Innholdsfortegnelse for 30 July 2024 i MATCH!

LENY YORO £52.2m from Lille It looked destined that the France U21 centre-back was going to sign for Real Madrid this summer, but it seems they weren’t fast enough as Man. United jumped ahead of them! The 18-year-old wonderkid was part of the Ligue 1 Team of the Season in 2023-24, helping Lille finish fourth, and has potential to be world class! FLYNN DOWNES £18m from West Ham Southampton welcome back Downes to the club after he helped them get promoted to the Premier League last season while on loan! The midfielder played 33 league games for The Saints in 2023-24, so he’s not going to need time to settle at the club! AMADOU ONANA £50m from Everton After selling Douglas Luiz to Juventus, Aston Villa have replaced him with…

CHAMPIONSHIP PROMOTION BATTLE! MATCH reckons it could be a two-way fight for the title this season between Scott Parker’s recently relegated Burnley and last season’s play-off finalists Leeds! We think the battle for the play-offs could be another really open contest too, with the likes of Luton, West Brom, Middlesbrough and Norwich all expected to be contenders! GOAL MACHINES! Coventry’s Haji Wright impressed last season, while Burnley’s Zeki Amdouni could be a cheat code in the second tier! New Millwall striker Macaulay Langstaff will hope to settle quickly after top scoring in League Two last season for Notts County, while Boro’s Emmanuel Latte Lath and Luton’s Carlton Morris are deadly! YOUNG GUNS! Jude Bellingham’s younger bro Jobe has decided to stay at Sunderland, for now, despite Prem attention this summer…

When the rules of football were first being invented, organisers suggested games should last TWO HOURS rather than 90 minutes! Netherlands wear an orange kit because it’s the colour of the Dutch royal family – there’s no orange on their flag! 2 William Saliba has never committed more than two fouls in a Premier League game for Arsenal. Machine! 13 Ivan Toney practises taking penalties from 13 yards out instead of 12, so that the goal looks bigger when it comes to taking one in an actual game! There was tons of talk about Toney’s no-look penalty style at the Euros, but Sevilla star Lucas Ocampos scored a crazy one in the 2023 Europa League final! When he was a child, Timo Werner used to appear on Kinder chocolate bars…

THE BEGINNING! The London lad was snapped up by Villa’s academy when he was 15 years old after reportedly also having a trial at Brentford! During his time with Villa’s youth squads, he attracted attention from Euro giants like PSG and Barcelona but signed his first pro contract when he was 19 and made his senior debut in 2021! HULL HERO! After loan spells in the Championship with Stoke and Cardiff, he was sold to Hull last summer for an undisclosed fee – and was an instant hit! He was named The Tigers’ October Player of the Month and ended the season with a club-high 12 league goals, six assists and their Young Player of the Year award! BACK TO VILLA PARK! The right footed winger, who loves playing off…

MATCH PREDICTS! Get a load of MATCH’s League One table predictions! 1 BIRMINGHAM 2 BOLTON 3 HUDDERSFIELD 4 ROTHERHAM 5 PETERBOROUGH 6 BARNSLEY 7 CHARLTON 8 WREXHAM 9 BLACKPOOL 10 STOCKPORT 11 LEYTON ORIENT 12 READING 13 WIGAN 14 WYCOMBE 15 LINCOLN 16 BRISTOL ROVERS 17 EXETER 18 MANSFIELD 19 STEVENAGE 20 NORTHAMPTON 21 BURTON 22 CAMBRIDGE 23 SHREWSBURY 24 CRAWLEY PROMOTION BATTLE! Birmingham were relegated from the Championship by a single point last season! We’ve heard good things about new boss Chris Davies, who was assistant manager at Tottenham last season, so we think they’ll be straight back up, while play-off finalists Bolton are likely to be there or thereabouts again! STARS TO WATCH! Mansfield’s Davis Keillor-Dunn scored 22 goals and grabbed ten assists in League Two last season,…

