Chelsea world champions and Palmer the king of the world

Image: Fars Media Corporation courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Welcome to the latest edition of The Rest is Football newsletter, your weekly round-up of some of the stories and debates shared by Gary, Alan and Micah over the past week, with a few extra bits and pieces thrown in. 

If YOU’VE got a question for one or all of our TRIF trio then submit it using the form below for a chance to have it answered on the next TRIF questions episode. Leave your name, or don’t if you want to remain anonymous.

Chelsea world champions and Palmer the king of the world

The pod that dropped on Tuesday celebrated Chelsea becoming world champions by beating PSG in the augural final of the 32-club Club World Cup. Gary and Alex were recording from New York, having been to the match, which was a surprise 3-0 win for the London club against the reigning European champions.

Cole Palmer was the superstar of the show, scoring in the 22nd and 30th minutes before João Pedro added a third before the break in a tactical masterclass from Enzo Maresca. It was 90F (32C) in New Jersey for the final, but Palmer’s trademark shivery celebrations were more apt than ever after his sublime finishing.

“Chelsea did to PSG what happened in the previous round, what PSG did to Madrid,” Alan said, a reference to PSG’s 4-0 annihilation of Real Madrid in the semi-finals. "Chelsea did exactly the same to them. They absolutely batted them. I thought they were magnificent.”

Alex reminded us that in the pre-match build-up, nobody had expected Chelsea to school PSG and Maresca had actually seemed annoyed.

“I don't think anyone expected them to do that,” Alex said. “The day before in the press conference, when Maresca was asked, a journalist said to him, you're not going to have very much the ball, are you? He's like, what? Sorry. And he was really angry about that. So obviously he knew what he wanted to do.”

In the end, the final came down to a glorious occasion for one man, Palmer, already a star and suddenly a global superstar with a world trophy to show for it.

“He's just so chilled, isn't he, as well, the way he goes about things,” said Alex. “And I think maybe that worked in Chelsea's favour as well yesterday, the fact that he was never going to be overwhelmed by the occasion in a Club World Cup final against what the best team in the world, everyone was saying. He was just, you know, I can do this. And scored two brilliant goals and it just, yeah, like it's normal.”

A Trump takeover: the inevitable end of the CWC

Donald Trump not only attended the final but dominated the trophy presentation, as the TRIF gang discussed in the episode linked above. If you missed out on all the shenanigans then Jonathan Wilson in the The Guardian wrote a piece that covered it comprehensively.

As Wilson wrote: “Donald Trump placed himself front and centre of the celebrations – and he was soon joined by the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, who has a pathological fear of missing out, and must follow his great ally in all things.

“And so we were presented with a grimly perfect image of this misguided tournament, a celebrating football team struggling to be seen from behind the politicians who took centre stage. The confusion of Cole Palmer and Reece James at Trump’s continued presence was clear. History, and not just football history, will not forget such shameless grandstanding, or Fifa’s complicity in allowing football to be hijacked by a national leader.”

The new Club World Cup - a success?

In a second pod in the wake of the final, the TRIF gang assessed whether the new CWC had actually been a success. Before we get to their conclusions, it’s probably worth remembering that FIFA president Gianni Infantino knew he’d need to offer a massive prize fund to attract the biggest European clubs who already felt they had full workloads. And he didn’t want FIFA to fund it. So, in effect, Saudi Arabia funded it by taking a $1bn stake in DAZN just as DAZN paid $1bn for the global broadcasting rights. That $1bn became the prize fund, at pretty much the same time at the end of last year as Saudi Arabia were aware the hosting rights for the men’s 2034 World Cup in otherwise opaque circumstances. And so the football world turns.

Alex said the event was a success and you only needed to see Chelsea’s players’ joy at winning. She added that some early attendances were not great, but said trying telling fans from Fluminense or Al-Hilal or Chelsea that it wasn’t a hit.

