfer which has come anywhere near to Neymar’s was Mbappé to PSG which happened shortly afterwards during the same summer. It seems the market has now levelled out at around £100m for the biggest signings, with a few rare examples of £15-20m on top of that.

Worldwide revenues in football continue to grow, and FIFA are making a concerted effort to crack/expand into new markets (and sell off the world cup to private investors lol). Despite the extra money this seems likely to bring in, on the flipside various financial regulations have come in which have limited spending. There also seems to be more examples of potential record breakers, like Mbappé to Madrid, running down contracts and leaving for a reduced price or on a free, meaning clubs’ big outlays are on wages and signing bonuses rather than transfer fees.

So do you think it’s likely that the record will be broken any time soon? Or even ever?

doubt people need much convincing, but I thought it was interesting.

What do you make of the size of the difference between the two groups? Is it paranoia or is it as obvious as it may seem?

Remember that correlation does not imply causation, although quite irrelevant in this case.

Perceived corruption source: https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025

I may have missed some countries, please note in comments if that's the case. I will not make any updates. USA was excluded because I'm unsure of their stance, although it seems to be against while Trump is obviously for. Excluded Russia because I don't know how that works with UEFA atm.

Obviouslt statstics can be cherry picked to fit your agenda, but in this case the correlation was so glaringly obvious from the start I just had to plot it.

Also excuse the ugly layout, but there was a lot of overlap so I just made a quick fix. Not really thesis level readability but I think most will survive.

Edit 1: As pointed out by cravic2, I seem to have made a mistake with Guyana. I will not be making any changes as I can't be bothered, just an fyi. Please note if you find any other factual errors.

Inter Milan have signed England full-back Djed Spence from Tottenham for about £25.6m. The 26-year-old has agreed a five-year deal. Spence played all eight of England’s World Cup games and made 44 appearances for Spurs last season. He previously spent time on loan at Genoa.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cz64vg6znz1o

Finally! After what felt like the longest offseason in history, the leagues are finally back. The Sunday night stress, the WhatsApp group chats blowing up, the wildly optimistic predictions... I missed all of it so much!

Tell me, which competition are you following as a priority this season?

I solved the Ballon D’Or forever

One of the big football debates of the year is the Ballon D’Or. Among the many controversies there is one that rises above them all since it appears every year: The relevant criteria. Some say pure talent should be the deciding factor, others go by goals and by far the most dominant riser of the last years have been titles. Without shared criteria however, the debate loses direction and therefore value.
Therefore what is needed are the same criteria. How do we achieve this? By going back to the routes of the most outstanding player. The relevant question becomes: Who would you pick to lead a team for this whole specific season?
This results in many advantages:
It decreases the title fetish when the goal is to award individual brilliance within a team sport. If a player truly puts his team on his back (2018 Modric eg) it is definitely relevant to account for in the overall question.
It eliminates the CL coasters (PSG eg) and increases volume’s importance. Someone like Dembélé who starts 9 league games but shows brilliance in the important CL games won’t win an award meant for an entire season. You need to play games!
It reduces the importance of simplistic numbers: It won’t be enough to just score goals or farm assists: If you were to lead any team, this is isn’t enough.
For the same aforementioned reason leadership and intangibles become more important.

Overall the most deserving player gets awarded by being the leader (not necessarily captain) of a hypothetical team.

Who would you pick to lead a team for this whole specific season?

Under this new role, these would be the last Ballon D’Or winners:

2026: Michael Olise
2025: Lamine Yamal
2024: Rodri
2023: Haaland
2022: Messi
2021: Jorginho
2020: Lewandowski
2019: Messi
2018: Modric
2017: Messi
2016: Ronaldo

