8 h. ago Football Daily | Let’s hear it for the kacktors! Celebrating crap goals in football

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!Sure, volleying a can of Tin from the bath straight into the bin feels good, but have you ever felt the rush of successfully slipping a foreign word in a sentence? Whether Football Daily is subtly and frivolously deploying a “merci” at Pret a Manger or winning hearts and minds at Football Daily Towers by describing an overcome hangover as the greatest remontada since Barcelona’s 6-1 win over PSG in 2017, there is simply nothing like the smugness one feels after borrowing a word or two from our European brethren. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Football Daily | Stand up, if you love Afcon! Caf decision baffling after vintage edition

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations reaches its big finale in 2026 on Sunday, having rolled on through the annual festive time warp, outlasting Enzo Maresca, Ruben Amorim and Ryan Mason Xabi Alonso. Some Premier League teams will have played games in four different competitions by the time they welcome their players home. Wedged into the domestic calendar’s most crowded months, Afcon can get overlooked and more’s the pity, because the 2025-26 tournament has been a vintage edition. The group stage may have lacked big surprises but was still packed with late twists, ridiculous goals and dramatic storylines. Two different coaches named Cameroon squads amid a pre-tournament power struggle; their first opponents, Gabon, were disbanded by their government after going out early (a decision quietly reversed this week). Sudan and Mozambique earned historic victories, bringing light to fans suffering through conflict. We were introduced to Kuka Mb...

Politics

7 d. ago Football Daily | Alonso and the trouble with replacing ego and vibes with work ethic at Madrid

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!Having started this season at Real Madrid with 13 wins from his first 14 games, Xabi Alonso could be forgiven for thinking he was on to a good thing in his new role of Kindergarten Cop, tasked with instilling discipline among the spoilt and unruly brats in his care. While this excellent run was punctuated by a tonking at the hands of Atlético and a diva strop thrown by Vinícius Júnior, Alonso seemed to have pulled off the unthinkable by introducing something approaching a work ethic into a group of players who had previously been powered on ego and vibes. It wasn’t until November that the passengers on board the Madrid wagon began to unscrew the wheels, when a series of poor results led to revelations that all was not well in the camp. Leaks suggested the squad was split between the few players who were entirely sold on the 43-year-old’s ethos and the apparent vast majority who took exception to this José Come-Lately’s tyrannical de...

Events

1 week ago Manchester City v Exeter, Sheffield Wednesday v Brentford, and more: FA Cup third round – live

⚽ Updates from Saturday’s afternoon kick-offs⚽ Live scores | Read Football Daily | Mail TomArokodare added another in added-time, apologies I missed that in thee excitement at Macclesfield and Everton.Yeremy Pino makes the six minutes of injury time interesting with a decent free-kick that gets up and over the wall. Can Macclesfield hang on? Continue reading...

Society

1 week ago Manchester City v Exeter, Sunderland beat Everton on penalties, and more: FA Cup third round – live

⚽ Updates from Saturday’s afternoon kick-offs⚽ Live scores | Read Football Daily | Mail TomArokodare added another in added-time, apologies I missed that in thee excitement at Macclesfield and Everton.Yeremy Pino makes the six minutes of injury time interesting with a decent free-kick that gets up and over the wall. Can Macclesfield hang on? Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago FA Cup buildup, Romero hit with extra ban, transfer news and fixture latest – football live

⚽ All the latest ahead of FA Cup third round weekend⚽ Ten things to look out for | Football Daily | Email JohnThe third round of the FA Cup threw up plenty of intriguing ties. Check out some of the storylines ahead of the action which gets underway with four matches tonight.Today’s Rumour Mill has been released into the wild. How many bloody defenders do Arsenal need?! Continue reading...

Sport

1 week ago Football Daily | British managers abroad: will Gary O’Neil sink or swim at Strasbourg?

