World Football

The presence of Lionel Messi wasn't enough to make Inter Miami the most valuable MLS franchise for 2025.

Los Angeles FC retained that title with a total valuation of $1.28 billion, per Sportico. Inter Miami did at least vault into the No. 2 spot ($1.19 billion). Atlanta United ($1.08 billion) fell two places to No. 4.

Five MLS teams are estimated to be worth $1 billion or more, with New York City FC becoming the newest member of the group. When Sportico first conducted this exercise in 2021, nobody reached that threshold. LAFC was the closest at $860 million.

Another sign of MLS' robust financial health is that the people behind San Diego FC had to pay a $500 million expansion fee in 2023, up from the $325 million it took to make Charlotte FC a reality in 2019.

MLS still has a long way to go to be considered one of the top soccer leagues in the world, and it may never actually get there. Money alone doesn't make up for the years and decades of history the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and others have established.

But the 10-figure valuations speak for themselves.

For a long time, American soccer fans have lamented the absence of a traditional promotion/relegation system in the country. Being a closed league has helped set MLS apart in another way, though.

Sportico's Kurt Badenhausen detailed last May how prospective investors were drawn to MLS in part because they don't have to face the threat that a relegation would pose. Dropping into a second division would mean less prestige and much less revenue. With MLS, on the other hand, the bottom line doesn't change too much regardless of whether you finish first or last.

The San Jose Earthquakes were comfortably the worst team in MLS, their 21 points putting them nine below Chicago Fire FC in 28th. The Earthquakes' valuation on Sportico climbed by seven percent to $600 million.

The group stage of the UEFA Champions League officially came to a close on Wednesday and the standings are now final.

Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter, Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa have all guaranteed their place in the round of 16, while the teams in the Nos. 9-24 positions will now be paired up in home-and-away knockout playoffs to determine the final eight teams that qualify for the round of 16.

The draw for those matchups will be held on Friday at 6 a.m. ET.

We'll use No. 22 Manchester City—who have a brutal path to the round of 16—to explain how the draw will work.

In the new system, the Citizens will face either No. 11 Real Madrid or No. 12 Bayern Munich, depending on Friday's draw. They would play the first of those games on either Feb. 11 or 12 and the second leg on either Feb. 18 or 19.

Once the playoffs are sorted, the round of 16 and knockout phase draw will be held on Feb. 21. Round-of-16 games will be held on March 4-5 and March 11-12, followed by the quarterfinals (April 8-9; April 15-16), semifinals (April 29-30; May 6-7) and the final on May 31.

As for how the draw will work for the eight teams that automatically qualified for the round of 16, No. 1 seed Liverpool and No. 2 Barcelona will only be eligible to play one each of No. 15 PSG, No. 16 Benfica, No. 17 Monaco and No. 18 Brest, depending on which two teams advance and how the Feb. 21 draw goes.

Likewise, No. 3 Arsenal and No. 4 Inter are only eligible to draw one each of No. 13 AC Milan, No. 14 PSG, No. 19 Feyenoord and No. 20 Juventus.

No. 5 Atlético and No. 6 Bayer Leverkusen are only eligible to draw one each of No. 11 Real Madrid, No. 12 Bayern Munich, No. 21 Celtic and No. 22 Manchester City. That's probably the most loaded segment of the bracket.

And finally, No. 7 Lille and No. 8 Aston Villa are only eligible to draw one each of No. 9 Atalanta, No. 10 Borussia Dortmund, No. 23 Sporting and No. 24 Club Brugge.

Neymar won't be heading to Major League Soccer after all.

The Brazilian star is reportedly signing with Santos and will be leaving Al Hilal, effective immediately, according to football reporter Fabrizio Romano:

Paul Tenorio and Mario Cortegana of The Athletic reported earlier in January that the Chicago Fire had "held discussions" to bring Neymar to the United States, but added that "MLS is not currently a priority for Neymar and his family, despite the exploratory dialogue between his camp and representatives of the Fire."

Neymar, 32, made just seven appearances for Al Hilal across 18 months, in large part due to a torn ACL and meniscus he suffered in Oct. 2023 while playing for the Brazilian national team.

Two weeks ago, Al Hilal manager Jorge Jesus told reporters the star winger "can no longer play at the level we are used to," and Neymar wasn't even registered to play for the team in the first half of the season. That, combined with his pending free agency after the season, made him a candidate to be transferred during the January window, and Al Hilal ultimately terminated his contract.

