THE FIFA Club World Cup draw has been made and it is difficult to look beyond the European heavyweights as potential winners of the inaugural competition. Although the entrants from South America include Copa Libertadores winners Botafogo, Flamengo, River Plate, Palmeiras and Fluminense, clubs like Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid will surely be too strong for the CONMEBOL teams. The draw for the eight first stage groups underlines the imbalance between the participants. Real Madrid, for example, have Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia), Pachuca (Mexico) and Red Bull Salzburg. Manchester City are in the same group as Wydad AC (Morocco), Al Ain (UAE) and Juventus (Italy). The other Premier League club involved, Chelsea, will meet Flamengo (Brazil), Espérance de Tunis (Tunisia) and León (Mexico). One of the more interesting groups is B, which comprises Atlético Madrid (Spain), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Botafogo (Brazil) and Seattle Sounders (USA). The competition kicks off on June 14 in Miami when Inter Miami play Al-Ahly (Egypt).
SPAIN’s Aitana Bonmati has regained her position as the world’s number one in the Guardian’s top 100 women players. The 26 year-old midfielder is one of 14 from Barcelona and 15 Spanish players in the list. There are 14 from England with the highest-placed being Lauren James (23) who was 16th. Others include Lucy Bronze (24th), Alex Greenwood (52nd), Millie Bright (62nd) and Mary Earps (68th). The USA provides 12 players and France seven.
THE Ratcliffe honeymoon appears to be over at Old Trafford as Manchester United fans come to term with unpopular ticket price hikes. United made a loss of £ 113 million for the 2023-24 season and Ratcliffe admitted that “difficult and unpopular decisions” had to be made. He is now receiving criticism for increasing ticket prices mid-season and stopping concessions for children and senior citizens. This makes the lowest ticket prices at the club an astronomical £ 66 versus the £ 40 for adults and £ 25 for concessions that existed prior to the revision. The club has financial challenges, but the high level of debt is down to the club’s management. Manchester United is the biggest club in England and has 73,000 people at every home game. There may be signs that the fans have had enough, albeit small indications – for the visit of Nottingham Forest on December 7, there were tickets on general sale on the eve of the game, a very rare event indeed.
THE J-LEAGUE draws to a close this weekend with three teams in with a chance of winning the title. It has all come down to the last game, but current leaders Vissel Kobe are favourites as they face struggling Shonan Bellmare at home. Vissel are one point ahead of Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who are away to fourth placed Gamba Osaka, the team they beat a fortnight ago to win the Emperor’s Cup. In third are Machida Zelvia, who are in their debut season in the top flight. They are three points behind Vissel Kobe, but should the top two both lose and Machida win, they will be champions on goal difference. They have a difficult away game at Kashima Antlers, so despite a very exciting campaign, they look destined to miss out.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)