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The Assist: The Champions League Final and beyond
PSG vs. Inter, plus the other continental finals taking place this weekend, and a lookahead to the near future in football
The main event in Munich dominates the schedule this Saturday, but before this newsletter goes in to summer mode, with more intermittent updates, we thought we would highlight what else is going on in your FotMob match feed and how we can keep you up to date over the European offseason.
PSG vs. Inter
We’re not going to insult you. We know that you know all about Saturday’s showdown between Luis Enrique’s impressively reshaped PSG side, and the stoic, tactically astute Inter team produced by Simone Inzaghi.
So instead, we thought we’d point you in the direction of some essential pre-match reading that we’ve made available via the app this week. Firstly, as with all big games covered by FotMob, there’s the main match preview, which you can check out - here.
Next, we have a background piece from David Skilling, which looks at the culture of the two finalists, and what a Champions League triumph would mean for both. Read more on that - here.
Then we have a super rare sit down interview with Macedonian legend Goran Pandev. Before he became something of a Serie A cult hero, Pandev was actually part of José Mourinho’s treble-winning Inter side back in 2009/10, and spent a number of seasons as the strike partner of Simone Inzaghi at Lazio.
Pandev is therefore well placed to give us some insight in to Inter’s chances this weekend, which he does - here.
Champions of Africa
Just ahead of their European counterparts, CAF will also crown the champions of their federation’s primary competition.
Here, South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns travel to Pyramids FC from (you guessed it!) Egypt for what is the deciding second leg of this contest. The game is currently tied at 1-1 after Moroccan striker Walid El Karti scored a dramatic stoppage time equaliser for Pyramids in front of 50,000 fans last weekend.
Saudi-backed Pyramids were only founded 18 years ago and are participating in their first CAF Champions League final. Only Moroccan or Egyptian sides have won it in the years since Mamelodi Sundowns last lifted the trophy back in 2016, so the South Africans are looking to take the title back south of the equator.
Mexico vs. Canada
The Concacaf Champions Cup, which reverted to it’s original name having been known as the Concacaf Champions League in recent years, is another major continental honour up for grabs this weekend.
Six-time winners Cruz Azul, one of Mexican football’s Grandes, have home advantage for this one, with the final being played at their temporary home in Mexico City, the Estadio Olímpico Universitario.
The venue was determined by a seeding based on performances earlier in the competition, making the task of visiting MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps all the more difficult.
The Canadians are playing in a continental final for the first time but should be confident having impressed under Danish coach Jesper Sørensen, who only joined the club this year. Whitecaps have not only recorded their best ever start to a league season, but have also beaten Inter Miami and two other Liga MX sides, Monterrey and Pumas, to make it this far.
Two favourites from previous editions of The Assist newsletter feature in Sunday’s season finale in Switzerland.
Biel/Bienne, the bilingual city more famous for being the home of watchmakers Rolex, Swatch and Omega, now has a third-tier football club to be proud of. They became the first ‘amateur’ side to reach the Swiss Cup final since 1999 when they beat the mighty Young Boys in the semis.
Now they must face the resurgent force that is FC Basel, the newly crowded Super League champions that have been turbo-powered by Xherdan Shaqiri, who returned to his boyhood club this season. The former-Liverpool, Bayern, and Inter striker scored 18 goals and recorded 21 assists in 34 league games.
Back in the big time?
The curtain finally comes down on the English football calendar with the National League playoff final taking place at Wembley on Sunday. This game decides the second promotion spot from non-league up to League Two and that all-important football league status for the winners.
This year, we have two famous former-EFL clubs who have suffered financial ruin and near extinction, and are looking to get back to the relative big time. As a result, we could see a crowd of up to 50,000 in attendance for a game between two fifth tier clubs.
Oldham Athletic were founding members of the Premier League back in 1991/92, following the reorganisation of the top division, but fell from grace and eventually slipped out of the football league in 2022.
Facing them are Southend United, who, having finally seen off their disastrous former owners, are back on the up and looking to reverse the back-to-back relegations that saw them go from League One to non-league between 2019/20 and 2020/21.
Literal look to the future
To kick off a summer run of international tournaments that includes both the U21 Euros and the Women’s Euros, UEFA have been playing the 2025 edition of the U17 Euros in Albania over the last week or so.
And after a group stage and one knockout round, we’re left with France and Portugal in the showpiece final. The Portuguese were beaten by Italy in last year’s final but got their revenge with a penalty shootout win over the tournament favourites in Thursday’s semifinals.
The two finalists actually played out a 0-0 draw in the group stage but since then, France have scored 10 goals across three goals, including three for young Saint-Etienne talent Djylian N'Guessan.
FIFA’s big ticket
With FIFA having barred Club León from participation in the Club World Cup this summer, the organisers now need to find another team to take their place — preferably one that doesn’t share ownership with another of the competing teams (Pachuca and Club León share an affiliation on that front).
In their wisdom, FIFA have organised a one-off playoff game, with the winners taking up the vacant spot in Chelsea’s group at the 32-team competition which starts in a little over two weeks.
MLS side LAFC feature, due to them being beaten by Club León in the 2023 final of the Concacaf Champions Cup, and they face Mexican side Club América, who are the highest ranked side in the federation not already competing.
You can watch every game at the Club World Cup for free on DAZN.
We have two unlikely finalists in the playoffs that decide the current league season in Argentina’s top division. There’s no River Plate, no Boca Juniors, not even a Racing or a San Lorenzo this year.
This time it’s Huracán, a side named after the hot air balloon flown by famous Argentine aviator Jorge Newbery, and now nicknamed Globo, which translates to Balloon. And Platense, a side famous for their brown shirts and a nickname of Calamar, or squids, which is said to derive from one journalist’s rather colourful description of their play.
Platense only returned to the top flight in 2022 after decades in the wilderness and now have a shot at a first ever title. Huracán have plenty of history, but it is mainly that, with their last league title won over 50 years ago.
This could be a lot of fun.
Based on the best average FotMob player ratings across the season, and then using a bit of magic that decides a formation and an XI with the highest overall rating, we’ve selected our Team of the Season for 2024/25. For all the reasoning and the stats, check out this article.
While Inter prepare for the Champions League final, all is not well across the corridors at San Siro. Milan have endured their worst finish to a Serie A season since 2015, and for their fans, the backlash against ownership group RedBird has never been so prevalent. Published prior to the sacking of Sérgio Conceição, Graham Ruthven took a look at where things have gone wrong this year.
Enjoying footballing success after leaving Old Trafford might be all the rage at the moment but England international Angel Gomes did it before it was cool. Now though, with his Lille contract running out, the diminutive midfielder is one of the most in demand free agents around this summer, and looks set to join a Premier League club.
Transfer Season is upon us and two things are certain: the decade-long Man United “rebuild” will continue, and Brighton will sign someone you’ve never heard of and sell them to your club for £50m in two years’ time. You can track all of that, and more, with our Transfer Center.
Then, get notified of all the top deals as they come in by opening the app and going to More > Notifications > Confirmed Transfers. There, you can turn on alerts for specific teams, or simply the top transfers globally.