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…

It has been an open secret for months that Chelsea would appoint Sonia Bompastor as the new manager of their women’s team and, finally, that news has been announced officially. The Lyon head coach was offered the job in February but the parties agreed the move would only be made public once the 2023-24 season had concluded for both clubs.

Even when asked about her future after Lyon’s Champions League final defeat by Barcelona on Saturday — her final game in charge of the French side — Bompastor said: “It’s not the right moment to talk about it. I’m really disappointed (with the result against Barca) and that’s the main thing. It’s not the question tonight.”

It was always going to be a long, drawn-out process, especially given Chelsea announced Emma Hayes’ departure seven months ago, on November 4. The Athletic reported shortly after that she was to take the U.S. women’s national team job.

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Her decision came as a shock to senior members at Chelsea, the team’s staff and players, and there was no succession plan in place for a manager who had been in the job since 2012.

Chelsea found themselves in an odd and rare position of having so much time to…

The Athletic reported last week that investors are interested in purchasing a minority stake in Chelsea Women and the club’s co-owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital are prepared to consider proposals.

Chelsea value their seven-time Women’s Super League champions, who added a seventh WSL title under departing manager Emma Hayes on Saturday, on equal footing with Angel City.

This year, the National Women’s Super League (NWSL) franchise based in Los Angeles was valued at $180million (£143m) by sports business website Sportico. It has been interpreted that Chelsea could target an investment that would value their women’s side at $200m.

But is that an accurate valuation? And how much would clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United be worth in comparison?

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“In terms of any potential Chelsea sale, that asking price does appear high,” says football finance expert Kieran Maguire.

“All the clubs in WSL are losing money so, under normal circumstances, you don’t tend to be looking at a wide suite of investors or necessarily high prices.”

The WSL is moving in a positive direction, but clubs are still chasing profitability. In the Deloitte Football Money League (DFML) report – which ranked the revenues generated by women’s clubs in Europe for the financial…

National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) side Gotham FC will play Chelsea Women in a friendly at the Red Bull Arena, New Jersey on August 19.

The match pits the holders of the NWSL against the Women’s Super League (WSL) champions Chelsea, who secured their fifth successive title on Saturday with a six-goal victory at Manchester United on Saturday.

It will be a summer of change at Chelsea with USWNT-bound Emma Hayes leaving her position as manager after 12 years in the role. The Athletic has reported that Chelsea have offered a contract to Lyon head coach Sonia Bompastor to replace Hayes.

The friendly announcement follows on from goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger — who has twice finished third in The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award and spent six seasons at Chelsea — joining Gotham from Chelsea earlier this year.

Gotham won their first NWSL title last year but are currently seventh in the 2024 table, with 15 points from their opening nine league matches.

The friendly will be during Gotham’s league campaign and will continue Chelsea’s preparations for the 2024-25 season, with the WSL due to get underway on the weekend of September 21-22.

(Ira L. Black – Corbis/Getty Images)

As the teams walked out of the Old Trafford tunnel for the final day of the Women’s Super League (WSL) season, Emma Hayes waved briefly to the 3,000 away fans congregated in the corner of the stadium.

While the day represented a moment of celebration for the departing Chelsea manager, there were undoubtedly nerves. She knew her team would likely need a win, and ideally by multiple goals, to secure a fifth consecutive WSL title in her final act before leaving to take charge of the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Earlier in the season, Hayes showed a PowerPoint presentation to her squad. One slide showed the four trophies they were in contention for at that point: WSL, FA Cup, Continental Cup and Champions League. The following slide was empty.

There have been points this season at which her players must have felt like that slideshow was more of a jinx than it was motivation. After the Liverpool match on May 1, when they lost 4-3 and appeared to have handed the title to Manchester City, it seemed like Hayes did too. She declared it had slipped out of their grasp that night.

Four days later she was at Kingsmeadow declaring the opposite as she was honoured in her final home game as Chelsea manager. “Work drinks are cancelled, this is not f****** over,” she said. Chelsea had just…

Chelsea secured a fifth successive Women’s Super League (WSL) title after thrashing Manchester United 6-0 in Emma Hayes’ final game in charge.

The victory secures a record-extending seventh WSL title for the club and ensures USWNT-bound Hayes’ final season at the helm ends in silverware, as she departs following 12 years as manager.

Chelsea finished ahead of second-placed Manchester City by virtue of a seven-goal difference after Gareth Taylor’s side also won on the final day, beating Aston Villa 2-1.

