Infantino’s opponents developing new framework for running world football

Having lost 2-1 in the first leg, Lyon turned the tie around with a 3-0 victory over Sparta Prague in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. OL will face Fenerbahce in the playoffs to secure their place in the group stage.

Far be it for Football Daily to make cheap gags [wait, what? – Football Daily Ed] relating to the involvement of Amazon founder and master of the universe Jeff Bezos in a consortium buying around 30% of Liverpool FC. Will new signings arrive via prompt delivery but end up next door at Everton? How will fans rate the packaging? Etc, etc. There’s also the involvement of Eduardo Saverin, the Facebook co-founder poking his head in. Though long ago unfriended by Mark Zuckerberg, Saverin still ranked No 56 on Forbes’s billionaires list. These are seriously rich men, and among the planet’s chino class, to quote Vladimir Putin, “soccer is popular”. The Geopolitics World Cup posh seats were full of those eyeing up deals on a frontier hardly new to investors from the USA USA USA, but where there may be much more gold to strike. See Gianni Infantino’s misreading of the art of the deal as an, ahem, prime example. Having also boycotted the GWC and also being very concerned about the season to come, I sympathise with Ken Muir (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). But at least Hearts know who their manager is. Due to the absurd, months-long FA ‘investigation’ into the manager who’s clearly admitted culpability for the undisputed facts of Spygate, my club, Southampton, is in a horrid limbo. Surely it could have been done and dusted in a couple of weeks and Saints could have planned accordingly. But perhaps the FA blazers were too busy writing their letter of support to Gianni Infantino to worry about destabilising my football club” – Bob Cushion. ‘It’s 15 years of frustration here at this club,’ says Rangers boss Derek McInnes (yesterday’s Quote of the Day.) Steven Gerrard and the sole object in his managerial trophy cabinet would like a word, Derek” – David Maddock. Given the surfeit of the recent GWC machinations, the blatherings and canvassing for Gianni to do one (or not) and the less-than-sportsmanlike attitude from members of the Argentina team, can we please have a reprise of the Football Daily’s erstwhile, eventually abortive, attempt to ‘STOP FOOTBALL’? It has to be worth a thought, before VAR, PGMOL and Arsenal’s Dark Arts Department™ get to work on the 2026-27 Premier League shenanigans, surely?” – Budgie Wright. This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions...

Poland says their preparations to host the Women's Under-20 World Cup remain on schedule, despite UEFA-FIFA fallout.