The Premier League, EFL, FA, and Women’s Super League (WSL) have announced a new code of conduct for gambling-related agreements in football.

The code, which will be implemented at the start of the 2024-25 season, is designed to regulate gambling sponsorships across the professional game, emphasising four key principles: protection, social responsibility, reinvestment, and integrity.

A key aspect of the code is its emphasis on reinvestment. Revenue generated from gambling sponsorships must be redirected into football-related infrastructure and community programmes. This includes improvements to stadiums and training facilities, as well as investments in grassroots football and local community participation.

Under the new code, gambling sponsorships will also be required to target their marketing efforts more carefully to avoid reaching children and individuals at risk of gambling-related harm. Additionally, any gambling-related sponsorship must include educational initiatives and awareness campaigns designed to promote responsible gambling practices.

GO DEEPER

‘Some players bet on football – they know it’s breaking the rules but still do it’

The importance of maintaining the integrity of football competitions is also stressed in the code, adding that gambling sponsorships must…

Dear readers,

The Premier League and Champions League are over for another season but the summer of 2024 is packed full of live action and transfer fun and games — and we’ll cover it all in detail on The Athletic.

From Europe’s major clubs travelling across the world (and to the United States in particular) to all the moves (and nearly moves) of the summer transfer window, plus two major international tournaments, Emma Hayes starting her reign as USWNT head coach and the Olympics, our team of reporters will bring you in-depth coverage of the things you care about.

We’ll be on the ground in Germany for Euro 2024; across the U.S. for Copa America, MLS, NWSL and Premier League pre-season; in Paris, France for the summer Olympic Games’ football action, and everywhere in between — ensuring you don’t miss a thing when it comes to the beautiful game.

The club content you know and love won’t stop either. Our trusted team of reporters will hit the phones to bring you the latest moves in the transfer window as we embark on an ambitious project to cover the summer ins and outs like never before.

And it doesn’t stop there.

You might already follow our NFL, NBA or NHL coverage, but did you know we also cover a range of other sports, including golf, Formula 1 and tennis? Mark out…

Three months into her first season at Burnley FC Women, Aimee Kelly had a routine blood test as part of the club’s fitness checks.

A few weeks later, Kelly received a phone call and was asked to visit the hospital. Results revealed that she had a prolactin tumour very close to her right eye.

The 22-year-old striker, who played for Liverpool and Everton at academy level and made her senior debut for the latter, was informed that, while treatment took place, she would not be able to exercise at all.

In an instant, her whole footballing world changed and it brought an abrupt halt to her 2022-23 campaign where she had scored four goals in five appearances.

“Maybe at the start, for a day or two, I wondered if it could mean I wouldn’t play again,” Kelly tells The Athletic. “It was the hardest news I’ve ever had but I’m quite laid-back so after the initial shock I just thought I had to get on with it. I trusted the doctors to make the right decisions for me.”

Prolactinoma is a noncancerous tumour of the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain. It causes the pituitary gland to make too much of a hormone called prolactin and decreases the levels of hormones including estrogen and testosterone, among other problems.

Treatment varies depending on the…

It is that time of year again. Lighter nights, daffodils and the sobering discovery of just how much your football team has handed over to agents.

The Football Association (FA) published its annual figures yesterday and, as is the norm, they were bigger, more gasp-inducing than ever before.

The Premier League’s 20 clubs combined to pay £409million ($509m) in agents’ fees in a 12-month monitoring period that began on February 1, 2023. Include the EFL’s outlays and English clubs handed over close to half a billion to that select group of men and women representing a footballer’s interests.

It was the usual suspects leading the way but the Premier League’s spend continues to rise. This year’s total is markedly up on the £318million of last season and almost twice the amount paid in 2017-18.

The Athletic picks out the key points from the FA’s latest report.

---

Chelsea drive spending records… again

An age of excess at Stamford Bridge has seen Chelsea spend like no club has ever spent before. Close to £1billion has funded a lavish overall that is yet to deliver discernible progress under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake-led ownership group and the fees paid out to agents are another marker of their intemperance.

Brace yourself for Chelsea’s full outlay over 12 months:…

Permanent concussion substitutions will be introduced into the laws of football, the game’s lawmakers have confirmed.

The measure, which has been trialled in a number of competitions such as the Premier League, Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship and FA Cup, will come into effect from July 1, 2024.

Teams will be able to use additional substitutions, outside of their allotted amount, if any player is showing signs of a concussion, regardless of the number of changes they have made already.

However, a trial for temporary concussion substitutions — a measure which has been called for by the Premier League as well as players’ unions — was not approved at the annual general meeting of The International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Scotland on Saturday.

It is understood the Premier League remain of the view that permitting professional leagues to trial temporary concussion substitutes will significantly benefit player welfare and the sport.

Scottish Football Association CEO, Ian Maxwell, said: “Regarding permanent concussion substitutions, the trial we’ve run is effectively concluded and that is now enshrined in the laws of the game.