Fluminense reached the semi-finals and won $60.8m prize money. Al-Hilal reached the quarter-finals after arguably the biggest upset of the whole tournament when they knocked out Manchester City, and went away with $34.2m prize money. And Chelsea, of course, won the whole thing, pocketing $114m.

Player welfare? It’s an issue

Alan and Gary both made the point that for the most elite players in the world, the calendar probably is now too congested and care needs to be taken about welfare.

"The international players and the top players that are playing for big clubs and big countries that are going deep into competitions, you have to think where is this going to stop for them, you know, and how are they going to be protected?” said Alan.

“I think that's a genuine issue, Alan,” said Gary. “And I think that's something that the game has got to somehow address.”

Gary also said some of the venues were too big for the earlier matches, and that was obviously true. You can see from this match-by-match attendance tracker that there were lots of games that were literally half full. And although by the end of the CWC the total capacity of the event had been 62% full, it was hit and miss.

Gary also mentioned - as Jude Bellingham did during the event - that the state of some of the American pitches was poor, and that was a concern ahead of the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico next summer.

Women’s Euro reaching boiling point after England thrashed Wales

Arguably the most important international football tournament of this summer is the one still unfolding in Switzerland - the women’s 2025 Euro.

England’s Lionesses ended up breezing through to the knockouts by thrashing Wales 6-1 in the final group game to reach a quarter-final against Sweden in Zurich yesterday.

Tournament favourites and world champions Spain play the hosts in Bern today before France and Germany meet in Basel tomorrow.

The semi-finals are on Tuesday and Wednesday before the final a week on Sunday in Basel.

The new season looms … and the money rumbles on

A month out from their first Premier League fixture of 2025-26 - away at Wolves on Saturday 16 August - and Manchester City have agreed a record new kit deal worth £1bn over 10 years with Puma.

As the BBC reported: “That figure surpasses the £90m deal signed by rivals Manchester United with Adidas in 2023, while champions Liverpool will also be with the same manufacturer from this season after agreeing a reported £60m a season.

“City have enjoyed an unprecedented period of success since 2019, claiming four Premier League titles as well as the Treble two years ago, but finished last season without a major trophy.”

One major issue that remains unresolved is the outcome of City’s so-called “115 charges” cases, under which they stand accused of more than 115 breaches of Premier League financial regulations. There was a 10-week hearing last Autumn and an independent panel are reportedly working on their judgement.

City maintain they are entirely innocent of all charges. The rest of the Premier League will be waiting with interest to see what if any movement we will see in the case in the near future.

Last season’s Premier League? £2.8bn split in basic prize money

The Premier League announced in recent days the final prize cash payments handed out to the 20 clubs in England’s top division last season. Here’s the breakdown, from £174.9m for champions Liverpool to £109.2m for Southampton. Clubs get more or less depending on how high they finish and how many times they appear live on TV in the UK. 

The 20 clubs split £2.83bn from “central funds”. 

And the money keeps turning …

With well over a month before the transfer window closes, Premier League clubs and other major teams around Europe are already doing major business.

These are biggest incoming summer deals to the Premier League, completed by midweek this week:

Player From To Cost

Florian Wirtz - Leverkusen to Liverpool - £116m

Matheus Cunha - Wolves to Man Utd - £62.5m

Joao Pedro - Brighton to Chelsea - £60m

Martin Zubimendi  - Real Sociedad to Arsenal - £56m

Anthony Elanga - Forest to Newcastle - £55m

Mohammed Kudus - West Ham to Tottenham - £54.5m

Jamie Gittens  - Dortmund to Chelsea - £48.5m

Tijani Reijnders - Milan to Man City - £46.6m

Milos Kerkez - Bournemouth to Liverpool - £40m

Jean-Clair Todibo - Nice to West Ham - £32.8m

Rayan Ait-Nouri - Wolves to Man City - £31m

Rayan Cherki - Lyon to Man City - £30.5m