“On the latest Athletic FC podcast, former Premier League referee Graham Scott joined Emma Paton, Dan Kilpatrick and Tim Spiers to answer your questions about the life of an elite match official. Which Premier League manager was the most difficult to handle on the touchline (clue in the photo above)? Which stadiums are most intimidating to a referee? What was the biggest mistake he ever made? What happened to his whistle when he retired? Below is a selection of some of his answers. To hear the full podcast, listen below or find it wherever you get your podcasts. …”
NYT/ATH (Video)
Nations League roundup: Portugal mauled by Denmark as Norway sink Wales
“Portugal were hammered 4-1 by Denmark on Saturday, an embarrassing Nations League defeat in their first match without Cristiano Ronaldofollowing his retirement from international football. Rasmus Højlund starred with a superb double as Denmark moved into second place in Group A4 and closed in on a spot in the quarter-finals with an exceptional display in Braga. … Wales suffered a 3-1 defeat to Norway in Oslo to dent their hopes of staying in the top tier of the Nations League. Antonio Nusa and Andreas Schjelderup struck in the space of nine second-half minutes as Norway turned the screw. Substitute David Brooks halved the deficit 11 minutes from time as Wales finished strongly. …”
Guardian
Nations League: Germany set up Netherlands clash after beating Serbia
“Germany cruised to a 3-1 win against Serbia in Belgrade on Friday, setting up a crucial encounter with the Netherlands in Berlin on Monday to decide who tops Group A2. In teeming rain in an almost empty stadium, Germany forced Serbia’s Srdan Babic into an early own goal with Florian Wirtz and debutant Brajan Gruda also scoring. …”
Guardian
YouTube: Portugal vs Denmark Highlights | UEFA Nations League, Norway vs Wales Highlights, Italy vs. France: 3-1, goals and highlights
Germany cruised to a 3-1 win against Serbia
“Tolu Arokodare was the hero as Nigeria boosted their hopes of reaching the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) with a 3-1 home win over tournament co-hosts Tanzania. With the East Africans already assured of a spot at the finals, the Super Eagles are battling for the one qualification spot available in Group L and have little margin for error after losing 3-0 in Guinea-Bissau in September. Alhassan Yusuf kept his composure to slot Nigeria into a second-minute lead in Uyo from Ademola Lookman’s pass, but the visitors equalised through Alphonce Msanga just after the half-hour mark. …”
The Isles of Scilly Football League, recognised and affiliated to the English FA, has only two competing teams 
“An MP is calling for legal safeguards to limit repetitive heading in football training, amid growing concerns about the risk of brain injury. 
Miroslav Klose’s FC Nuremberg side sit second in the 2. Bundesliga
“THERE are surprise early leaders in the Bundesliga in the form of Freiburg, who won 5-0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach, taking their tally for the season to 10 goals in three games. Freiburg’s Yannik Engelhardt and Igor Matanovic scored two apiece. After the game, Gladbach’s third defeat of the campaign, coach Eugen Polanski became the first Bundesliga coach to be sacked this season. Polanski was appointed a year ago and had a win rate of 29.73% in his 37 games with Gladbach. Borussia Dortmund also maintained their 100% record with a 3-0 win against Paderborn with goals from Serhou Guirassy, Maximilian Beier and Marcel Sabitzer. Bayern Munich made hard work of beating newly-promoted Elversberg, who fell to their first defeat since arriving in the top flight. Harry Kane and Lennart Karl scored Bayern’s goals. Augsburg kept pace with the leaders but were denied a 2-1 win by a last-minute goal from Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick. Frankfurt picked up their first win at Mainz with Can Uzun netting twice in a 3-1 win. …”
“Former European heavyweights, investment projects and teams from tiny towns will liven up the top tiers. Deportivo La Coruña Absent from La Liga since 2018, Dépor were once part of a Spanish “big four” with Barcelona, Valencia and Real Madrid. The Galicians were title-race disruptors over a sustained period, finishing in the top three on nine occasions between 1993 and 2004 and winning the title in 1999. Had they not come up against José Mourinho’s Porto in the 2004 Champions League semi-finals, they might have been European champions too. Eventually, the established order prevailed and Deportivo slid into mid-table, then fell away completely – dropping into the regional third tier in 2020. … Elversberg Like many recent Bundesliga promotion races, last season pitted sleeping giants against small-town overachievers. Schalke won the second-tier title, escaping a division where they have spent four of their last five campaigns. The runners-up, Elversberg, hail from a Saarland town whose population would fit inside the Veltins Arena four times over. …”
“Presented as a still image by the video referee, the case for the prosecution is obvious. United States forward Folarin Balogun is stepping down, with force, seemingly over the right ankle of Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic. The opponent’s foot is also in a contorted shape, sliding slightly to his right, providing a squeamish image where the first instinct of the viewer is to wince and turn away. It does not take a wild, imaginative leap to hypothesize that this challenge could lead to serious injury, such is the manner of the tackler’s landing and the point of contact. This perception is only enhanced by Muharemovic, clearly in initial pain, beating the turf he lies on. …”
“Switzerland secured their first win at the 2026 World Cup by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-1 through a late goal barrage largely from a pair of substitutes to ease fears that their profligacy against Qatar in the opener would cost them. Johan Manzambi and Rubén Vargas came off the bench together in the 71st minute and by the final whistle, they had scored the three goals to clinch a victory that put the Group B favorites on course for the knockout phase. 