Per ESPN's Jeff Carlisle, Neymar is expected to sign a six-month contract with Santos, retaining his free agency ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

He was potentially leaving around $65 million on the table by terminating his contract with Al Hilal, according to Carlisle, though "sources told ESPN he could make up at least some of the shortfall by having himself and his father, Neymar Santos Sr., become part of an investment fund that includes shares in Santos. However, ESPN Brazil is reporting that Neymar is still determined to recoup the money from Al Hilal and that any deal involving shares in Santos would be extremely difficult to execute in the short term."

Carlisle also noted that Neymar and Al Hilal ultimately came to an agreement on a contract termination, though it's unknown how much money he recouped.

As for Santos, Neymar will return to the club where he began his professional career in 2009 and spent four years before his famous stints at Barcelona and PSG. Santos won promotion back to Brazil's Serie A in November after winning the Serie B title and will begin its Campeonato Paulista campaign on Jan. 29 against São Bernardo.

Santos is one of the most prestigious clubs in Brazil and has launched the careers of a number of other stars, including Pelé, Robinho and Rodrygo.

Mauricio Pochettino pushed all the right buttons on Wednesday night.

Zack Steffen was impenetrable in goal, Brian White and Caden Clark each opened their USMNT accounts and the Americans romped to a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica at Orlando's Inter&Co Stadium.

Normally, White and Clark each scoring their debut goals for the USMNT would have stolen all the headlines. Patrick Agyemang scoring goals in consecutive matches would have been a candidate for the top storyline as well.

But Steffen—who was a fairly shocking choice as the starting goalkeeper after not making an appearance for the USMNT since March 2022—could not be ignored after a pair of astonishing saves:

So USMNT fans and pundits alike had plenty of options when it came to doling out praise, and they didn't hesitate to spread the love:

Steffen was not a part of the plans under former manager Craig Berhalter in the past few years, but Poch indicated back in October that Steffen would be given the opportunity to earn a place with the team, rostering him for friendlies against Panama and Canada.

"We know him, and I think he deserved the opportunity to be with us," he told reporters. "Of course, we always put all the circumstances when we made the decision, but I think he deserved the opportunity to be with us. That is our first roster; I explained a little bit that we were working from the distance, with all the [U.S. Soccer] analysis guys there, just trying to find and to see who is the best squad or the best balance. And I think it's a good opportunity to see him and analyze, but not only with him, all the players that are involved in the roster."

"Everybody knows that [Pochettino] came in and said that there are spots open, and that he wants there to be competition in every position," Steffen told Tom Hindle of Goal.com earlier in January. "That's my mindset. I want to get back to number one."

He has a long way to go in that regard, but he's clearly shown Pochettino enough to earn the start on Wednesday. And the United States' goalkeeper situation is in a bit of flux at the moment, leaving a glimmer of hope for Steffen yet.

He certainly took advantage of his opportunity against Costa Rica.

Chelsea have reportedly agreed to pay the San Diego Wave a record-setting $1.1 million transfer fee for USWNT star defender Naomi Girma, per Meg Linehan of The Athletic.

Girma—who is still negotiating a new contract with the Blues, per that report—would become the first woman to ever secure a transfer fee over $1 million.

According to Linehan, Lyon was also in hot pursuit of Girma and was willing to exceed $1 million in a transfer fee, and interest around Europe was widespread, though Arsenal reportedly were "not among the final contenders."

Girma is one of the top defenders in the world and arguably the best center-back in the women's game at the moment.

"She's the best defender I've ever seen," USWNT head coach Emma Hayes told reporters during the 2024 Paris Olympics, as Girma played every minute for her country and earned a gold medal in the process. "Ever."

Alongside that gold medal, her career accomplishments include 44 career appearances for the USWNT; winning the NWSL Shield and Challenge Cup with the Wave; the Women's College Cup at Stanford; and being named the 2022 NSWL Rookie of the Year, the NSWL Defender of the Year in both 2022 and 2023 and the U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2023.

The fact that she wasn't among the finalists for the 2024 women's Ballon d'Or was shocking. Her USWNT teammates, Sophia Smith, Lindsey Horan and Mallory Swanson, were all ranked in the top 10.

"Yes, we could sit here all day and say Girma should be there—which she should—so for that reason, we're still not getting all those things right in the women's game," Hayes told reporters at the time. "But recognizing the talent of our players on the world stage is something that I know our players are extremely proud of, so really good all round for us."

