Thursday’s draw for this season’s Champions League has been somewhat overshadowed by the latest developments in the dispute between UEFA and FIFA over plans to bring private financing into the World Cup, with European football’s governing body expected to drop a threatened boycott of global competitions.

UEFA, whose clubs and national teams dominate football’s global economy, reacted furiously when it emerged in late July that Gianni Infantino‘s FIFA was aiming to create a commercial subsidiary to run its biggest events, such as the World Cup and Club World Cup.

The proposal would have allowed private investors to acquire stakes in a company created under the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) initiative.

Read moreUEFA chief Ceferin calls for Infantino to quit but rules out replacing him

UEFA, under president Aleksander Ceferin, had described the proposal in scathing terms, labelling it a “shady, opaque backroom deal”.

“No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive,” said the European governing body in a strong statement widely credited as being pivotal in the controversial plan being quickly shelved.

However, with UEFA executives and European member associations meeting in the glitzy surrounds of Monaco on Thursday just before the Champions League draw, sources told AFP the threat to boycott FIFA tournaments would “likely” be withdrawn.

UEFA had demanded that the plan be ditched, but also sought assurances “that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again”.

FIFA’s institutional tensions: Infantino’s failed Forward Entity proposal sparks governance crisis

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One source on Wednesday told AFP that they were satisfied that second condition had now been met.

The immediate result of that will be that UEFA does not risk undermining its united front in wanting Infantino to step down, which would be the case if not all of its members backed a boycott.

The Under-20 Women’s World Cup takes place in Poland next month and European qualifying for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil is still ongoing.

PSG target three in a row

Meanwhile, in the men’s game, the focus reverts back to the cream of club football in the aftermath of the World Cup in North America.

With the leading leagues in Europe getting going again, the continent’s elite will discover later Thursday who they will face in the league phase of this season’s Champions League.

Read moreChampions League heartbreak: Lyon knocked out in play-offs

Paris Saint-Germain will begin their quest to win a third consecutive title after retaining the European Cup at the end of last season by beating Arsenal on penalties in the final in Budapest.

The Real Madrid team of 2016 to 2018 are the only side in the last 50 years to have been European champions three years running.

“We have won the last two, which means we can win a third. It will be very hard, but that is our ambition,” PSG coach Luis Enrique told reporters earlier this month.

This is the third season since the introduction of a new format for the Champions League, with 36 teams now all pooled together in one giant league and each playing games against eight different opponents.

Elite European club football is becoming increasingly polarised, and the continent’s richest teams will again feature prominently and take away the majority of the riches on offer.

Half the competing clubs will come from the leading domestic leagues in England, Spain, Italy and Germany. The Premier League has five representatives in Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa, while Spain also has five clubs including Real Betis who return to the Champions League after two decades away.

Como, coached by former Arsenal, Barcelona and Spain star Cesc Fabregas, will feature for the first time after upsetting the traditional order in Italy.

There will also be a Champions League debut for upstarts Sabah of Azerbaijan, who started out in the first qualifying round and have won four ties to reach this point.

LASK of Austria also make their debut in the Champions League proper after a stunning comeback to beat Celtic in the play-offs.

The first round of matches in this season’s competition will take place between Tuesday, September 8 and Thursday, September 10.

The league phase will conclude in late January, while this season’s final will be played at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid on June 5, 2027.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Manchester City remain in talks to sign Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea after the 25-year-old midfielder was left out of Xabi Alonso’s side to face Luton in the Carabao Cup.

Chelsea are holding out for a £120m fee for the Argentina international, which would make Fernandez City’s record signing after the £116m fee they paid for Elliot Anderson this summer.

Fernandez was not in Chelsea’s squad to face Luton Town in the Carabao Cup on Thursday night, despite manager Xabi Alonso saying the previous day that he expected the midfielder to be involved.

Fernandez has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester City since the World Cup and Enzo Maresca’s side are expected to return with an offer for the Argentina international despite missing an informal deadline earlier this month.

It means City could spend around £300m on midfielders this summer in what has been a complete overhaul following the departure of Pep Guardiola, whose exit was followed by those of long-serving players Rodri and Bernardo Silva.

City have recouped around £165m for selling Rodri to Barcelona, Tijjani Reijnders to Saudi Pro League club Al-Qadsiah and Nico Gonzalez to Newcastle, while Maresca’s side also added the signing of 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi for £86m following the arrival of Anderson.

The Independent understands Chelsea are prepared to go back to Bournemouth for midfielder Alex Scott if they sell Fernandez. The Cherries have so far shut down any interest, but there’s a belief a bid in excess of £80m, and probably closer to £90m, might bring reconsideration.

Alonso named a strong team to face Luton, selecting both Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers, but Fernandez was notably absent from the squad despite the new Chelsea manager saying he expected Fernandez to be included on Wednesday.