“A 1-1 draw felt like a fair result as the Czech Republic and South Africa walked out of Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday. It was not a good version of World Cup football, though. Both teams struggled to attack with any level of cohesion. In a group that features South Korea and co-hosts Mexico, the European and African sides look the weakest of the four. 
“England are almost guaranteed to reach the World Cup knockout rounds after a thrilling and at times chaotic win over Croatia in Dallas sent them top of Group L. The first half of England’s campaign brought four goals, with Harry Kane scoring a retaken penalty and heading in from an out-swinging corner, only for Croatia to equalise each time. First, Martin Baturina fired past Jordan Pickford from the edge of the box, then Petar Musa, a striker for local MLS side FC Dallas, finished a brilliant team move to bring it level at the break. …”
The Bosnia-Herzegovina side warm up at the Estádio do Maracanã, 
“Incondicionales – Unconditional. Few countries have a knottier relationship with the World Cup than Mexico. The tournament will visit for an unprecedented third time this summer. Entire chapters of football history have been written on the turf of the Estadio Azteca, one of the sport’s holy sites. The Mexican national team, known to fans as El Tri, have missed only five World Cups. They have been ever-present since 1990, reliably contributing to the colour and fanfare of the greatest show on earth. That’s the good stuff. The consensus view, however, is that it is outweighed by the bad. …”
“ITALY is in a state of mourning after the Azzurri crashed out of the World Cup against Bosnia & Herzegovina, a nation that sits 53 places lower in the. FIFA rankings. The subject is so sensitive that the government, via Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, called for the removal of Gabriele Gravina, the head of Federcalcio, the Italian Football Federation. It was, after all, the third successive World Cup failure, with the Bosnia play-off added to similar exits at the hands of Sweden and North Macedonia. Gravina announced his resignation two days after Italy’s embarrassing elimination and most observers of Italian football expect coach Gennaro Gattuso will fall on his sword after just eight games in charge. …”
Bosnia and Herzegovina fans celebrate their World Cup qualification in Sarajevo on Tuesday night
The Ivica Osim mural in Sarajevo
“Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda, commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda … and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in 
Legia Warsaw fans show their support
Jagiellonia Bialystok’s players celebrate a goal against Strasbourg in the UEFA Conference League
Jagiellonia Bialystok fans at a Conference League game. Their club is one of three from Poland to have made the knockout phase this season.
