Pre-season tours and qualifiers are in full swing now that the new season has began (Photo: Reuters)
"There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of …” Federico Fellini was talking about “life”, but if the Italian filmmaker were alive today, he might easily have said “football”. After all, it has been described as “the single most popular activity that has ever been known by humanity” (according to historian Tom Holland).
The new English Premier League (EPL) season begins on Aug 15, and you are not alone if you think the last one has yet to end. Matches are coming out of our ears: there are pre-season tours and qualifiers are underway for trophies that have barely left the engravers.
The transfer window — a season by itself — is still open, so players continue to be traded. And all this while the club and country versions of the game are locked in their eternal joust. Life and football go on.
Alas, not for Liverpool’s Diogo Jota and his brother Andre, who died when their Lamborghini crashed in northern Spain on July 3, just 11 days after Diogo’s wedding. He was driving to catch a ferry in time for pre-season training. His jersey is being retired in perpetuity — and called “Forever 20”. Football is a forever game and an infinite passion.
The outpouring of grief for the Portuguese striker was testament to his popularity and the shock factor, with fans recalling where they were when they heard the news. Moving tributes are still being paid as they were on the club’s recent tour to Asia. But the wheeling and dealing carry on, and now those fans, with no disrespect, are eager to see who will replace him.
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A supposedly fallow season has turned into a crowded summer. Fifa’s men’s Club World Cup (CWC) and Uefa’s Women’s Euro overlapped. No contest, you might think? Well, in Europe at least, the women emerged as the winners.
Held in Switzerland, a carnival atmosphere prevailed throughout the tournament, complemented by huge TV audiences in the countries that went deepest. It outshone the eerie disinterest in many of America’s giant mausoleums. And England’s women found a way to win in situations where their menfolk have perfected the art of losing.
It was also free of the cynicism and doubts that had dogged the CWC since its inception. The Women’s Euro was a giant leap for women’s sport in general, while the CWC was the last thing players needed after a long season and before another that precedes the World Cup.
There was even talk of strike action, and Fifa president Gianni Infantino had to channel his inner Machiavelli to get the show on the road. Assists came from US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
Just as it hung in the balance, a billion-dollar sponsorship from Saudi Arabia suddenly appeared, which sent 32 clubs criss-crossing America in the broiling summer heat. Helpless victims? That amount of prize money had a magical effect on fears of burnout and would secure the financial future of some clubs, even the early losers, for years to come.
Even the line-up was contentious. Lionel Messi’s fifth-placed Inter Miami was somehow shoehorned in, as were the likes of Mamelodi Sundowns and Auckland City. It gave a global feel with teams from every continent, as well as The Little Maestro himself.
But there was no room for the current national champions and European blue-bloods, Liverpool, Barcelona and Napoli, so it was not hard to see why purists turned up their noses.
Notwithstanding the heat and biblical downpours, there were a few good matches and genuine upsets, and it felt like football when the South Americans played. The sound of the samba carried all four Brazilian clubs out of the group phase, and Fluminense to the semi-final. But as welcome as Brazil’s mini-revival was, many budding talents were eagerly plucked by European clubs.
The final might have been billed as the “Team of the Decade v the Basket Case”, but it was the shopaholics who won. Having destroyed Inter Milan in the Champions League final, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) looked like they would dominate for years, but Chelsea, who buy half a team every week, took them apart.
The US$100 million (RM423.4 million) prize money still wasn’t enough to pay for all their signings, but a month after winning the European Conference, a consolation prize for also-rans, the Blues were hailed world champions.
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The trophy presentation was a fitting finale for winners who thrive on the chaos theory. Trump even got his hands on the trophy, but the real winner was Infantino, whose name had already been laser-etched on it twice and looks set to leave a permanent imprint on the game.
But for the players, there could still be a price to pay. England manager Thomas Tuchel warned that Chelsea and Manchester City, the two EPL teams, “would be at a huge disadvantage” in not having a proper pre-season. If he is right, the prize money would be scant compensation.
Meanwhile, the transfer window is about to come off its latch — but almost all the spending is down to the Big Boys. Last month, when City reached €241 million (RM1.2 billion) for this year, Pep Guardiola became the first coach in history to spend €2 billion on players. He also told GQ that he was so tired he might want to rest for 15 years! That’s what overthinking can do.
Ah, City! Wasn’t there once an elephant in the room? More like a herd of 115 in the boardroom? This was the number of charges the EPL laid against them for allegedly cooking the books. Rival clubs, tired of being trampled on, eagerly awaited the cull.
A tribunal duly sat in judgement late last year with a verdict promised before the season ended. Well, we know seasons never really end, and a ruling never came. Suggested punishments ranged from relegation and a transfer ban to a fine. But how many petrodollars would it take to make an oil state blink?
The Abu Dhabi owners played for time. City does not just buy the best players, but the best lawyers, and the mood changed. City might get off, but we still wait.
But the four-time champions did wobble and their rebuild does not look complete. They were beaten by Al Hilal in the CWC, and pulled out of the race for Florian Wirtz, the most coveted player in Europe, until Alexander Isak spat the dummy. They did get two midfielders — Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders — for the price of Wirtz, but there are still holes in defence.
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With City’s case on the back burner, Liverpool’s spending has been the talk of the game. Owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) have morphed from skinflints to lottery winners. Last season, they spent £10 million, this season £300 million (RM1.7 billion) and counting.
They won the title with four games to spare and could have won more but for an untimely blip that cost them two cups — against Newcastle and PSG. They were already favourites to retain the title once they had kept hold of Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk.
But when Wirtz, for a British record £116 million, was followed by another £69 million on Hugo Ekitike, Kopites were pinching themselves. And now Isak wants to join. Sales, notably the £65 million for Luis Diaz, are raking it in, but this is still a monumental play by the owners. Remember Moneyball?
FSG has not forgotten it. Super ironic, the player everyone is talking about isn’t a shiny new import but Rio Ngumoha, a 16-year-old, who cost nothing from Chelsea. The kid felt his path was blocked by too many signings!
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Elsewhere, Arsenal have given up trying to prove you do not need a striker to win the title. They have spent big, but it looks a bit B-List with Viktor Gyokeres, the long-awaited striker, a tad underwhelming.
A flop at Brighton but a minor revelation at Coventry, the Swede did not find his feet until Sporting Lisbon. You feel that coming second this season would be a good result.
Tottenham, having ended their trophy drought and sacked the manager who did it, have also parted company with South Korean legend Son Heung-min. Dare it be said, they are beginning to look a bit “Spursy” again.
Chelsea may have finally found a striker in Joao Pedro, and there are also big hopes for Estevao Willian, the latest off Brazil’s Boy Wonder production line. The Blues were chuffed to win the CWC and should have enough players to cope if their arduous summer catches up with them.
The sixth EPL team in the Champions League is Newcastle, who may be the richest club in the world, but can’t unlock the safe. The Saudi zillions are no use against the Profit and Sustainability Rules — unless City wins its case. And they may lose their star (Isak) if they’re not careful.
As for Manchester United, they have a couple of pre-season wins and have been scoring goals. But they have a dodgy goalkeeper, Andre Onana, who is injured and has not been replaced. But they are chasing another striker even though they have already signed two, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. Isn’t this taking their fans’ “Attack, Attack, Attack” demand a little too literally?
If you are struggling to keep up, don’t worry: the official kick-off for the EPL is Aug 15, when champions Liverpool host Bournemouth. The rest of the league follows over the weekend. As Fellini said of life, the infinite passion just goes on.
This article first appeared on Aug 18, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