“We assessed situations, individual and collective and we have decided he is not in the squad for today,” Alonso told Sky Sports before facing Luton, which was Chelsea’s first competitive home game of the new season.

Fernandez featured off the bench for Chelsea in their Premier League opener at Fulham on Monday and was booed by the home fans at Craven Cottage for his role in the Argentina’s World Cup semi-final win over England.

Fernandez received a comparatively warm reception from Chelsea supporters when he came on, having been previously booed during a friendly against Real Sociedad at Stamford Bridge before the start of the season.

Asked whether he would like to keep Fernandez before the Luton match, Alonso added: “We want to have the best team possible. We know his qualities. He has shown it and we have to wait, but we will think about tomorrow and let’s see how things develop.”

For better or worse, Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy has found himself in the headlines. He’s not alone, however, as somebody who needs to see his fortunes turn to keep earning his living at a Minnesota Vikings quarterback.

Sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer hasn’t had a great offseason. Every so often, Kevin O’Connell will shoehorn him into the conversation. A lot of the time, though, the undrafted young fella has been a forgotten option in that QB room. He appears to be moving toward a best-case scenario of the practice squad. Is that a foregone conclusion, though?

Vikings QB Max Brosmer Needs a Terrific Weekend

In a weird way, Brosmer’s best shot at getting onto the 53-man roster means seeing McCarthy sent packing.

The Vikings appear likely to only keep a trio of arms. Both Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz are secure in their roster spots. All that remains to be determined is who will get added into the mix. The other in-house options — J.J. McCarthy and Max Brosmer — offer reason for both optimism and pessimism. These two are probably battling for at most a single spot.

Something that’s been fascinating to watch in the Kevin O’Connell era has been the failure to see young lads get brought along for very long.

Most obvious, of course, is McCarthy, but that’s a situation that’s still playing out. What is known is that the Vikings sunk a 5th into Jaren Hall and then moved on a year later. Brosmer could be moving toward a similar outcome, albeit as a UDFA addition. Upon taking over, O’Connell worked with Kellen Mond but quickly cut the athletic, inaccurate passer, a forgivable decision given that Mond wasn’t the new regime’s hand-picked passer.

Does the constellation of young QBs — Mond, Hall, McCarthy, and Brosmer — suggest that the current coaching staff struggles to grow homegrown passing talent?

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Other young quarterbacks such as Desmond Ridder and Matt Corral have hung around in the Twin Cities for a brief period, but neither were homegrown and their jobs were always supposed to be of a short-term nature.

As a rookie in 2025, Max Brosmer went 1-1 as Minnesota’s starting quarterback. He completed 66.2% of his passes in a very simplified offense. His 328 yards across a pair of games isn’t very good. Worse yet, he tossed 0 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

Brosmer finds himself battling a two-front war. Most obvious is the need to prove more promising than McCarthy, something he won’t do. Where he could still find a way to sneak onto the team is with McCarthy getting shown the door with a trade.

If that occurs — a McCarthy swap — then Brosmer’s task involves proving better than whoever becomes available. A lot of decent ball players are about to become available with teams going from 90 players to 53. Does Brosmer boast a high enough floor and ceiling to employ instead of whoever gets set free?

Last year, the Vikings determined that Sam Howell wasn’t the desired QB2, leading to a trade before then signing Wentz off the street. Maybe a similar decision takes place by showing both McCarthy and Brosmer the door prior to signing a free agent.

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Max Brosmer, 25, is a well-liked player who works hard and is a great teammate. His upside is that of a long-term QB2, but that’s a best-case scenario. His path forward with the Vikings in 2026 involves snuggling into the QB3 or QB4 job.

He’ll look to solidify a role by cooking against the Broncos on Friday night in Minnesota’s final preseason game.

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Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is preparing a criminal complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Swiss courts for possible financial mismanagement over his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors.

UEFA said Thursday it filed documents in a Manhattan court requesting discovery of potential evidence from the New York investment fund, Thrive Capital Management, founded by Joshua Kushner.

UEFA also filed a request in a southern Florida district for authorisation of discovery “in a foreign proceeding” against FIFA itself, which has offices in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables.

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Thrive and Kushner were to be the anchor investors intending to pay FIFA $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in a subsidiary that would run the soccer body’s commercial events, including the World Cup.

“UEFA and its counsel are contemplating a Swiss criminal proceeding against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code,” UEFA’s lawyers state in a 56-page document seen by The Associated Press.

The document suggests the $4.2 billion figure could be a “fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit”.

Infantino dropped the sell-off plan on August 1 after a furious backlash by global soccer leaders, including UEFA.

UEFA first threatened to take legal action on Aug. 3 when it warned FIFA against destroying or hiding any “relevant materials” related to the plan.

