May 25 – With Europe’s five big league season complete the CIES Football Observatory have released Best XIs for each of them. The selections show players from the winning clubs in all leagues dominating, but not all football’s biggest names.
May 24 – Three years after staving off relegation, Lille won their first French title in a decade at the weekend and prevented Paris St Germain sealing a record-equaling 10thstraight domestic crown.
May 24 – A second-half winner from Luis Suarez secured Atletico Madrid’s first La Liga title in seven years as Diego Simeone’s team finished two points above cross-town rivals Real Madrid.
May 21 – “A good problem to have” is one of those football clichés often trodden out by pundits to highlight a selection issue for a manager. But it is a cliché based on some truth, as having players fighting for a place can be a boon for a coach, even if it can be tricky to keep players happy in rotation.
May 21 – Club Brugge have retained their Belgian league crown with a 3-3 draw against Anderlecht, enough to cement their domestic dominance after a superb regular season but disappointing season finale in the playoffs.
May 19 – Karim Benzema’s exile from the French national team over a sex-tape scandal is at an end. In a surprise move Didier Deschamps has recalled the Madrid striker for Les Bleus’ Euro 2020 squad.
May 19 – Former England manager and Crystal Palace legend Roy Hodgson will retire from the game at the end of the season. He was a pioneer for British coaches abroad and coached the Three Lions in the twilight of his five-decade career in the game.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 17 – Looking for a feelgood story amidst all the recent narrative of footballing greed and ego?
May 12 – Manchester United are making a habit of being second. Behind Brighton and Hove Albion, Man Utd are ranked second in an analysis of the amount of minutes played by home-grown players in the Premier League this season.
May 12 – Manchester City were crowned champions of England on Tuesday after cross-town rivals Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of Leicester City. City boss Guardiola dubbed his third title in four years “the hardest one” yet.
May 12 – Sporting Lisbon have been crowned Portuguese champions for the first time in 19 years after a 1-0 victory against Boavista, ending Porto and Benfica’s dominance of the domestic scene.
May 10 – Bayern Munich were crowned German champions for a ninth successive season after Robert Lewandwoski’s hat-trick helped the Bavarians to a 6-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach and Dortmund defeated closest rivals RB Leipzig 3-2.
May 7 – Players’ union FIFPro as part of a three-year co-operation with the KPMG Football benchmark team, has launched a Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) platform.
May 7 – Arsenal’s season came crashing down on Thursday with a damaging exit from the Europa League, following a goalless draw against Villarreal in their second-leg semi-final, raising the spectre of no European football for the first time in a quarter of a century for the North London club.
May 5 – Lionel Messi has topped another European ranking of players based on their performances this season. He heads PSG’s Neymar Júnior who seems to have finally settled in Paris, and Bayern goalscoring machine Robert Lewandowski.
