Ballon d'Or: how football's biggest individual award works
A clear guide to the Ballon d'Or: who votes, which criteria count, how eligibility changed over time and the myths that still confuse fans.
Champions League draw explained: how pots and seeding work
A clear guide to the Champions League draw: how UEFA builds the four pots, why the club coefficient decides seeding, and which rules limit who can face whom.
Yellow Card and Red Card Rules: Bookings, Accumulation, Bans
How yellow and red cards work in football: which offences are punished, how cautions accumulate into suspensions, and the nuances that still confuse fans.
Champions League format explained: how the competition works
From the summer qualifiers to the single-match final, a clear guide to the Champions League format: the league phase, the knockout rounds and how clubs qualify.
What every 2026 Ballon d'Or favourite is worth: the market doesn't follow the award
Yamal and Haaland tied at the top, 220 million euros each, while Messi, owner of eight Ballons d'Or, is worth just 15 million. What Transfermarkt says about the award's favourites.
Brazilian clubs received US$212 million in the 2026 window, less than half the 2025 figure
According to FIFA data, Brazilian clubs had 503 outgoing international transfers between 1 June and 2 September, almost as many as English clubs, who received US$1.43 billion.
Serie A spent €1.16 billion in the 2026 window: the club-by-club ledger
Sales income fell by €375.59 million on 2025; as checked on 11 September 2026, the net balance was the most negative of any summer from 2000/01 to 2026/27.
How Ipswich outspent Barcelona in the 2026 window
The promoted side made 14 signings for a declared fee, and the tallies published by TNT Sports on 2 September 2026 and by Football365 on 8 September put the club above Barcelona.
Ballon d'Or: how football's biggest individual award works
A clear guide to the Ballon d'Or: who votes, which criteria count, how eligibility changed over time and the myths that still confuse fans.
Champions League draw explained: how pots and seeding work
A clear guide to the Champions League draw: how UEFA builds the four pots, why the club coefficient decides seeding, and which rules limit who can face whom.
Yellow Card and Red Card Rules: Bookings, Accumulation, Bans
How yellow and red cards work in football: which offences are punished, how cautions accumulate into suspensions, and the nuances that still confuse fans.
Champions League format explained: how the competition works
From the summer qualifiers to the single-match final, a clear guide to the Champions League format: the league phase, the knockout rounds and how clubs qualify.
Brasileirão explained: format, relegation and continental spots
Twenty clubs playing home and away, a tiebreaker that starts with wins, and a promotion playoff in Série B: the guide to Brazil's national league under the 2026 regulations.
How Ligue 1 works: format, tie-breakers and relegation
A quick guide to the French top flight: 18 clubs, 34 rounds, the eight tie-breakers, the play-off against Ligue 2 and seven European places.
Grêmio vs Internacional: the history and numbers behind the Grenal
Titles, record routs, top scorers, mascots and the two clubs' racial origins: the full head-to-head across 454 meetings between Grêmio and Internacional in the Grenal, Rio Grande do Sul's biggest derby.
Flamengo vs Palmeiras: titles, finals and points from 2016 to 2025, side by side
Over the ten seasons from 2016 to 2025, Flamengo won 11 trophies and Palmeiras 8, counting the Brasileirão, the Brazilian Cup, the Libertadores and the Brazilian Super Cup; in the four finals between them, each side won two.
Pelé vs Maradona: The Defining Comparison in Football
A balanced, evergreen look at Pelé and Diego Maradona: their styles, their consolidated achievements and the dimensions in which each holds the advantage.
PSG v Olympique de Marseille: head-to-head record and history of Le Classique
In the 76 Classiques from 12 December 1971 to 20 March 2011, OM won 31 and PSG 26; from 27 November 2011 to 8 February 2026, PSG won 27 of 36.
Libertadores v Sudamericana: places, money and what each title opens
In September 2026 the two CONMEBOL competitions had their quarter-finals scheduled for the same nights. Set out in dollars, the prize money shows where the hierarchy holds and where it breaks down.
Premier League vs La Liga: styles, history and reach compared
How England's Premier League and Spain's La Liga really differ: money and depth against technique and European pedigree, with a balanced verdict.
Tottenham's Premier League collapse deepens as Aston Villa win 3-2, and BBC says it's already their worst start on record
Goals from Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Jackson and Emiliano Buendía put Aston Villa 3-0 up before a late rally from Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke fell short, leaving Roberto De Zerbi's side with, according to the BBC, a worse start than their previous low point, the 2008-09 season.
Brighton beat Arsenal 3-0 to end the champions' nine-game Premier League winning run
Gross, Kostoulas and Andrés scored on Brighton's 125th anniversary as Arsenal, the 2025/26 champions, lost for the first time this season after winning their opening seven games.
Brentford beat Chelsea 3-0 for first home win over their neighbours since 1938
Jaidon Anthony, Igor Thiago and Fábio Carvalho scored after the break as Brentford made their best start to a Premier League season and Xabi Alonso's Chelsea stretched their winless run to three.
Kane scores 100th Bundesliga goal in record time as Bayern thrash Union Berlin 7-0
In his 98th Bayern appearance, the Englishman beat Dieter Müller's 129-game record on the same night Michael Olise scored a hat-trick in the rout.
Ballon d'Or 2026: who are the favourites and why
The numbers, the trophies and the strongest cases for the 26 October ceremony in London: from Kane and Messi to PSG's nominees and World Cup winners Spain.
Seven titles in a row up to 2025 and three semi-finalists in 2026: how Brazil took over the Libertadores
With Palmeiras, Fluminense and Flamengo in the 2026 semi-finals, Brazil is guaranteed at least one club in the final scheduled for 28 November in Montevideo; CONMEBOL's records show how the shift began.
48-team World Cup: more goals in the groups, favourites in the knockouts
The first 48-team World Cup produced 308 goals in 104 matches, but only 1 of the 8 third-placed teams got past the round of 32, and the top 4 in the FIFA ranking of 11 June 2026 all made the semi-finals.
Why £125m does not cost £125m: inside the 85% squad cost cap
Premier League clubs spent more than £3.5bn in the summer of 2026, but the new rule measures the annual instalment, not the headline fee. How the maths works.