Read moreUEFA to lift FIFA boycott threat ahead of Champions League draw

“Infantino claimed that the plan would ‘unleash the commercial potential and opportunity that FIFA has’,” UEFA lawyers told the courts. “In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets to the detriment of FIFA, its members, and other parties within the football family.

“Under the terms Infantino announced, those investors stood to acquire a permanent financial interest in FIFA’s commercial arm for $4.2 billion, implying an absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20 billion, a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer.”

Spokespeople for FIFA and Thrive have been approached for comment.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

The stats back up McInnes’ anger. Rangers had just over 46% possession during the 120 minutes in the Czech Republic, and just one shot on target.

They won fewer than 70% of their 16 tackles and committed 17 fouls.

“I can’t accept, and we shouldn’t accept, losing individual battles, duels, second balls, not winning enough tackles and just getting the momentum of the game going our way,” the former Hearts manager added.

“I thought we looked young, inexperienced at times. We’re trying to make some signings to help with that side of it but we need to do so much more as a team.

“We got what we deserved. If we’d won on penalties we would have taken it, of course, but it would only have covered over the cracks.

“I’m mortified with the performance. I know you can lose games of football but we should have enough in the building to take care of that tonight.”

Rangers had won their two previous games – a 5-1 win over St Mirren in the League Cup and the 1-0 victory against Jablonec at Ibrox – after drawing at Dundee United and losing at home to Hibernian in their opening two Premiership matches.

But McInnes feels this latest result may set them back.

“We went into this game scrambling for some sort of confidence, some positivity,” he said. “But I just thought the team that deserved to go through went through tonight and that’s hard for me to take.”

UEFA is preparing a criminal complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Swiss courts for possible financial mismanagement over his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors. The governing body of European football announced its intentions in court documents filed Thursday in the U.S. seeking access to possible evidence related to the sell-off plan, which was withdrawn after a furious backlash by UEFA and other global football leaders. The move increases the pressure on Infantino, who is facing the biggest crisis in his 10 years as FIFA’s leader. UEFA filed documents in a Manhattan court requesting discovery of potential evidence from the New York investment fund, Thrive Capital Management, founded by Josh Kushner — the younger brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

UEFA also filed a request in a southern Florida district for authorization of discovery “in a foreign proceeding” against FIFA itself, which has offices in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables.

Under the plan revealed in late July, Thrive and Kushner were to be the anchor investors intending to pay FIFA $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in a subsidiary that would run the football body’s commercial events, including the World Cup.

“UEFA and its counsel are contemplating a Swiss criminal proceeding against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code,” UEFA’s lawyers state in a 56-page document seen by The Associated Press.

The document suggests the $4.2 billion figure could be a “fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit.”

FIFA is expected to have about $5 billion in cash reserves after the World Cup in North America boosted its revenue to a record $15 billion over the 2023-26 commercial cycle.

Infantino dropped the sell-off plan on Aug. 1 after intense criticism led by football officials in Europe.

UEFA first threatened to take legal action on Aug. 3 when it warned FIFA against destroying or hiding any “relevant materials” related to the plan. Thursday’s legal move was revealed to its member federations in Monaco just two hours before the Champions League draw began.

“Infantino claimed that the plan would ‘unleash the commercial potential and opportunity that FIFA has,’” UEFA lawyers told the courts. “In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets to the detriment of FIFA, its members, and other parties within the football family.

“Under the terms Infantino announced, those investors stood to acquire a permanent financial interest in FIFA’s commercial arm for $4.2 billion, implying an absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20 billion, a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer.”

Thrive declined to comment. FIFA was approached for comment.

It was unclear if UEFA would send a potential criminal complaint to the Swiss federal prosecution office in Bern or to local prosecutors in FIFA’s home city Zurich.

The Swiss attorney general’s office has a poor record in recent years prosecuting cases of alleged corruption linked to FIFA and football officials.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, former UEFA president Michel Platini and the influential Qatari president of Champions League title holder Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser al-Khelaïfi, all were acquitted twice at trials in Switzerland.

The crisis has raised questions about Infantino’s future. Just months ago, he was widely expected to win another four-year term in the FIFA election set for March 2027, but a growing number of football federations around the world but mainly in Europe have withdrawn their support, with some joining UEFA in calling on him to step down.

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UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin says he won’t run against FIFA President Gianni Infantino but warned the beleaguered head of world soccer that he must either quit or face a leadership challenge in March.

Infantino has come under increasing pressure to step down over his plan, now aborted, to sell stakes in soccer’s biggest tournament, the World Cup, to private equity investors. Three of the sport’s continental confederations accused him of “deception” and European soccer body UEFA threatened a boycott of FIFA competitions.

“One option is that he realizes that he doesn’t have the support, and that’s not only a political support of the ones who vote, but the political support of football community, the political support of fans, the political support of the players, former players, coaches,” Ceferin said in an interview with “The Rest is Politics: Leading” British podcast which is set to be broadcast Monday.

