Football News

A stat that stands the test of time Ten. That’s the number of players who have scored a hat-trick on the opening weekend of a Premier League season since 1992. Opta dug the figure out again a few days ago, just as the English top flight was getting back up and running. The first was…

Beckham still stands alone at the top Eighteen. That is where the Premier League’s direct free-kick record has sat since David Beckham left England, untouched through more than two decades of specialists having a go at it. Opta refreshed the numbers a few days ago, with the English season about to restart. The Manchester United…

A division the data cannot quite pin down Opta has run 10,000 simulations of the 2026-27 League Two season. Not one club reaches automatic promotion in more than 31% of them. Every one of the 24 teams goes up at least 68 times. Every one of them goes down at least 60 times. Grimsby Town…

Forty-six games, but not in the same order Everyone plays everyone else. Twice. One at home, one away. On paper, the Championship fixture list is perfectly fair. On paper. Opta has gone through the opening rounds with its Power Rankings, a system that rates more than 10,000 clubs on a scale from 0 to 100.…

The toughest league in the world Opta Power Rankings give the Premier League an average rating of 92.8. The Bundesliga comes next at 86.9. The gap between the two is almost as wide as the one separating the Bundesliga from the English Championship, which sits at 81.2. Eleven English clubs are in the global top…

Diomande, the 140 million gamble La Liga is back this weekend. Opta has picked nine players to watch over the 2026-27 season. The most expensive one leads the way. Yan Diomande was named Bundesliga rookie of the year after a season of 12 goals and eight assists with RB Leipzig. Only Lamine Yamal, with 27…

Cardiff, 20 years on The Community Shield is not being staged at Wembley this year. It is heading back to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium for the first time since 2006. That is not the only change. For the first time in 10 seasons, Arsenal will not look across the touchline and see Pep Guardiola. Enzo Maresca…

A return 13 years on Jose Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013. He is back on the Bernabeu touchline with a job that is simple to say and far harder to pull off: wrest control back from Hansi Flick’s Barca and make the club feel like a Champions League force again. His first spell was…

Arsenal start with the edge Opta ran 10,000 simulations of the 2026-27 Premier League season. Arsenal came out on top in 38% of them. The Gunners lifted the title in 2025-26, their first since 2004. Mikel Arteta is now chasing back-to-back crowns, something the club has not managed since 1934-35. The stat that backs up…