12:25 PM ET By now, you’ve undoubtedly pored over your club’s 2021 schedule, circling days on the calendar for every rivalry matchup, and if you’re really ambitious (and vaccinated), looking into flights and hotels for that special trip to watch your team in an away venue. It’s an exciting time of year that doesn’t leave
Football
11:49 AM ET How much will one of the European giants have to pay to sign Erling Haaland when the transfer window opens on July 1? Borussia Dortmund want in the region of €180m for the prolific striker, according to ESPN sources. If Borussia Dortmund keep him another season, then they could lose him for
10:02 AM ET It is a new and exciting problem for a fan of the U.S. men’s national team: how does one keep up with all the promising Americans in Europe? Even the 2002 team that nearly made the World Cup semifinals was only peripherally on the European radar: midfielder Claudio Reyna was at Sunderland,
5:00 AM ET Borussia Dortmund have set their fee for Erling Haaland, while TikTok is proving a nuisance at Barcelona. ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest. Jump to: TikTok torment at Barcelona | La Liga’s battle with drones | Bale future unclear despite Madrid claims | Bailly’s fears over Man United defender search | Roma,
6:59 PM ET LONDON — Gareth Southgate was always going to win his 50th game in charge of England. Despite the old cliche that there are no easy games in international football, the reality is always rather different when San Marino are the opponents. There are 210 teams in the FIFA World Rankings and San
6:24 PM ET Such has been the progression of U.S. talent, both domestically and abroad over the last 18 months, that the question facing U.S. men’s national team manager Gregg Berhalter isn’t so much where players are going to come from, but rather where to put them. As we found out on Thursday, this is
4:24 PM ET As soon as Daryl Dike finishes a game with club side Barnsley, the critiques come rolling in. They don’t come from coaches or teammates or from social media. Rather they come from Dike’s family. There’s brother Bright, a former pro, as well as sisters Courtney (a former Nigeria international), Kimberly and Brittny.
9:39 AM ET Cruyff’s death in 2016 shocked the soccer world, but he lives on through the big clubs, and big coaches, that he inspired and shaped in his image. David Davies/Offside via Getty Images Written underneath the statue of Johan Cruyff outside Barcelona‘s Camp Nou stadium is the phrase “Salid y disfrutad” (“go out and
3:29 PM ET United States men’s national team midfielder Christian Pulisic said he wants to play in this summer’s Olympic Games if the Americans qualify, though he admits he “can’t control” whether club side Chelsea would permit him to play. – An oral history of U.S. men’s 2000 Olympic medal-round run– Rapinoe to Congress: Inequality
7:00 AM ET Alphonso Davies is on course to be one of football’s biggest stars of the decade. At 20, the Canada international is already a Champions League winner with Bayern Munich and rated as one of the best defenders in the world, but it is his backstory, as a child born in a refugee
5:06 AM ET Let’s imagine for the sake of argument that while Erling Haaland is not on the transfer market, his contract is definitely available. He has a queue of suitors and Borussia Dortmund stand to triple their investment a year ahead of the Norway forward’s reported €75 million release clause kicking in, making him
5:00 AM ET The 2021 summer transfer window is likely to follow a similar path to the January one, when clubs were hindered by the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there could still be some big names on the move, even if the days of a €100 million-plus transfer are gone (for now).
9:30 AM ET The U.S. women feature heavily on the first-ever ESPN FC Women’s Rank, though there’s tough competition all over the globe for top honors. ESPN While 2020 might have thrown everything it could in the way of women’s soccer, leagues and clubs fought to get players back on the pitch and give us enthralling
11:37 AM ET Where to begin after a whirlwind weekend in soccer? Barcelona put six past Real Sociedad in La Liga (and created a lot of good vibes among Lionel Messi & Co.), Man United were dumped out of the FA Cup and Juventus may have gone from trying to cling to their Serie A
11:54 AM ET The U.S. made an improbable run to the medal round at the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia. Tony Quinn When the United States U23 men’s national team kicked off in the Olympic qualifying tournament, it did so understanding that the only meaningful way to measure success would be simple: qualify. Anything short of
7:56 AM ET In May 2018, Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward gave what he described as a “very simple and candid” response to a question about whether success on the pitch made a difference to the club’s earning power off it: “Playing performance doesn’t really have a meaningful impact on what we can do
2:19 PM ET The battle for Arsenal‘s soul goes on. It is an exhilarating and exasperating watch in equal measure, a team so astonishingly intent on reminding everyone of the best and worst of themselves each time they take to the field. Which is the real Arsenal? The one that was so utterly insipid for
3:57 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent LEICESTER, England — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made no secret of desire to win competitions more important than the FA Cup, but Manchester United’s 3-1 defeat to Leicester at the quarterfinal stage will remind the Norwegian that, ultimately, he needs better players to get him where he wants to be.