We know there’s no such thing as a break in the football calendar so we’re back with another edition chock full of all the action to look out for as this summer’s major tournaments kick off around the world (but mainly in North America!).

FIFA Club World Cup

A lot has been written about the timing, and indeed the worth, of Gianni Infantino’s expanded Club World Cup tournament, not least by us - read Zach Lowy’s explainer on how we’ve reached this point here. So at risk of going over old ground, the 32-team jamboree, featuring teams from all six FIFA Confederations, gets underway in the US this weekend.

We start with Inter Miami, perhaps the side whose development is most important to FIFA’s desire to build the game in North America, up against Egypt’s Al-Ahly, the most decorated side in the history of African club football.

Al Ahly come in to the tournament fresh from lifting their third straight league title but they did miss out on a third straight CAF Champions League, and thus failed to extend their record of 12 wins in that particular tournament. Inter Miami probably need no introduction, what with captain Lionel Messi leading the line, but it bears mention that their form has been patchy in MLS this season. Javier Mascherano’s team are the top scorers in the 30-strong league, scoring 2.3 goals per game, but are also conceding goals at a rate of 1.7 goals per game - worse than 23 other sides across the East and West Conferences.

Newly crowned European champions PSG start their campaign with a tough all-UEFA clash against Atlético Madrid on Sunday.

Premier League representatives Chelsea kick off against Olivier Giroud’s LAFC on Monday before Manchester City’s new-look side face Wydad Casablanca next Wednesday. The same day that Xabi Alonso takes charge of his first game as manager of Real Madrid, with the reigning FIFA Intercontinental Cup champions taking on Saudi giants Al Hilal.

Follow Inter Miami in the first game of the tournament, Saturday 8pm EST, Sunday 1am BST

2025 Gold Cup

Somewhat amazingly, at least to the untrained eye, the CONCACAF Confederation are hosting what is supposed to be their garland event for national teams, the Gold Cup, at exactly the same time as FIFA are playing their new look competition, and in the same country.

Luckily, as you’ll know, the United States is huge, and northern neighbours Canada are helping out by staging some of these games there as well!

Much of the talk in the build up to this tournament has been the form - they’ve lost four on the bounce - and indeed, the make up of the USMNT squad that Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino has at his disposal.

Ordinarily, as the best ranked team in CONCACAF, the US would be going in to the next few weeks as favourites to claim back the title they last won in 2021. Instead, thanks to the high profile withdraws of established names like Christian Pulisic plus a number of key injuries, Pochettino is left with an mostly inexperienced and MLS-based squad.

To add further insult, Juventus pair Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah are going to be in the country, playing at the Club World Cup. Something we discuss further in this article from Alex Roberts - here.

Current holders Mexico, who have played themselves out of their own lean period, will therefore be confident of retaining the crown that they have won a record nine times. They start proceedings with a clash against the Dominican Republic.

Jesse Marsch’s Canada will also fancy their chances of adding to the one previous tournament win they have to their name. Since the 2024 Copa America, the Canucks have lost just one of their nine games - and that was to Mexico in the final of the CONCACAF Nations League held back in March. They’ve beaten the US twice in that run, and drawn with Mexico on another occasion.

The USMNT play Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday, 6pm EST, 11pm BST

Age group competitions

Back in Europe, UEFA are busy running through their various age group tournaments for junior mens national sides. Portugal impressed in the U17 Euros, beating France 3-0 in last Sunday’s final held in Albania. This week, the showpiece U21 Euros got underway in Slovakia, and now the U19 Euros are set to start today in Romania.

You can find coverage for those two going concerns in the app but here, we’ll focus on the U21 iteration. Favourites Spain and Germany both won their opening group games, as did Lee Carsley’s defending champions, England, with the Young Lions beating Czechia 3-1 on Thursday night.

Carsley’s starting XI included eight players who featured in the Premier League last season, with a further two that ply their trade in Ligue 1. England even had the luxury of bringing on Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri in the second half!

Next up, England face Slovenia on Sunday, before going on to play Germany next week. The clash with Germany should involve Stuttgart striker Nick Woltemade. He scored a hat-trick in their opening game having also just made his debut for the senior German side in last week’s Nations League finals.

The famous (to some) FotMob Predictor games have recently gone through a major overhaul and we have now launched three new and improved competitions over at predict.fotmob.com.

Just in time for summer, you can now predict the results in the Club World Cup, the Gold Cup, and the upcoming Women’s Euros. And, as always, you can create mini-leagues to challenge your friends.

The games are free to play and super intuitive - use your regular FotMob sign in method and access the predictors via the link above, or via the More tab in the app itself.

You can even join a mini-league for the Club World Cup that we’ve set up for readers of The Assist. Just click here to enter. We’ve got stickers and other FotMob merch to give away to the eventual winners!

If you’ve read this far, you’ll already know that two major international tournaments are taking place in the US over the next few weeks. A good excuse, you’d think, for MLS to take a well-earned break 18 rounds in to the 2025 season.

But no, Matchday 19 is carrying on regardless - as are, it should be noted, the other professional leagues based in North America (shoutout to our USL friends). Current Supporter’s Shield leaders, Vancouver Whitecaps face an inter-conference trip to Columbus Crew in Ohio while in the West, second face third as expansion side San Diego travel to Minnesota United.

MLS Cup holders LA Galaxy won last time out, playing their 17th match in what has already gone down as the worst title defence in the league’s history. They’ll be hoping to continue that recent uptick when they play St. Louis City on Saturday night.

Check when your MLS team are playing here

The riches on offer at the Club World Cup

FIFA’s expanded tournament has already disrupted the summer transfer window, and as Graham Ruthven writes in this recently published piece, the sheer amounts on offer in terms of prize money for the teams competing could seriously impact the competitiveness of their domestic leagues.

The state of play in World Cup qualifying

In case you, like this newsletter, took a week off from football, you may have missed a few of the events in the recently completed international break. Here, then, is a quickfire round up of where we stand in World Cup qualifying around the globe exactly one year out from the 2026 finals. It’s particularly good news if you happen to come from Uzbekistan.

Following in his brother’s footsteps

Jobe Bellingham sealed his big money move from the English Championship to the Bundesliga this week, joining Borussia Dortmund in a deal with more than a few similarities to one that brother Jude made back in 2020. In this piece, we explore what the midfielder can offer to his new side with a cold hard look at his profile, and his stats.