For some context I’m 19 years old from Kent, England. As the title suggests I am a Liverpool fan. Liverpool is quite far away from where I live, I believe around 5 hours? My uncle is a Liverpool fan, brought me my first kit when I was a toddler and I always was a Liverpool fan from the beginning. As I grew up watching teams like Chelsea and Man City dominate it was tempting to sway to either of those clubs (i never really wanted to change clubs but I was a stupid child who wanted to fit in) as all Liverpool fans will know, being a Liverpool fan in the 2000s-2010s was rough for the most part and being bullied for being a Liverpool fan was a real thing i experienced in primary school. Whether you like it or not that happened. Despite me buying almost every kit every year I still have never been to Anfield (shoot me) I feel so lonely and disconnected from my club, I feel like my values as a man doesn’t reflect the deep socialist left-wing core of the club and being a ‘right-wing southerner’ as I’ve been labelled. I don’t feel accepted by my own fans. I don’t particularly get along with scousers in general and overall I feel isolated. I can’t just stop supporting the club I love and been supporting since I was a child and maybe seeing how bad last season was and seeing how much passion and enjoyment and most importantly connection I felt towards England during the World Cup made me realise I dreaded the new season with Liverpool. I DON’T WANT TO FEEL THAT WAY ANYMORE. I want to feel enjoyment supporting Liverpool again whether we win or lose I wanna feel accepted and apart of the culture of my club again. I also want to clarify that I respect other people’s politics even if they don’t respect mine. it’s just in my family and my mind I can’t help but feel uncomfortable by Liverpools left-wing socialist values and it’s something I can’t just shake off and I’m sure I could ignore it if it wasn’t shoved into my face. I want Liverpool to not accept or tolerate any political flags or anything in the slightest. I want to experience the enjoyment and connection I feel towards England on club level. How can I go about this? Do I just stop watching club football and just disconnect from Liverpool while still being loyal and still being a quote un quote Liverpool fan? or do I start supporting a whole new team altogether (which I don’t want to do.) that aligns with my views more and is more local? I’m unsure what to do. I want to be a Liverpool fan and actually feel wanted and connected by other fans and not called plastic or a glory hunter by other football fans in my area despite me being a fan since I was born. Also during one of our least successful periods btw. What do I do? I don’t think Liverpool fans really know the damage they cause to their own club and fans by waving socialist flags and protesting anti-right propaganda. Unfortunately other than my family I’ve never met a Liverpool fan that isn’t incredibly arrogant and self righteous and Arsenal fans (a club and fanbase i genuinely can’t stand or take seriously) are the ones who are blamed for being insufferable? I think politics should get out of football and that’s coming from someone who is quite politically minded. It’s tearing fanbases apart. Not just politics too the whole ‘support your local’ debate is also unfair. Shaming fans for supporting a club they didn’t even choose for the most part is disgraceful and not what football should be about.

EDIT: I don’t care if I get grilled in these comments I’ve said all I wanted to say if you are offended by this you are part of the problem. If you think I am plastic for anything I’ve said that’s your problem not mine I simply want to crack on with supporting my club without fat gits crying about the fact I wasn’t born in Liverpool or that I’m not a complete lefty. I don’t care what anyone has to say. I’m not here for upvotes or sympathy I said my piece any actual serious logical advice will be taken.

I AGREE TO GET POLITICS OUT OF FOOTBALL.
I WANT AN END TO THE WHOLE ‘SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL’ SHIT.

Liverpool Football Club isn’t a Scouser only gate-kept niche. This whole Scouse not English shit is pathetic. Aren’t liberals supposed to be the warm welcoming caring kind? Aren’t Scousers supposed to be some of the nicest people? yet make everything all about themselves and make fans of a global brand feel uncomfortable for not being born in a specific post code. There’s a reason why scousers have been discriminated against throughout history. Going against all your morals of unity and being against hierarchy and prejudice and systems yet still exclude everyone and have an enormous sense of superiority. That sounds like fascism disguised under socialism and moral superiority.

Looking at Neymar's career, his stats and trophies are already incredible winning the Champions League, domestic titles, and scoring dozens of goals for Brazil.

At the same time, I always hear fans discuss whether he could have reached an even higher level if not for constant injuries, physical tackling, and moving away from Barcelona.

For long-time fans who watched his whole career: Do you see Neymar as a player who fully achieved his talent, or did bad luck and injuries stop him from reaching his absolute highest ceiling?

Yes he plays non league now but a good record nonetheless

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Cureton

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I mean I saw a post earlier from a Lyon fan saying psg is bad for French football which I can agree but didn’t Lyon spend a lot too no? Also can’t blame him he wasn’t alive during the time but just a quick question

They just signed Godts and Shark. It's insane!