But Chelsea clearly see Girma as one of the sport's truly elite players, breaking transfer records to bring her to London.

Playing their first match of 2025, the United States Men's National Soccer Team defeated Venezuela 3-1 in an international friendly at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Saturday.

Philadelphia Union midfielder Jack McGlynn and Charlotte FC striker Patrick Agyemang each scored goals late in the first half to put the United States up for good in their senior national team starting debuts.

Since European clubs are not in the midst of an international break, the USMNT was without most of its top stars, including Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Weston McKinnie, Timothy Weah and Matt Turner.

The squad was made up almost entirely of MLS players, and six of the 11 starters earned their first cap as a member of the senior national team Saturday.

The USA squandered a golden opportunity in the third minute of the match when Matko Miljevic was denied on a penalty kick, and there was no scoring for the first 36 minutes.

However, McGlynn broke through in the 37th minute with a long-range, left-footed blast to put the USMNT up 1-0:

Just two minutes later, Agyemang took a feed from Miljevic and confidently beat Venezuelan goalkeeper Wuilker Faríñez to extend the lead to 2-0:

In the 61st minute, Miljevic got some retribution for his earlier penalty miss by scoring in his USMNT debut as well:

Given the youth on the USMNT roster, several fans took to X to praise the performance of the up-and-coming players and the team as a whole:

Mauricio Pochettino was named the USMNT manager back in September, replacing Gregg Berhalter, and he scored his fourth victory in five matches at the helm Saturday.

The 52-year-old Argentinian previously managed several high-profile clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, and he was chosen as the head coach to take Team USA to the next level.

The USMNT has seemingly played a more aggressive, attacking style during his brief tenure, and that was on full display once again Saturday, as the Americans dominated play with 66 percent of the possession and 10 shots on goal compared to Venezuela's three.

With the United States playing an exciting brand of soccer, Pochettino received his proverbial flowers from many on social media Saturday:

Since the USMNT didn't have anything close to its best squad on the pitch against Venezuela, the result conceivably bodes well for what Pochettino can do with his top players.

The win also may have offered a glimpse into the future of the USMNT, as McGlynn, Agyemang and others perhaps put themselves on the radar for future caps.

The group that played Saturday will get one more chance to impress Wednesday when the USMNT goes to Orlando to face Costa Rica in a friendly.

After that, the USMNT's next match will have higher stakes, as the Americans will host Panama in a CONCACAF Nations League tilt on March 20 in Los Angeles.

Having led Manchester City to Premier League titles in each of his first two seasons with the club, Erling Haaland has been rewarded with a historic contract extension.

City announced on Friday that Haaland signed a 10-year deal that runs through the summer of 2034.

Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but ESPN's Rob Dawson reported it ranks "among the most lucrative contracts in sports history."

Dawson noted that Haaland's previous deal ran until 2027 and included buyout clauses, but those have been removed from the new contract.

There had been speculation that Haaland was seeking a release clause to do a new deal with City because of his rumored interest in eventually joining Real Madrid.

It's difficult to rank world football contracts because exact financial details are often difficult to parse out.

ESPN's Chris Wright did note the length of Haaland's new deal compares to past contracts for superstars like Denilson (10 years from Real Betis), Lionel Messi (nine years from Barcelona) and Cesc Fàbregas (eight years from Arsenal).

Just looking at the richest contracts in North American pro sports history, the most lucrative belong to Juan Soto of the New York Mets (15 years, $765 million) and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers (10 years, $700 million).

They are the only players known to have contracts that are currently worth at least $500 million. Patrick Mahomes' 10-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs originally signed in July 2020 contained escalators and mechanisms that could bring its value up to $503 million.

Haaland signed with Man City in May 2022 after he spent two years with Borussia Dortmund. The 24-year-old has scored 79 goals in 87 appearances with the Blues. He set a Premier League record for most goals through three games in a season to start the 2024-25 campaign when he scored seven times, including back-to-back hat tricks against Ipswich Town and West Ham.

Man City has won four straight Premier League titles dating back to the 2020-21 season. He has kept the Blues atop the standings in his first two years.

City currently ranks sixth in the 2024-25 Premier League standings with a 10-5-6 record through 21 matches. Haaland will ring in his new contract on Saturday when he leads City against Ipswich Town.