Manchester City completed a PFA Player of the Year double on Tuesday night as midfielder Phil Foden and striker Bunny Shaw were named men’s and women’s winners for 2023-24.

Foden, 24, scored 19 goals and provided eight assists to help City clinch an unprecedented fourth successive Premier League title under Pep Guardiola.

Erling Haaland — who won last season’s crown — was one of six nominees, including City midfielder Rodri, Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard, Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer.

Shaw finished the campaign as the top scorer in the Women’s Super League (WSL) with 21 goals in 18 games for the club, despite having her season prematurely ended by a foot injury in late April.

The Jamaica international becomes the first female City player to scoop the award since Lucy Bronze won the accolade in 2016-17.

Shaw’s Man City team-mates Yui Hasegawa and Lauren Hemp were also nominated, alongside Chelsea’s Niamh Charles, Erin Cuthbert and Lauren James.

Having missed out on the evening’s main award, City academy graduate Cole Palmer was crowned the men’s Young Player of the Year after an outstanding debut campaign at…

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.

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‘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…

George Earthy’s family went through every possible emotion on April 14, 2024. A day that saw their loved one make his Premier League debut ended with him in the back of an ambulance, surging through red lights to get to the Royal London Hospital.

Earthy, just minutes into his Premier League debut against Fulham for West Ham United, sustained a head injury when he collided with team-mate Edson Alvarez. Earthy’s head hit the turf and the midfielder received medical attention for seven minutes before being carried off on a stretcher.

The incident understandably caused great stress for Earthy’s parents, Paul and Ann. As Paul waits for his son’s introduction in the second half of West Ham’s friendly against Dagenham & Redbridge, he reflects on the events of that day.

“Initially, we thought he’d just gone down with an injury,” he says. “But Kevin Nolan (the club’s former first-team coach) got someone to get us, which was great, but that’s when it dawned on us it was a lot more serious. It was a horrible feeling for me and my wife. When we arrived at the hospital, George had a brain scan and they checked to see if there was a bleed on the brain.

“Thankfully, we got the all-clear. Honestly, West Ham were excellent in how they dealt with it all. The doctors from…

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 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.

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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:…

What’s the one thing (well, okay, one of the things) that separates James Ward-Prowse and Lionel Messi? Unlike Messi, Ward-Prowse has scored an ‘olimpico’.

An olimpico is a goal scored directly from a corner kick. They are unmistakably memorable and to pull one off involves a combination of skill, opportunism and luck. Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry scored an olimpico for New York Red Bulls against Columbus Crew in 2012. Ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham, now Inter Miami’s co-owner, scored directly from a corner kick twice for LA Galaxy in 2012.

U.S. women’s national team icon Megan Rapinoe is the only player in women’s or men’s soccer to score two olimpicos at the Olympics. Last season, Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz scored directly from a corner in a friendly against Walsall, a Carabao Cup tie Bolton Wanderers and then against Arsenal in the Premier League.

The player who is thought to have scored the first olimpico, Argentinan Cesareo Onzari, did so in a friendly against reigning Olympic champions Uruguay in 1924, hence the name.

A century later and despite racking up over 800 career goals, Messi is yet to score one. There are YouTube compilation videos chronicling the 36-year-old’s many attempts over the years.

GO…

On a weekend in which the latest international break in the men’s game allowed the Women’s Super League extra focus, the number of officiating errors was stark.

This was Women’s Football Weekend, with five of the six matches played being held at the home club’s main stadium, but the quality of decision-making from the referees and their assistants was far from the level expected.

For starters, there were big offside calls that went the wrong way in every game involving one of the top three.

Manchester City’s opener against Manchester United was allowed despite Bunny Shaw clearly coming back from an offside position to be involved in the build-up, West Ham United had a legitimate equaliser against Chelsea ruled out and Arsenal’s late, clinching third goal in a 3-1 away win against Aston Villa stood despite striker Stina Blackstenius being both offside and handling the ball.

Refereeing has long been a contentious topic in the WSL, with its match officials still not being full-time professionals. Managers, including Chelsea’s Emma Hayes, have called for the introduction of VAR in the past but there are complications involved in bringing it into the league based on costs and the quality of the grounds used most often by teams.

Chelsea, for example, did have a trial run…

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…

Welcome to Full Time, The Athletic’s women’s football column, a one-stop shop every Monday to discuss the big issues in the game in the UK and Europe.

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Main story

On Friday morning, Sheffield United announced they had sacked coach Jonathan Morgan based on “new information (that) came to light about his conduct”. The Athletic revealed that the reason for Morgan’s dismissal was a previous relationship with a teenage player during his time managing Leicester City.

The decision came just weeks after Morgan was cleared of any wrongdoing by an external inquiry — carried out at the request of Sheffield United player Maddy Cusack’s parents following her death at the end of September.

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How Morgan’s ‘immoral’ relationship with his teenage player led to his sacking

Morgan’s sacking has distinct parallels with the situation of former England manager Mark Sampson, who was dismissed by the Football Association (FA) in 2017. Sampson was also the subject of an inquiry after he was accused by former England forward Eniola Aluko of displaying racist behaviour. He was cleared, but the FA eventually sacked Sampson based on reports of a relationship with a player when he was manager of Bristol Academy (now Bristol City) three years earlier.

In both cases, the alternative…

Welcome to Full Time, The Athletic’s women’s football column, a one-stop shop every Monday to discuss the big issues in the game in the UK and Europe.

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Spurs showcase youth in seven-goal epic

As the wind-battered West Ham United’s home, the Chigwell Construction Stadium in Dagenham, Tottenham Hotspur triumphed in a thriller, ending 4-3, which delivered everything you would want from a Sunday night game under the lights: incredible finishing, unusual defending and a controversial goal.

The goals by Tottenham manager Robert Vilahamn’s side were all created by or scored by players who were 23 or under, showing off the youthful nature of his exciting team.

Tottenham were looking to follow up their first-ever North London derby win against Arsenal (1-0) from before the winter break with another positive result, and despite being pegged back from 1-0 to 1-1 and 3-1 to 3-3, 23-year-old Jessica Naz’s 75th-minute winner secured all three points.

The win and impressive nature of the finishes are evidence of Tottenham’s direction, with Manchester United loanee Grace Clinton in particular being the star of the show. The 20-year-old midfielder has impressed in all aspects of her game this…