May 22 – Thomas Tuchel promised tough and difficult decisions in his squad selection for this summer’s World Cup – and he delivered them in brutal fashion.
England’s 26-man squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 contains several major omissions, with Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Maguire all left at home in one of the boldest England selections in recent memory.
Also missing out are Adam Wharton,
May 22 – Aussie has returned to Australian sport through a new multi-club partnership with Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory in what the parties are describing as a first-of-its-kind commercial arrangement in the A-League.
The agreement sees Aussie align simultaneously with two of Australian football’s biggest clubs across the country’s two largest cities.
Rather than operating as separate sponsorships, the deal has been structured as a joint venture between the clubs and the brand,
May 21 – With the FIFA World Cup approaching, Guinness has relaunched a tagline that has sat in intellectual property no-man’s land for decades: ‘The World’s Cup’. It is a bold move ahead of a tournament where rights-holders and would-be infringers alike sharpen their legal weapons.
Anheuser-Busch has been the World Cup’s official beer sponsor for 40 years, while the Guinness tagline dates to 1990. Trademark law hinges on “confusion in the marketplace,”
May 21 – English Premier League side Crystal Palace has announced open-source software provider Temporal as its new front-of-shirt sponsor in a multi-year agreement.
Temporal’s branding will debut at the start of the 2026-27 season, appearing on the front of both the men’s and academy team kits. No value was given for the deal.
The deal sees the London club replace current shirt-front sponsor NET88, an Asian betting company, ahead of new legislation that will ban gambling brands from holding the front-of-shirt sponsorship position in the Premier League from next season.
May 22 – Pep Guardiola has confirmed he will leave Manchester City at the end of the season, bringing the curtain down on one of the most successful managerial eras English football has ever seen.
The Spaniard will step away following Sunday’s final Premier League fixture against Aston Villa, despite still having a year remaining on his contract. City have already lined up former assistant and ex-Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca as his expected successor.
May 21 – US Soccer has unveiled a wide-ranging slate of original programming designed to bring supporters closer to the men’s national team than ever before and, perhaps most crucially, try to manufacture the kind of emotional attachment American fans have not always felt toward the USMNT.
US soccer fans have generally been strangely detached from a national team that at times can make itself very unlovable. It has not been helped by its stay-away ‘superstars’ generally putting their European club ambitions before that of their national team in major competitions within their confederation.
May 21 – The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) has said it will cover all financial expenses of the Bulgarian national minifootball team ahead of the upcoming European Championship (EMF EURO 2026) in Slovakia.
Minifootball is not a version of the game played in formats of 5,6,7 or 8 players per team, and is governed at European level by the European minifootball federation that was founded in 2012 and registered as a non-proft association in Prague and Budapest.
May 21 – Spanish champions FC Barcelona have added another commercial partner in the Middle East after agreeing a new sponsorship deal with UAE-based Emirates Islamic.
The agreement will see Emirates Islamic become Barcelona’s official commercial banking partner in the UAE through to June 2028, further strengthening the club’s commercial footprint in one of their most valuable overseas markets.
As part of the partnership, the two organisations will launch an Emirates Islamic Barça Cashback Card aimed at supporters in the region –
May 21 – Newly-crowned English Premier League champions Arsenal unsurprisingly dominate the Premier League Team of the Season selected by the CIES Football Observatory, with five players included in the data-driven XI as the club finally gets over the line in the title race.
Mikel Arteta’s side provide nearly half of the Premier League selection, with David Raya, Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães and Declan Rice all making the cut following another strong defensive campaign in north London.
May 21 – German pay-TV broadcaster Sky Deutschland has extended its rights agreement covering the English Premier League, securing coverage of the world’s most-watched domestic league through to the end of the 2030-31 season.
The three-season extension ensures Sky Deutschland remains the home of the Premier League in Germany as well as in Austria and Switzerland for several more years. The broadcaster will cover all 380 matches each season, with more than 280 shown live. The deal also includes public screening rights for restaurants,
May 21 – International sports agency The Team, formerly known as Wasserman, has acquired a significant ownership interest in GG11, a talent representation agency focused on Italian football.
Lee Charnley, Vice President of International Operations for the global football group at The Team, said: “Italy has long been a priority market for us, and this move enables us to expand our impact globally and within one of Europe’s top five leagues. It will benefit our clients and meaningfully shape the way we operate going forward.”
May 21 – Concacaf has released its latest Club Rankings update ahead of the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup Finals, and the index leaves little doubt about where the regional balance of power lies, and that’s south of the U.S. border.
Tigres UANL (1,277) rose three places to claim top spot after reaching the Champions Cup Final, sealing their berth with a semifinal victory over Nashville SC.
It is the club’s fifth Final appearance in the modern era,
May 21 – Concacaf has announced Mexican hard-discount supermarket chain Tiendas 3B as a new commercial partner of the 2026 Concacaf W Champions Cup Finals, the confederation’s premier regional women’s club competition.
Diego Apalategui Alegre, Director of Sales and Operations at Tiendas 3B, said: “Being sponsors of the Concacaf W Champions Cup Final fills us with pride because it represents values we identify with: effort, passion, teamwork, and inclusion.
“We also believe in the importance of continuing to promote spaces where women can inspire new generations on and off the pitch.”
May 21 – Former Confederation of African Football (CAF) General Secretary Véron Mosengo-Omba has been elected President of the Congolese Football Federation (FECOFA).
FECOFA announced Mosengo-Omba won 60 votes from 65 to win the election unopposed. The other eight candidates pulled out or withdrew. Mosengo-Omba’s eligibility was the subject of controversy: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) constitution outlaws dual nationality – with Mosengo-Omba holding Swiss nationality.
In March, he stepped down as the number two of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
May 21 – English Premier League side Aston Villa claimed the UEFA Europa League crown with a 3-0 victory against German club Freiburg to earn their first European success in 44 years and cement manager Unai Emery’s fabled reputation in the competition.
In the Turkish capital Istanbul, Villa netted twice in the latter the stages of the first half – through Youri Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia – before Morgan Rogers second-half strike secured a famous triumph.