FA claims Club World Cup will hamper Thomas Tuchel's England side

Times

05-05-2025

The FA's latest annual report contains a warning that new global competitions such as Fifa's Club World Cup risk devaluing the FA Cup — and that player fatigue could affect the performance of Thomas Tuchel's England team.
Under a section headed 'principal risks and uncertainties', the annual report says the growing fixture congestion could have financial implications for the governing body.
It states: 'The ongoing discussions regarding future structural changes to the game, such as the introduction of new tournaments (eg Fifa Club World Cup), further intensify this challenge. These changes have the potential to significantly reduce the downtime available to elite players, affecting their recovery and overall wellbeing.
'The introduction of more global competitions risks devaluing traditional domestic tournaments, such as the FA Cup, and may affect the performance of our national teams due to increased player fatigue and reduced time for international squad training. These factors could have financial implications for us.'
Fifa's new club competition takes place in the United States this summer, with Manchester City and Chelsea taking part. If City win the FA Cup they are due to play in the FA Community Shield less than four weeks after the final of the Club World Cup — they have already had an appeal to delay the start of their Premier League season rejected.
The MCC chairman, Mark Nicholas, appears to be tying himself in knots over the future of the Eton v Harrow match at Lord's, with the latest fixture between the public schools taking place on Thursday, 220 years after the first one there.
Nicholas said in 2023 he thought it was time for the game to be played elsewhere and that his three Old Etonian stepsons agreed.
However, Nicholas has now told MCC's 'historic fixtures' group he is 'not in the business of culling fixtures', that the members would ultimately decide their future and that his stepsons may have changed their view.
He told The Times this week: 'We remain in contact with both schools. My stepsons' views have not changed.'
Documents in the British court case involving John Textor, the Crystal Palace co-owner who is being sued by Bruno Lage, the Portuguese manager who was head coach of his Brazilian club, Botafogo, make interesting reading.
Lage is claiming he had a contract to coach at Palace or Textor's French club, Lyon, for the 2024-25 season, with $3.6million (about £2.7million) to be paid to him and his technical staff.
Textor's submission to the court admits he signed the 'alleged contract' in July 2023 but claims it is an 'unenforceable agreement in law' and was merely an opportunity for Lage to negotiate to be the Palace or Lyon manager.
The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, appears to have taken a social media aide to accompany and film him at the Pope's funeral in Rome this week.
A video montage on his Instagram account, lasting a minute and a half, shows a dark-suited Infantino in multiple shots greeting the good and the great who also went to the Vatican.
Newcastle United have taken legal steps to ensure that fans can access St James' Park via a small strip of land just outside the East Stand that is not owned by the club.
A company called St James Terrace Land, whose sole director, Robert Kalbraier, also runs a property firm, bought the land in April last year for £180,000 and since then a large metal container and a wooden fence have appeared and then been removed from the site.
The club have now launched a case in the civil courts aiming to secure a ruling that either fans are given private access across the strip of land or there is access for the general public — the action is not related to stadium development.
Sky Sports News is planning to have fewer staff presenters, with more working as freelancers, and a number of redundancies are likely — including some well-known faces — after a consultation process.
Its news team is also set to be restructured, with reporters told they will need to provide more 'original newsgathering'. Sky Sports News insists the move is not to save money but rather to deliver the news more quickly and be more creative.