“And the second option is that he goes to the elections in March, but in that case, I think he will have a candidate against him. I don’t know yet who.” 
Ceferin’s comments were in excerpts from the podcast that were published Sunday in the British media.

November deadline 
Infantino has been FIFA president since 2016 and, until the backlash over his proposals, seemed sure to be reelected unopposed next year in Morocco. FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for challengers to nominate.

Despite being widely seen as a potential challenger to Infantino, the 58-year-old Ceferin expressed his commitment to UEFA.

Ceferin told the podcast: “I’m not interested because of two reasons. One reason is that I love UEFA and I love working here, and I think that at a certain point it’s time to also enjoy life a bit.

“And the second point is, my credibility is much, much higher if I’m not interested in the position.

Manchester City defender Stephen Mfuni is poised to leave on loan before the transfer window shuts on Tuesday with Premier League new boys Coventry City leading the race.

The Sky Blues are long-term admirers of Mfuni, an 18-year-old capable of playing left back and centre half. Frank Lampard’s side recently signed defender Ethan Pinnock from Brentford with that signing seemingly ending their interest in Mfuni.

But Coventry remain keen on a deal for the England age-group international who impressed during a loan spell at Watford in the Championship in the second half of last season before injury prematurely ended his campaign.

The Hornets would be interested in re-signing Mfuni while Sheffield United and Swansea City are also keen on the youngster.

Asked directly about the reported interest in Mfuni ahead of Coventry’s weekend game with Hull, Lampard told Coventry Live: “I won’t comment on it until players are ours and it’d be wrong to comment.”

Mfuni was part of City’s pre-season tour of Asia and featured in the opening two games, playing 45 minutes in each against Inter Milan and the K-League All-Stars.

He is highly rated at the Etihad and is seen as a potential first-team player in the future. But opportunities for senior minutes will be hard to come by with Vitor Reis set to stay at City as the fifth centre-back while Nico O’Reilly, Josko Gvardiol and Rayan Ait-Nouri are left back options.

Mfuni, who hails from Wigan, joined City at a young age and has progressed through the ranks at the Etihad. He has already made his senior debut for the Blues and has been capped at Under-19 level by England having come through the international age groups.

The nonprofit organization “Fussball kann mehr” (FKM –– Football Can Do More) has released its third report on diversity in professional German football. This time, all 36 teams in the top two divisions took part, and the results reveal a familiar tale of dominance. A revealing 29 of the 36 clubs have an all-male management team.

There was a noticeable increase in women in top management positions in the 2025-26 season though, with four of the 18 new appointments to top management positions being women. The previous season, only one of the 19 open positions at the time were filled by a woman. RB Leipzig’s Tatjana Haenni, who became the first female CEO in the Bundesliga in late 2025, is one of them. Nicole Kumpis of Eintracht Braunschweig remains the only female president of a club in the top two flights. Kathleen Krüger’s appointment at HSV came after the study’s cutoff, boosting the original numbers.

Only nine of the 94 positions at the highest management level are now held by women. The nine women are:

• Tatjana Haenni, CEO at RB Leipzig
• Luise Gottberg, vice president at St. Pauli
• Hanna Obersteller vice president at St. Pauli 
• Petra Saretz, executive board member at Heidenheim
• Jennifer Zietz, managing director of women’s football at Union Berlin
• Katharina Kienemann, executive committee member at Union Berlin
• Svenja Schlenker, managing director of HR at Borussia Dortmund
• Christina Rühl-Hamers, board member for finance, HR, and legal at Schalke
• Anne-Kathrin Laufmann, managing director of sports & sustainability at Werder Bremen

Seen through a comparative lens, this is three more than the previous season. The only number lower than the number of women in management roles is the international diversification on supervisory boards – fewer than 3% of members are not German.

“We would love to report that the spirit of renewal exuded by these top executives is permeating German professional football and that the necessary transformation is in full swing,” Katja Kraus, co-chair of the FKM advisory board, said in a press release.

“But progress remains slow; spectacular isolated cases and stagnation at the grassroots level are not mutually exclusive, but rather explain each other. Visible exceptions create an impression of progress that reduces the pressure on what is actually a sluggish structure.”

Women’s football has untapped potential

Also addressed in the survey was women’s football. The Women’s Bundesliga’s decision to move away from the DFB and operate independently opens up new doors, especially for women looking to move into management positions. Currently though, men still dominate in the women’s game too, with only four of the 14 Women’s Bundesliga teams coached by women (Cologne, Union Berlin, Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim).

In the face of structural barriers for women in elite sport, the challenges remain in both men’s and women’s football. The hope is that in the years ahead, particularly with Euro 2029 being held in Germany, that German clubs will look to implement change when it comes to the diversity of their management.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold