Sporting Intelligence Newsletter

The ongoing FIFA psychodrama took its latest extraordinary twist of the summer earlier today when UEFA, the AFC and CONCACAF wrote an open letter accusing FIFA president Gianni Infantino (without naming him) of breaking trust "through deception". “Leadership in football is not a possession,” they wrote. “It is not about holding – or demanding – power to be held. It is a duty of service to the football family that entrusts it.

As someone who has covered Manchester City’s financial misdemeanours for more than 12 years since their first fine and sanctions by UEFA in 2014, and their Champions League ban and CAS case in 2020, and their defeat in the High Court in 2021 to keep their battle with the Premier League secret, I’ve been asked loads of times in recent weeks when we will finally have a verdict in this case.

It’s almost time for the denouement of this super-sized, 48-team, continental-scale World Cup. After 102 matches, how many can you actually remember? This reporter doesn’t recall too many, but feel free to disagree. Not even the semi-final in which Argentina beat England 2-1 - with all its history, emotions, iconography and the trappings of a true blockbuster could live up to the expectation. The contest was gripping, but at the same time lacked quality.

England play Argentina in Atlanta tonight for a place in the World Cup final. There is loads of history between the two. Rattin in 1966. The Falklands War. The Hand of God. Owen v Argentina. Beckham v Argentina. Sapporo. The Falklands conflict had knock-on effects around the world, including in English football, home at the time to Tottenham’s Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa (below), stars of Argentina’s 1978 World Cup win.

Ken Bates (below), the former owner of Chelsea who kick-started the foreign ownership of major English football clubs by selling Chelsea to Roman Abramovich in 2003, has died at the age of 94. Bates was abrasive, combative, elusive, secretive and hugely mischievous. He was probably the most litigious person I’ve ever dealt with in 30 years in national newspaper journalism. He was the first person who tried to sue me, in 1999, more of which in a moment. He lost.

Can you predict where Taylor Swift’s wedding will take place? Can you predict when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen? Can you predict what will be the No1 Netflix show next week? These - alongside the outcome of World Cup matches - were some of the markets available on prediction market Kalshi last weekend. Prediction markets are everywhere at the World Cup.

This post is going to be short and sweet. In the past week I was offered $15,000 to post links within eight pieces to a crypto-gambling firm. It was a legit offer. The money was real. The deal was real. I was tempted. In the first decade of Sportingintelligence.com, I turned down about £6,000 a year of sponsorhsip offers from bookmakers, mostly mainstream operators such as Ladbokes and William Hill.

Happy 250th birthday to the USA for tomorrow! And welcome to the most American Sporting Intelligence newsletter that you will ever read. Much of this World Cup has been ‘Americanised’ - from the commercial breaks (let’s call them what they are) to the four quarters and the omnipresence of David Beckham, a living billboard, and Sporting Intelligence wants to give you a flavour of what this World Cup on Uncle Sam’s territory has been like so far.

If you ever read a column or opinion piece by a “star” sportsman in a newspaper - or today, most often, online, for any media brand - there is close to zero chance they have written it themselves.

The Wimbledon Championships, the oldest and arguably the most prestigious tennis event in the world, begins in London SW19 today (writes Nick Harris). If you love tennis, or even just like it, then I can strongly, strongly recommend a new Substack by Simon Cambers, a veteran tennis correspondent you can now find on this platform at https://substack.com/@simoncambers.