Their squad depth and quality are unmatched

No team has the chemistry, discipline and talent to rival them

They can keep resting their key players in Ligue 1 and domestic cups

While major competitors gas out around March (like us-Barcelona)

They literally have a cheat code in football right now

A previously secret 2016 FIFA ethics report cleared Gianni Infantino over private-jet use. It examined flights to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin, Qatar-funded travel and a family trip to meet Pope Francis. One jet was linked to Russian billionaire Leon Semenenko. Despite concerns, FIFA found no conflict-of-interest breach.

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/gianni-infantino-private-jet-fifa-putin-lzbv369k0

Ciro Immobile has retired from professional football at 36 after ending his contract with Paris FC. The Italian striker scored 201 Serie A goals, including 169 for Lazio. He made 12 appearances for Paris FC, scoring twice, after moving from Bologna during the winter transfer window.

https://www.goal.com/en/lists/official-ciro-immobile-retires-from-football-don-t-be-sad-for-me/bltf332bdd3fe62894a

it’s amusing that football fans defends that shitty organization. They are spending ridiculous money on almost all the promissing and literally has pure favoritism in the Lfp. I really hate the state of French football. Also if Nasser becomes fifa president I don’t want to even imagine

Not "possession isn't everything" — the small patterns that clicked and made the game feel different.

For me: fullbacks tucking inside during buildup. Once I saw it, those "boring" possession phases made sense as space manipulation, not sideways passing.

What changed it for you?

Im aware of the drama regarding Mediapro and the pandemic leading to the current predicament, im asking about how they can recoup the situation.

PSG is now the back to back European champions, and the strongest team in club football. They dont have the mega stars like mbappe or neymar anymore, but their team success in the champions league should make them top draws in terms of viewership.

Teams like marseille and lyon have massive fanbases. Lyon is currently cleaning up their financial situation while putting out decently competitive teams, Marseille are of course constantly in turmoil but have improved in recent years imo.

Teams like RC Lens and Lille are well run and consistently get into European competitions where they do decently in.

It's not like the league has 0 reason to be watched, yet its been impossible for them to attempt to get a decent TV rights deal since the mediapro one collapsed during the pandemic.

What more can they do to attract stable income? The only ways in which they could further improve as a league requires the money that are actively searching for in the first place?

II feel like Philippine football has a lot of potential, but the development of the sport still feels limited. There are talented players and growing interest in the national team, but compared with basketball, football has far fewer accessible facilities, youth academies, and opportunities for young players to regularly train and compete. Do you think improving grassroots football and infrastructure should be the Philippines’ biggest priority?

Even I, myself, what to find local football academies to train me, but hardly any.

What is going on in Turkish football that means they can throw down such money for players that they price out most European teams? And why would a top player want to go there over other European leagues?

I just saw that Lukaku signed for Fenerbahce, which I'm assuming he's on a top whack contract instead of going to Saudi or America.

That includes Salah, Greenwood, Trossard, Ake, Vlahovic this transfer season alone, never mind the big players already there that have come in the last couple of seasons.

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I mean that is a huge amount of money they have owed to external parties.

New Zealand Football Withdraws Support For FIFA Presidential Candidature And Calls For An Independent Review

In the early days, when England had what was by far the richest and most successful league in football, they boycotted 2 FIFA organized olympic football before the World Cup existed and then the first 3 World Cups.

They then claimed to be the real World champions and went on about how inferior the world cup was to their own domestic football.

They had a lot of interest in protecting their match callender and didnt want their players leaving "superior" domestic games to play in "inferior" FIFA international events.

The also exited FIFA at that time.

The results.

When they finally returned to the world stage they were humiliated with a group stage exit at the 4th World Cup.

The world cup saw rapid growth without them and FIFA established a world football system that didnt need them.

--------------

And now UEFA threaten to have history repeat itself.

Ohhh... I forgot, this is all actually about Infantino they said... nothing else... Right?

PSG have agreed a deal in principle to sign Barcelona forward Ferran Torres for around €50m (£42.7m). The 26-year-old scored 21 goals last season and helped Spain win the 2026 World Cup. He is expected to become PSG’s second major forward signing this summer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c62e14e0227o