Match Day 45
5 things from the world of football that you need to know about...
Welcome and welcome back my fellow readers.
1. FIFA Shuffle
Starting in 2026, FIFA is combining the usual September and October international breaks into one longer window, allowing national teams to play up to four matches instead of splitting them across two separate pauses. The total number of international games doesn’t change, but the structure does: instead of two two-week interruptions, clubs will deal with a single three-week gap. The idea is to give leagues a bit more flexibility in their schedules. This shift was approved in 2023 and will debut with the opening rounds of the 2026–27 Nations League, meaning Premier League and other European clubs will play their last matches around September 19–20 before shutting down until early October.
This neat video above does a great job of breaking it all down.
2. Intentionality Is Blue
Manchester City Women are the latest club to drop lifestyle wear made and representative of the women’s team. The cool part is who made it: AFTA Studios, a women-founded creative team that actually lives and breathes the culture of the women’s game. The collection features a bold “Love This City” graphic with Miedema, Hasegawa, Bunny Shaw, Greenwood, Hemp, and Casparij front and center, finally giving the women’s squad the kind of representation fans have been asking for.
The players are enjoying it as well! They’ve called out how good it feels to wear something that truly reflects them and gives young girls gear that feels connected to the team, not an afterthought. It’s cozy, lifestyle-first, and honestly just fun. Another seemingly small but meaningful step in women’s football owning its own aesthetic lane.
3. Working In Silence
The American athletic and lifestyle brand New Balance is once again joining forces with Italian fashion house Stone Island. The first collaboration blessed us with a camo-forward collection in 2022, and almost three years later, a second installment is ready to drop.
2025 marks the 10th year that New Balance has fully leaned into its role as football’s cool outsider brand. It’s clear they’re not trying to be Nike or Adidas—they’re working their magic in their own way.
Their influence goes far beyond football. New Balance has quietly built an impressive portfolio of top athletes. Shohei Ohtani from Major League Baseball is probably the biggest acquisition, with impeccable timing, and steps outside of sports with Barcelona native, Rosalia, on the brands roster as well. However, when NB signed Bukayo Saka, it showed they were serious about football. Adding young phenom Endrick, now at Real Madrid, only confirmed that they’re playing for keeps. They’ve even brought in NWSL and Canadian star Jordyn Huitema. I’ll stress it again, its crucial: any brand not incorporating women footballers is behind.
Right now, NB might be one of the most consistently interesting brands in football, and their ongoing collaboration with Stone Island keeps them there.
4. We Talkin’ Bout Practice
That’s right. We are talking about the men’s Nigeria National Team boycotting practice this week due to unpaid wages that go back a few years. It wasn’t disclosed what sort of agreements were made, but team captain, William Troost-Ekong, announced Thursday that the standoff was over, and that the team was back to being focused on qualifying for the world cup.
Makes you wonder how significant of a debt was owed that the players felt it necessary to demand attention, at the possible expense of distracting from world cup dreams. Good news is, they cruised passed Gabon, and are one win away from an intercontinental playoff spot.
5. Hang On! Change Is Amongst Us…Again
First, Major League Soccer is set to change it’s format once again. However, this time, it might be for the better.
This past Thursday it was voted and approved for MLS to change its schedule and format to align with the rest of the world in a spring-summer format, with a winter break in-between.
Candidly, it feels like the league is finally admitting the current rhythm just isn’t it. Too many gaps, too much confusion for casual fans, and a calendar that doesn’t respect global football flow.
So you may be thinking, buy why?
Well here are a few of the reasons the league cited it would make sense to change calendars starting in 2027.
Aligning MLS with the global football calendar will make it easier to sign top players and maximize outbound transfer value. In addition moving the primary transfer window to the offseason allows clubs to avoid losing key players mid-season and gives new signings time to settle before the first match. You know, like the rest of the world. (lol)
Additionally, syncing the league schedule with FIFA windows reduces roster disruptions and makes MLS more attractive to players who want consistent national team involvement. If you watch MLS, you know there are times of the season when you wonder why perhaps your teams best players are suddenly not in the starting 11 only to find out they’re on international duty. But what about the club!? This change will eliminate that.
The league has also apparently entertained the idea of changing the MLS Cup format, which lord knows it needs to be changed.
Now you’re probably thinking, but how? Follow me here.
Excellent question! Glad we’re on the same page. The 2026 league will start and end as currently scheduled. However in 2027, MLS is planning a shortened season: about 14 regular-season matches running from February through May, with the MLS Cup Playoffs squeezed into that same month. Even though it’s a condensed schedule, everything still counts—Supporters’ Shield, MLS Cup, and spots in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Is it weird? Yes. However it wouldn’t make sense to just stop playing for 6 months.
After the awkward micro season, the league takes a pause until mid-July 2027. That’s when a brand-new, re-aligned calendar kicks in. From July 2027 to April 2028, clubs would play a full 34-game slate, with the MLS Cup Playoffs pushed to June 2028 under this new format.
Stay with me. I know it’s a lot of information. We’re almost done.
Lastly, MLS has announced it’s knocking down the paywall! That’s right! MLS Season Pass is going bye bye. Starting in 2026, MLS will still be exclusive to Apple TV, but a separate subscription to the league will not longer be a hurdle.
Seemingly, MLS changed everything except the thing they should have scrapped first, the salary cap. But I digress.
I wonder where they’ll slot the All-Star game, ha.