“It will be for competitions to determine whether they want to use permanent concussion substitutes, as per the…

There is an EFL club that keeps a database designed to monitor the progress of its future head coaches. It is succession planning, a means of identifying the next best candidate before the search is even required to begin.

Individuals are marked and categorised; ones to watch and others to forget. A new tab has recently been created beneath those head coaches who are deemed unworthy of consideration, though. It is labelled “Joey Barton”. Do not touch.

The anecdote is relayed after one senior figure at the club was asked last week if Barton, sacked as manager of Bristol Rovers in October, would ever be considered for one of their managerial vacancies. “Not a chance,” they say.

Barton is unlikely to care. Not publicly, at least. After his playing career was held back by acts of violence and self-sabotage, the 41-year-old is now setting fire to his prospects of finding further opportunities as a football manager.

An industry that has provided Barton with no end of second chances – after prison, after an 18-month gambling ban and after multiple arrests – is finally seeing its patience expire thanks to a series of furious social media posts against female pundits and commentators.

They seem to have closed off any possible return to the game he claims to be defending. There…

It is the heartbreaking story of a talented and popular footballer, her tragic death and the investigation into a family’s complaints about what they believe caused her emotional anguish.

Maddy Cusack’s death in September sent shockwaves throughout the sport and plunged Sheffield United into a state of mourning for their longest-serving player. As her parents, David and Deborah, tried to get through their first Christmas without their eldest daughter, fans launched a petition to retire her No 8 shirt as a permanent tribute.

“She fell in love with Sheffield United, the fans and the city of Sheffield,” Deborah told a memorial service in October. “Maddy became Miss Sheffield United and adored every minute of it. This was her home, the place she envisioned she would hang up her boots one day.”

Cusack started playing football at the age of five and spent time in the junior setups at Chesterfield, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City before being taken on by Aston Villa and representing England’s under-19s. An energetic, tough-tackling midfielder, she went on to play for Birmingham City and Leicester City before moving to Sheffield, where she became the team’s first women’s player to make more than 100 appearances.

That everything ended so tragically has caused…

“Women have been involved in men’s football for a long time, but we’ve been restricted to just being fans. Now men can’t mock us for not knowing the offside rule — no-one knows that anymore — and we can show that we too can officiate the top games.”

Burnley fan and podcaster Natalie Bromley may have best summed up Rebecca Welch’s Premier League debut.

In an ideal world, there would be no need to pass comment on the fact that a woman was refereeing a top-flight men’s fixture. It would be a normal occurrence. But Saturday was a landmark moment.

For all that it must be normalised, it was a moment that demanded recognition. Not just for the merits of her hard work that has taken her to this point, but also for the game-changing impact of seeing her in charge of the most-watched league on the planet. She becomes a role model for those watching at home, or on the terraces.

“It’s really good,” said Daisy Cooper, a young Fulham fan outside Craven Cottage, who has been going to games since the age of five.

Her grandad Mick asks if she would like to see others. Her reply is without hesitation: “Yes”. Mick along with Daisy’s dad, Ian, have been attending matches since 1986 and were both referees in the county of Surrey. “She can be a role model for women in…

Rebecca Welch becoming the Premier League’s first female referee is a “milestone” moment for football, Burnley manager Vincent Kompany has said.

Welch has been appointed to Burnley’s trip to Fulham on December 23 — the first time a woman will take charge of a top-flight match in men’s football in England.

“It is a milestone,” Kompany said of Welch’s appointment.

“I think she will take great pride in having done it herself. A lot of women, in general, and within the game as well, specifically, will see this as a way to achieve at the highest level.”

In November, Welch made history by becoming the first woman to be involved in the Premier League in a refereeing capacity, as she was the fourth official for Manchester United’s 1-0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

“I am always pro any kind of extension anyway because it just widens the pool of talent and I do think we need access to all the available talent, so we have the best referees in the best league in the world,” Kompany said.

GO DEEPER

Rebecca Welch on breaking down barriers, making history and Premier League dreams

Welch has been refereeing since 2010 and she officiated in the men’s Championship at the start of this year, becoming the first woman to do so.

Sam Allison, meanwhile, will become the…

Rebecca Welch will become the Premier League’s first female referee when she takes charge of Fulham’s home game against Burnley on December 23.

Sam Allison, meanwhile, will become the league’s first Black referee in 15 years when he oversees Luton Town’s trip to Sheffield United three days later.

Welch has been refereeing since 2010 and became the first woman to referee a match in the men’s Championship at the start of this year.

In November, Welch made history by becoming the first woman to be involved in the Premier League in a refereeing capacity, as she was the fourth official for Manchester United’s 1-0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The 40-year-old initially balanced her role in officiating alongside her job in the NHS, before turning her attention to officiating on a full-time basis.

Welch previously became the first woman to be appointed to referee a Football League game when she oversaw a League Two clash between Harrogate Town and Port Vale in April 2021 and was then selected for the national group of EFL referees assigned to League One and League Two matches. She had previously been a regular in charge of National League games, as well as refereeing in the Women’s Super League, and was also part of a UEFA select group of elite referees.

GO DEEPER