DID YOU KNOW? At over 5,200 feet above sea level, the stadium has the highest elevation of any ground regularly used by MLS teams! STADIUM FACTS TEAM: Colorado Rapids BUILT: 2007 CAPACITY: 18,061 RECORD ATTENDANCE: 18,183 v Sporting Kansas, July 2024 NEAREST NEIGHBOUR: Real Salt Lake LONGEST LEAGUE JOURNEY: Vancouver Whitecaps, 1,440 miles COLLECT ALL 15!…

FLIP FOR IT! You’ve got a 50/50 chance of getting these teasers right. Tick the answer you think is correct! THE NICKNAME GAME! Match these EFL clubs with their awesome nicknames! TRANSFER TRACKER! Name the two Spanish sides Marc Cucurella was at before Brighton! the price is right! Match the stars with the fees their current club paid for them! ACE ACTIVITY WORDSEARCH Fit 20 English Football League clubs into the giant grid below! Barnsley Barrow Birmingham Coventry Doncaster Exeter Harrogate Hull Lincoln Luton Millwall Morecambe Northampton Reading Salford Stevenage Swindon Tranmere Walsall Watford MY SCORE /34 ANSWERS Flip For It: 1. Huddersfield; 2. Kobbie Mainoo; 3. Leeds; 4. The Shark; 5. Man. United; 6. The Wasps. The Nickname Game: 1B; 2A; 3D; 4C. Transfer Tracker: 2017-2020 Barcelona; 2020-21 Getafe.…

ERLING HAALAND MAN. CITY £15M The Man. City striker becomes the most expensive player in FPL history! COLE PALMER CHELSEA £10.5M Palmer’s change from £5m to £10.5m is the biggest FPL price increase ever! OLLIE WATKINS ASTON VILLA £9M Only two players bettered the Villa star for total FPL points in 2023-24! BRUNO FERNANDES MAN. UNITED £8.5M The Man. United points machine will surprisingly cost the same as last season! KAI HAVERTZ ARSENAL £8M The Arsenal man’s position change from midfielder to forward is a blow!…

ONE-TIME WINNERS 13 Only one of the last 13 teams to lift the Community Shield have gone on to win the Premier League title that season – Man. City in 2018-19! 18 Arsenal legend Cesc Fabregas is the game’s youngest goalscorer this century after he busted net in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in 2005. He was 18 years and 95 days old! 2 Ex-Leicester striker Kelechi Iheanacho is one of just two players in the 21st century (in 2021) to net a penalty in the Community Shield – excluding shootouts! 10 Apart from Wembley, Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge has hosted the most Community Shield clashes! RECORDS! MOST GAMES Ryan Giggs Man. United 14 MOST MANAGER WINS Sir Alex Ferguson Man. United 10 MOST GOALS Dixie Dean & Harold Halse 6 100 The highest-ever…

PROMOTION BATTLE! We genuinely think this could be one of the most open League Two title races in years! None of the League One relegated sides scream instant promotion, so we think last season’s fourth and fifth – MK Dons and Doncaster – are the favourites. Gillingham could be a surprise side under new gaffer Mark Bonner! STARS TO WATCH! Notts County’s Jodi Jones was League Two’s Player of the Season in 2023-24 after racking up an English-record 24 assists, so he’s always great fun to watch! MK Dons have made a few standout signings in midfielder Liam Kelly, centre-back Sam Sherring and former Spurs and Swansea midfielder Tom Carroll! GOAL MACHINES! We’ve said we think Donny will do well this season, and striker Joe Ironside will be key to…

Euro 2024 memories! Daniel and Finlay went to Germany to follow Scotland at Euro 2024 and met Laura Woods and Paul McGinn. Cool! Quality trophy! We loved Freddie’s awesome trophy design for the Euros! Sizzling strips! Federico has already designed Juventus’ shirts for the 2025-26 season. Make it happen, adidas! Shaw-stopper! Check out Bella’s brilliant Luke Shaw poster! He's going to love it when he sees it! Legendary drawing! Top marks to Rufus for this jaw-dropping drawing of Italy icon Giorgio Chiellini! SEND YOUR PICTURES TO… Email: match.magazine@kelsey.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/matchmagazine X: www.twitter.com/matchmagazine…