Father of Luis Diaz Released

Hi all 🙂

We’re almost to the end of the week, and another Friday means another issue of Today FC. Before we begin, shoutout to all 2,632 of you footy fans in the audience. We can’t thank you all enough for starting your day with us ❤️

Today we talk about:

• The Friday Scoreboard: a new segment we’re trying out where we bring you the most important scores from around the football world and the stories behind them. 

• A crucial Premier League shareholder meeting coming at the end of this month, where clubs will vote on a couple of issues with huge implications on the future of league transfers. 

But before we start, quick trivia question for you: 

We’ll let you know the answer at the end of today’s issue. And now, here’s your FRONT THREE. 

Cue dramatic news music

The Front Three

Father of Luis Diaz is finally home and safe. The father of Liverpool soccer player Luis Diaz, who had been held hostage by Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas for almost two weeks, was released on Thursday, according to the government. Amazing news for Diaz, who gave a touching tribute to his father after scoring during Liverpool’s match last weekend against Luton. 

Emma Hayes hired as new manager of US Women’s National Team. The former manager of the Chelsea Women will leave the English side and take control of the three-time world champions in the spring. Do you think the US Women will win another World Cup under Hayes? Reply to this email and let us know. 

Burnley player taking a break for mental health purposes. In a statement, the Premier League club announced yesterday that forward Lyle Foster will be stepping away from football in order to receive treatment for his mental health. The club also put out a video in which manager Vincent Kompany emphasized the importance of mental health awareness. In the video, Kompany states that “[Foster] is one of us and we need to look after our own.”

Tuesday: 

Shaktar Donetsk 1, Barcelona 0. Tuesday was crunch time in the Champions League for Shaktar. The Ukrainian club all but needed a win to keep their UCL hopes alive, which is exactly what they got. Here’s how things are looking with two matches to go in Group H:

Barcelona and Porto will definitely be feeling Shaktar hot on their tails as this group is officially wide open again. 

Wednesday: 

FC Copenhagen 4, Manchester United 3. Another controversial VAR decision left Manchester United with 10 men after Marcus Rashford was sent off just before halftime. Fueled by the extra man and the home crowd, Copenhagen stormed back into the match, netting two quick goals before the break. It was the depleted United that would strike next though, winning a penalty after a Copenhagen defender handled it in the box, which Bruno Fernandes slotted away beautifully. However again, the home side fought their way back into this match with two late goals to break Mancunian hearts, the winner coming from the most ironic of sources: a man named Roony.

Here’s how it leaves things in Group A. Ten Hag’s Red Devils go into the final two matchdays bottom of their group on three points. Not a great look for now, but second place is still very much up for grabs. Copenhagen will face a likely rotated but still stacked Bayern, while United will need to take points off of a dogged but certainly beatable Galatasaray. It’s anyone ballgame, folks.

Thursday: 

Brighton 2, Ajax 0. Brighton have to be saying: “Thank the Lord for Ajax!”. Roberto de Zerbi’s side appeared to have hit a wall as of late, only taking three points from their last three matches in the Prem. Out of their past five matches in all competitions, they’ve won two, both against the struggling Amsterdam club. This win also moves the Seagulls into second place in Group B. After a shaky start to their European season, Brighton are back in business. 

In two weeks, Premier League clubs will vote on crucial issues. Here’s what exactly clubs will be voting on:

A Premier League shareholder meeting is set for later this month (the 21st) where teams will vote yes or no regarding placing potential limitations on “related party commercial deals”. Let’s break down what this means for the league.

First off, what is a “related party”? 

According to a piece in The Athletic by Chris Waugh: “The Premier League defines a related party as having ‘material influence over the club or (being) an entity in the same group of companies as the club.’”

Here’s a quick example: The proposed limitations would mean that it would be harder for Chelsea to secure a partnership with the company DraftKings, as their owner Todd Boehly also owns that company. However, many believe such limitations are being voted on with another club in mind.

• The move is seen as an attempt to limit Saudi-owned Newcastle's ability to secure partnerships with Saudi companies.

• Proposed changes would require clubs to prove they had multiple offers of the same value for such deals.

• This proposal would require 14 Premier League clubs to support it in order for it to go into effect. At the moment, the proposal is expected to receive the necessary votes.

But that’s not all. The vote will also concern potentially banning loan moves between related parties:

• Similar deal to the other proposal, except the rule change could prevent deals like a potential loan switch for Ruben Neves from Al Hilal to Newcastle United, both majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), in January 2024.

• Premier League clubs are likely to endorse this rule change as well, on an interim basis initially.

But what do you think? Should clubs with the same majority ownership not be able to make these deals? And also, why do you think teams are so keen on putting this change into effect now? Reply to this email and let us know.

Full Time. That’s all we have for you today, but we seriously appreciate you stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your day, and on your way out, be sure to take a look at the trivia answer, along with some more great stuff we think you’ll like.

Happy Friday ❤️

Trivia answer: d) Alex Iwobi.

More Good Stuff 👍

PSG players celebrate with 17-year old Warren Zaïre-Emery, who was called up to the French national team for the first time in his career: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/17rg7ik/psg_players_celebrate_with_warren_zaire_emery/

Brooklyn FC, one of the newest USL team, revealed their badge and colors: https://www.uslleagueone.com/news_article/show/1290866

UEFA Technical Match Observer Aitor Karanka wrote an excellent breakdown of Anton Griezmann’s world-class performance in the UCL against Celtic: https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0287-19690005d8c7-5c7f58c405cb-1000--in-the-zone-atletico-de-madrid-60-celtic-performance-analysis/

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