Championship kicks off, Fifa latest and Community Shield buildup: football – live
Key events
Galatasaray wanted Gabriel Martinelli. In the following 24 hours things changed a bit, creating greater complexity, something we do not approve of. Arsenal have supposedly been offered the chance to involve the Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen in exchange for the Brazilian, which could be temptong for a side looking for a new No 9. To further sweeten any potential, Ethan Nwaneri could be chucked into it too to make it a mega swap.
Get this kind of tittle-tattle and more fluff in today’s Rumour Mill:
Got a minute to spare? Why not try our daily Premier League trivia game, On the ball? Every day a star player past or present is hidden behind nine clues. How many will you need to identify them? It’s available in the Guardian apps
Quick Guide
Play our football trivia game, On the ball
Show
The Guardian’s daily football game, On the ball, is now live in the app for both iOS and Android. Can you identify the Premier League star from the clues?
Ben Fisher
Trippier: ‘The Championship is relentless … it’s totally different to the Premier League’
“I’m not going to sit here and lie, I wasn’t expecting it,” Kieran Trippier says. “But it’s the club’s decision. I had good chats with Rob, of course, but I’m here to play for Wolves. There are many surprises in football and that certainly was a surprise, I’m not going to deny that. But I just cracked on, I was with my kids on holiday, training in Mallorca and just looking forward to day one in pre-season.”
Read Ben Fisher’s full interview with the former England international:
Matt Hughes
First up, big news in the murky world of football politics from Matt Hughes this morning:
Oceania declares support for Infantino in boost for Fifa president but New Zealand breaks ranks
The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has declared their support for Gianni Infantino following demands for the Fifa president to resign from Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation in a development that further highlights world football’s civil war.
After a meeting of its executive committee in Fiji on Wednesday, the OFC issued a statement on Friday praising “the progress achieved over the last decade” by Fifa in its first public comments since the abandoned World Cup sell-off plan emerged this month.
In another sign of division however, the OFC’s biggest member and only nation to qualify for this summer’s World Cup, New Zealand, broke ranks with the confederation by withdrawing their backing for Infantino and calling for an independent review of the Fifa Forward Enterprise plan, which has been demanded by the three rebel groups.
Full story:
Preamble
I’m not sure I’m ready for this, are you ready for this? Surely it’s too hot for the EFL to be back. Can we push it until after another Test series or some more balmy nights of athletics?
Ready or not, tonight Wolves striker Raúl Jiménez will likely be jeered by the travelling Blackburn Rovers support for daring to be on the field as Mexico lost to England at the Azteca, shirts will be removed and we will be one game closer to finding out if César Peixoto can cut it ‘over here’. The only green grass in the country right now can be found at football stadiums, so it will be nice to see that at least.
With the Championship leading the EFL’s return this evening, several strings loose in transfer tapestry to be tidied up and the ongoing shenanigans at Fifa, it is not quiet in football land. I’ll be across the latest news this morning, but I’m also keen to hear your thoughts on all things football, drop me a line via the email link at the top of the page.