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!Some British managers who have chanced their arm on the continent have won trophies and the adoration of supporters. Others have at least provided the Daily with plenty of content. For every Bobby Robson, there’s a Tony Adams, or to meet somewhere in the middle, Steve McClaren – who can deliver you a league title while still making an arsche of himself in TV interviews. What fate awaits Gary O’Neil, quietly ushered into the vacant hot seat at Ligue 1 Strasbourg after Todd Boehly called up Liam Rosenior for the real job? Like Rosenior, he starts his tenure with a tricky away day in the cup; hours before Chelsea play Charlton, O’Neil will take the reins for a Coupe de France tie at fourth-tier Avranches.Back on a cold December day in 2001, I sat at Hillsborough and watched in despair as Sheffield Wednesday got absolutely shellacked by Norwich City, losing 5-0 at home. A couple of days after the game I sat down and wrote a letter (ask ...

Politics

1 week ago FA Cup buildup, Martinelli ‘deeply sorry’, transfer news and fixture latest – football live

⚽ All the latest ahead of FA Cup third round weekend⚽ Ten things to look out for | Football Daily | Email DavidStorm Goretti – a winter weather threat that sounds like a medal contender at a hip, new sporting event being introduced at the 2028 LA Olympics – is having an effect on the football calender. All good so far in the FA Cup but a couple of games in League Two have gone. We’ll keep you updated throughout the day.League TwoOldham Athletic and Notts County - OFF Chesterfield vs Colchester - OFF Continue reading...

Sport

1 week ago Football Daily | Celebrating the Premier League’s unbridled wildness and joyous puerility

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!There’s been much talk in recent years about moving Premier League games to various parts of the world that do not boast Premier League teams – Sheffield, Miami and so on – with the stated aim of spreading the gospel, had the gospel been stolen from Jesus and the Four Evangelists, to be bastardised and defiled, to be converted into folding green and then into geopolitical power and influence. By way of total non-sequitur, this year’s Geopolitics World Cup will be held in Donald Trump’s America. There was, of course, much anger at this ludicrous plan for many righteous reasons, then we all got back to enjoying the football as the ignoramiti knew we would, the game too chaotically, joyously puerile and affirming for its own and our own good. How can we possibly excise it from our souls when it bestows upon us the unbridled wildness of Wednesday’s behaviour, as it also did during the last round of midweek fixtures? The campaign for a f...

Politics

2 w. ago Fulham v Chelsea, Bournemouth v Tottenham, and more: Premier League – live

⚽ Premier League updates with games from 7.30pm GMT⚽ Live scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Email NiallToday’s Football Daily takes a peek into the West Ham doom vortex Kick-offs 7.30pm GMT unless stated Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Football Daily | Rosenior to Chelsea: ‘collaboration’ turns the Strasbourg air blue

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!While Football Daily spent most of New Year’s Day shivering, sweating and staring at hallucinatory rodents while questioning the wisdom of embarking on our first Dry January since 1989, it didn’t escape our blurred vision that Chelsea chose to ring in 2026 by firing Enzo Maresca. While he may have grown up the son of a humble Italian fisherman, the head coach had gotten a little too big for his waders, eventually being tossed into an ocean of opaque criticism he had levelled at unspecified members of the club hierarchy. Like a frail old man bobbing around the Tyrrhenian Sea while trying to reel in a 500lb bluefin tuna with a spool of dental floss, Maresca had picked a battle he was always going to lose – and on Tuesday Chelsea unveiled the Italian’s replacement.So Chelsea are so confident that Liam Rosenior is the answer that they have given him a contract until 2032. Odds on him still being there in six years’ time? There’s more ch...

Sport

2 w. ago Premier League buildup, EFL, Afcon last 16 and Paris derby – as it happened

News and buildup to the day’s action ahead of six Premier League games and more last-16 ties at AfconHave you played On the Ball – our new football game exclusive to the Guardian app? The daily puzzle involves guessing the identity of Premier League footballers, past and present.My score I fluked it a bit this time due to the answer being a player I was a big fan of. My score of 65 puts me in the top 10% of players today apparently. Better than yesterday’s abysmal effort with Emile Heskey. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Premier League buildup, EFL postponements, Afcon last 16 and Paris derby – matchday live

⚽ News, discussion and previews before Sunday’s action⚽ Get in touch by emailing us here or comment BTLHave you played On the Ball – our new football game exclusive to the Guardian app? The daily puzzle involves guessing the identity of Premier League footballers, past and present.My score I fluked it a bit this time due to the answer being a player I was a big fan of. My score of 65 puts me in the top 10% of players today apparently. Better than yesterday’s abysmal effort with Emile Heskey. Continue reading...

Politics