“When UEFA changed the format of the Champions League, it was for nights like this. The Swiss model, now more famous than Swiss Cottage station on the London Tube network but not yet as famous as Swiss cheese, replaced the old eight groups of four model (less catchy) in 2024. The final day was pretty good last year, with 64 goals in the 18 games, but no big teams dropped out and the big will-they-won’t-they? of the night saw Paris Saint-Germain stroll past Stuttgart 4-1 to avoid an early elimination (wonder what happened to them). …”
Qarabag celebrate their win against Eintracht Frankfurt
Gennaro Gattuso gestures during the defeat by Norway
“It is the small hours of the morning and outside the Red Bar in central Belgrade, there are a dozen or so travelling England supporters making themselves heard ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Serbia. There are the usual chants that provide a soundtrack to England’s overseas trips, but there’s also a new addition to the national team’s songbook: ‘Stop the boats, stop the boats,’ they chant. ‘Nigel Farage, we’re all voting for Reform UK.’ …”
“Less than four months after Paris Saint-Germain lifted their inaugural Champions League title by thrashing Inter, the 2025-26 edition is upon us. The 36-team league phase of Europe’s premier club competition kicks off on Tuesday, with Arsenal facing Bilbao’s Athletic Club in one of the two early kick-offs. There are plenty of other highlights this week too, with Bayern Munich facing Chelsea in a 
“France struck early through Michael Olise and sealed the points with a late Kylian Mbappé breakaway to open their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 victory over Ukraine in Wroclaw, Poland. Mbappé’s 82nd-minute strike, set up by his Real Madrid teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni at the end of a rapid counterattack, took the forward to 51 international goals, drawing him level with Thierry Henry in second place on France’s all-time scoring list behind Olivier Giroud, who has scored 57. … Italy opened Gennaro Gattuso’s reign as coach with a 5-0 home win over Estonia in World Cup qualifying, wasting chances for almost an hour before exploding in the final stages of the second half to turn dominance into a rout. …”
Slovakia celebrate their second goal in the shock 2-0 win over Germany.
“In 1991, England travelled to Poland for their final qualification match for Euro 92. It was a crucial contest: the winners would qualify for the tournament, with a draw favouring England. Considering the importance of the game, it was a surprise that England manager Graham Taylor handed debuts to two players: Queens Park Rangers winger Andy Sinton and Crystal Palace midfielder Andy Gray. The latter was given an unusual role for the game’s opening moments. With David Platt and Gary Lineker taking the kick-off, Gray was instructed to stand just behind them and launch a diagonal ball downfield towards the corner flag, and out for a Poland throw-in. …”
“It is just 90 days since Paris Saint-Germain claimed their first Champions League with 
“At first, it was just a short delay to the start of pre-season training. Players at the clubs of the Indian Super League (ISL) were assured that there was nothing to be worried about, just some administrative issues with the country’s top-flight league that needed to be ironed out. It was when another two weeks were added to the delay that concerns started to grow. Communication was minimal. Players were baffled about what the problem was. Eventually, in early July, it was 
“Tonight’s trip to Chelsea, in all probability, will be the 16th and final European game of Legia Warsaw’s season. A 3-0 first-leg deficit in the Conference League quarter-finals has left a mountain to climb, and the adventures of Poland’s biggest club will likely end at Stamford Bridge. UEFA is too diplomatic to publicly celebrate any club’s exit, but parting with the perennial bad boys at least rids their disciplinary department of a long, nagging headache. …”
“Fifteen of the 16 clubs left in the 
“If Liverpool’s loosely-defined ‘luck’ in the Premier League is a real thing then consider the not-so-compelling narrative in the 
“The Champions League’s new format may have given every team only two possible opponents in the round-of-16 draw but that has done little to dampen the excitement now that we know the eight ties. 
“Football very rarely goes to plan. AC Milan’s new strike force were supposed to quickly start scoring a lot of goals. Feyenoord selling their best player was supposed to mean their season was over. Bayern Munich were supposed to crumble away from home again. Oh, and VAR was supposed to eradicate horrendous refereeing decisions. As you can see from last night’s Champions League play-off knockout clashes, the sport rarely fails to disappoint when it comes to predictability. Here Tim Spiers analyses the key talking points from Wednesday evening’s matches. …”
A mural of Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke on the approach to the Emirates Stadium
“The 
“Five games into the new-look 
“It was a surprise to hear 
“The 
“As the game moved into its 120th minute, it was so obvious 
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“England edged past Slovakia to reach the Euro 2024 quarter-finals, but only after staring a humiliating defeat in the face. Anyone hoping for an improved version of England in the knockout stages was left sorely disappointed during a disjointed and dispiriting first half. Sloppy defending from Gareth Southgate’s team let Slovakia in on several occasions in the first 20 minutes, a foreshadowing of the opening goal from Ivan Schranz on 25 minutes — the 30-year-old taking advantage of acres of space to slot past Jordan Pickford. …”
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“The games in the early slot at Euro 2024 have generally provided sensational entertainment so far. It took a fair while for the Group C encounter between 