The two sides had gone into the final day of the season level on points at the top but Chelsea exploded out of the blocks with four first-half goals to leave City with next to no chance of leapfrogging them.

Mayra Ramirez scored twice while Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Sjoeke Nusken, Melanie Leupolz and Fran Kirby — in her final game for the club — also found the net in a comprehensive win over the FA Cup winners at Old Trafford.

In their game, City won at Villa Park thanks to goals from Mary Fowler and Lauren Hemp.

Chelsea led from the front during the first half of the WSL season but were reeled in by City after February’s 1-0 loss to Taylor’s side at Kingsmeadow. City embarked on a…

Mauricio Pochettino admits he began to fear the worst after Chelsea lost 4-2 to Wolves back in February.

Chelsea were booed off the pitch following the defeat and the wife of Thiago Silva, Belle, posted on X that “it’s time to change”. The result left the team 11th, sitting closer to the relegation zone than the top four.

When asked if there was ever a moment he was worried about what was going on, he replied: “I think after Wolves. I didn’t think we are going to be sacked, but it was a tough moment.

“That defeat at home was really tough, really tough. That was… at this moment, as a coach and a staff, you feel loneliness. When you feel like everyone is seeing you as if you’re guilty of something and you don’t know what’s going on.

“In this moment, we feel the loneliness. We were alone there after the game. Waiting. We spent two hours… it was a long time after the game we were there, watching at each other, the five coaching staff, in a very small room.

“We were more sad. It was an unfair situation we were in. It was a situation we didn’t deserve, but the result put us in a very difficult situation.”

Chelsea have lost just one of 14 Premier League games since then and look set to qualify for one of the European club competitions next season via a top…

Chelsea are set to sign 19-year-old Barcelona midfielder Julia Bartel.

The teenager, whose contract expires this summer, started and played 90 minutes for Barcelona’s first team in their 4-2 win over Levante, four days after their 1-0 home Champions League semi-final defeat to Chelsea which they went onto win 2-1 on aggregate.

Although Bartel has been part of the first-team set-up, she has been a mainstay for Barcelona reserves, who play in Spain’s second tier. Having made 22 appearances and scoring four goals, Bartel helped guide her side to back-to-back league titles this season.

The Spain under-23 international has also shone on the international stage. She scored the winner in added-time in the Under-19 2022 European Championship final against

Norway and also has a 2022 Under-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2023 Under-19 European Championship gold medal to her name.

Chelsea enter the final day of the Women’s Super League season at the top of the division. They are tied with Manchester City on 52 points but have a superior goal difference (+2).

Chelsea face fifth-placed Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday, while City face seventh-placed Aston Villa at Villa Park.

It will be Emma Hayes’ last game as Chelsea manager before she departs the club to take charge of…

Chelsea have received interest from investors seeking to acquire a minority stake in their women’s team, with the club’s owners prepared to consider proposals.

Chelsea value the women’s side — which has won the last four Women’s Super League (WSL) titles in a row — on par with Angel City, the most valuable franchise in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

Angel City valued was at $180million (£143m) by Sportico earlier this year and Chelsea could target minority investment that would value the west London club’s women’s side at $200m.

In March, The Athletic reported that Angel City had hired the investment bank Moelis & Company to seek out further investment for fundraising, a process that could result in a new controlling owner for the Los Angeles team.

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Chelsea, though, are not seeking to sell their women’s side in its entirety and if they do raise capital via minority investment, the funds would be invested in the promotion of the women’s team and infrastructure.

Chelsea also believe that there is potential to grow women’s side with a multi-club model globally, both within Europe and in the United States.

The season is rapidly approaching its conclusion and the pressure is cranking up.

At the top of the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are locked in a gripping title race; at the other end of the table, Rob Edwards is desperate to prolong Luton Town’s top-flight fairytale at the expense of Nuno Espirito Santo and Nottingham Forest. And in the English Football League (EFL), play-off season is in full swing, complete with all its usual emotional ebbs and flows.

These are the days when reputations are forged or shattered and, while it is enthralling for fans, managers would be forgiven for regarding the whole thing with dread.

Jurgen Klopp’s announcement in January that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of this season was proof of how draining the job can be. “I cannot do it again and again and again and again,” said Klopp, who turns 57 next month.

In February, Roy Hodgson left Crystal Palace shortly after collapsing at their training ground. Although the 76-year-old’s health was not a factor in the club’s decision to end his contract three months early just a few days later, it caused understandable concern among players and staff.

It is not just in the Premier League, either.

Emma Hayes, who is leaving Chelsea Women at the…