• Governing body announces new schedule from 2026
• Schedule has five windows but same amount games in Europe

Fifa has announced a new four-year women’s international match calendar which will come in from 2026 but faces criticism for not including mandatory rest periods and undermining domestic leagues.

The new international match calendar, which the global governing body said has a “player-centric focus” and “is backed by extensive research, analysis and consultation” includes a welcome reduction in the number of international windows from six to five. These windows will be placed in February-March, April, May-June, October, and November-December, removing the heavily criticised July and September windows – the former falling well after domestic season’s have ended and the latter disrupting pre-season preparations, for those leagues operating across the winter.

• Group set up to make recommendations
• Must consider fairness to fans missing home games

Fifa has taken a step towards allowing domestic leagues to play competitive matches abroad after announcing a new working group would be formed to “issue recommendations” on the topic. The group was confirmed after a meeting of the Fifa Council in Bangkok on Wednesday and could lead imminently to a seismic change in the traditional structures of the men’s club game. La Liga has already said it hopes to play league matches abroad by 2025.

Fifa said the working group will be made up of 10 to 15 individuals with experience from across the game, including clubs, leagues and supporter associations. The governing body said the group will be independent but that its work must take into account a series of principles, several of which assume a positive decision to stage matches internationally.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning , Jonathan Wilson and Robyn Cowen as Manchester City go top of the Premier League ahead of the final round of fixtures.

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On the podcast today; Manchester City beat Spurs to make sure winning the Premier League is in their hands – they are on the brink of their fourth consecutive title. Will the reserve goalkeeper Stefan Ortega be remembered as the man who got them there, saving one-on-one against a charging Son Heung-min?

They won’t win any trophies or player of the season awards, but these players have been integral to their teams this season

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

Having scored just six league goals last season, Dominic Solanke has really stepped up this season with 19 – the best return for any Bournemouth player in a Premier League season. The appointment of Andoni Iraola has proven a blessing for the 26-year-old, who is finally realising the potential he showed when breaking on to the scene with Chelsea. Alexander Isak and Ollie Watkins have earned high praise for their performances; Solanke warrants just as much adulation.

More strength in depth is now apparent after influx of overseas talent but league’s competitiveness is hard to assess

England kick off Euro 2024 against Serbia on 16 June and if Jordan Henderson is called up then the former Al-Ettifaq midfielder should be able to give Gareth Southgate an idea of the kind of form that Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic are in. They are two of a growing number of European internationals who will be acting as unofficial ambassadors for the Saudi Pro League (SPL) this summer – especially if they underperform.

The two Serbs have played a major part in Al-Hilal becoming champions of the SPL for a 19th time. The deal was sealed on Saturday but it was all a bit of a stroll. Rúben Neves, another standout, will also head to Germany with a league winner’s medal in his suitcase ready to show fellow Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo.

Spanish left-back seemed to sum up club’s travails but he has found form to aid late, unlikely surge towards a European place

It is safe to say few people at Chelsea predicted this season would end with Marc Cucurella performing a turn as an inverted full-back. As one figure inside Stamford Bridge put it recently, who could have imagined that a Cucurella revival would be one of the key reasons behind Mauricio Pochettino’s team making a late surge for European football?

Let’s roll this back. In August 2022, with the new order at Chelsea still asserting itself, Cucurella was invited to Mykonos to meet the interim sporting director. Todd Boehly, it turned out, was a man who knew how to conduct a charm offensive.

Plus: serial runners-up, long gaps between winning the same competition, terrible penalty shootouts and more

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“Granit Xhaka is unbeaten in his first 47 games for Bayer Leverkusen,” notes Scott Campbell. “Have any players attained a longer unbeaten streak upon joining a new club?”

At first Bayer Leverkusen’s success was one of the stories of the season. It’s fast becoming one of the stories of the century: they are 50 not out , three games away from completing an unbeaten season in all competitions. Granit Xhaka, their summer signing from Arsenal, has played in 47 of those 50 matches. The last time he lost at club level was last May, when Nottingham Forest officially ended Arsenal’s title challenge.

League of Ireland club welcome women’s national team over for their first match in Europe which carries great significance

“We have a reason to tell the people that we are human beings,” says Mira Natour, a defender for the Palestine women’s national team, as she reflects on their friendly against Bohemians in Dublin on Wednesday night. “We have rights the same as you, to play, we have the right to express our feelings, we have the right to be recognised by the world. With this event, we’re telling them we exist.”

It will be the first time the Palestine team have played in Europe and their League of Ireland hosts have sold out, with a 4,500 crowd expected at Dalymount Park. Bohemians are fan-owned and their membership’s strong allegiance with the Palestinian cause mirrors a sentiment shared by many in Irish football and the country as a whole.

Forward has been criticised for not carrying his weight but against Spurs he did exactly what he was hired for

Well, that’s over anyway. How to describe the emotional energy of this game ? For long periods this felt like all the things that football matches usually aren’t. Creepy. Awkward. Uptight. Even as an apparently endless second half stretched out there was a sense around the crowd of some necessary duty being discharged, football reimagined as a trip to Dignitas or a no-fault divorce.

There were still moments of drama. Tottenham played really well, and might have drawn the game if they had a sharper edge. The idea that Spurs would ever “chose” to lose to Manchester City’s annihilating title-bulldozer was always bizarre. When did choice ever have anything to do with this? But it was still a strange occasion, as though the banter-buildup, the endless chat about not helping Arsenal to win a league title had undermined the usual dynamic.