Дэлхийн аварга шалгаруулах тэмцээн өндөрлөснөөс хойш таван долоо хоногийн дараах байдлаар томоохон одод шинэ клубтээ нэгдэж, Европын лигүүд эхлээд байна.
Дэлхийн аваргын шилдэг тоглогчоор нэрлэгдсэн Родри Манчестер Ситигээс Барселона руу 76.5 сая еврогоор шилжин ирж, Испанийн Ла лигт эргэн ирлээ. Европын аваргуудын лигт түрүүлэх зорилготой Реал Мадрид Килиан Мбаппег эгнээндээ нэгтгэсэн бол Челси клуб Морган Рожерсийг 117 сая фунтээр элсүүлж, түүхэн наймаа хийв. Түүнчлэн Манчестер Сити 116 сая фунтээр Эллиот Андерсоныг авч, бүрэлдэхүүнээ хүчирхэгжүүлсэн байна.
Лионель Месси Интер Майамид үргэлжлүүлэн тоглож байгаа ч цаашид карьераа үргэлжлүүлэх эсэх дээр эргэлзэж буйгаа илэрхийлжээ. Харин Кристиано Роналду энэ улирал нь түүний сүүлийн улирал байж магадгүй хэмээн мэдэгдсэн ба тэрээр 1000 гоолын босгыг давахаар зорин тоглож байна. Эмильяно Мартинез Астон Виллаг орхих асуудал үргэлжилж байгаа бол Харри Кэйн Байерн Мюнхенд үлдэж, шинэ гэрээ байгуулах төлөвтэй байна.
Дэлхийн аваргын нээлтийн тоглолтод гялалзсан Кабо-Вердегийн хаалгач Возинья Чилийн Коло-Коло багт нэгдлээ. Мөн Швейцарын залуу тоглогч Жохан Манзамбиг Астон Вилла өөрийн түүхэн дэх хамгийн үнэтэй наймаагаар эгнээндээ элсүүлсэн байна. Европын томоохон лигүүд албан ёсоор эхэлж, Аваргуудын лигийн сугалаа удахгүй болох гэж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
The confetti has only just been cleared from Spain’s trophy lift, and rumour has it that Chris Martin is still finding his way out of the bowels of MetLife Stadium — but less than five weeks after the World Cup finished, many of its stars are back in action.
After La Liga resumed in Spain on August 15, Arsenal kicked off the Premier League season and their title defence with a 3-0 win against Coventry City on Friday night, which also saw the first match of 2026-27 in France’s Ligue 1. The Champions League draw is only days away — and fans don’t have long to wait for international football’s return, either, with a bumper break from September 21 to October 6.
It has been a long summer for the World Cup’s stars, and it will be a long season. This is where you can keep up with them…
Rodri
After captaining Spain to victory and being named player of the tournament, Rodri has departed Manchester City for a new challenge in his home country.
With only one year remaining on his contract at the Etihad Stadium, the 30-year-old told reporters in March that he wished to return to La Liga, having departed Atletico Madrid for Manchester in 2019.
Rodri lifts the World Cup trophy (David Ramos/Getty Images)
It looked like he was going to Real Madrid, but on August 6, the news broke that Clasico rivals Barcelona were exploring a deal and Rodri’s preference was a move to them. The midfielder has completed his move, worth up to €76.5million (£65.5m; $89.4m), reuniting him with several national team-mates from the squad he led to glory in the United States. He was unveiled to fans at the Camp Nou before Barcelona’s friendly against Al Ahly on Wednesday.
Lionel Messi
One of the greatest lessons from this summer’s tournament was that a 39-year-old Lionel Messi remains one of the most talented, compelling, devastating operators on a football pitch. But there might not be much longer to enjoy him.
Messi was instrumental in Argentina’s route to the final, opening his World Cup with a hat-trick against Algeria and scoring in each of his team’s matches up to and including the round of 16. His eight goals put him second only to Kylian Mbappe on 10 (two of which came in France’s third-place play-off), alongside four assists.
It was a masterful tournament performance, but it may well be his last at the World Cup.
Following the death of his father Jorge this month, Lionel Messi voiced his “doubts” about whether he will “carry on doing it (playing football) for much longer”. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner extended his contract at Inter Miami last October, tying him to the Major League Soccer side through the 2028 season.
Lionel Messi has been back in action with Inter Miami — but for how much longer? (Carly Mackler/Getty Images)
Elliot Anderson
At this point in 2025, Anderson was on the cusp of his second season as a regular starter in the Premier League and was yet to make his senior England debut. He begins this campaign after an instrumental role in England’s best finish at a World Cup since 1966 and as Manchester City’s marquee summer signing.
Anderson joined Nottingham Forest from boyhood club Newcastle United in 2024 and gained a reputation as one of the Premier League’s best central midfielders. The prospect of a move to a Champions League side this summer was little surprise — and Manchester City acted aggressively to secure his services, reaching an agreement for £116m at the start of the World Cup.
Elliott Anderson helped England to their best World Cup finish since 1966 (Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
After firmly establishing himself as a key cog in midfield for England, Anderson will be tasked with the largest responsibility of his club career as the most expensive player in a new-look Manchester City team. His hefty price tag — a record for a British player at the time — reflects City’s faith that Anderson can help replace Rodri, for so long the cornerstone of Pep Guardiola’s team, and help them back to the summit of the Premier League.
Sidny Lopes Cabral
The most celebrated goalscorers in football were at the World Cup — but the goal of the tournament was scored by a defender playing for one of the competition’s minnows.
Argentina’s 3-2 win over Cape Verde in the round of 32 was a classic nobody expected. Cape Verde had captured the imagination by progressing from the group stage, holding eventual champions Spain to a 0-0 draw in their opener — but when they began the second half of that game against Argentina trailing 1-0, courtesy of Messi, few thought the fairytale would last more than another 45 minutes.
But there was a bonus chapter: first came Deroy Duarte’s second-half equaliser to force extra time, in which Argentina swiftly retook the lead. Then, in the 103rd minute, came Lopes Cabral’s stunning, ludicrous curled effort from the edge of the penalty area. His sprint into the crowd afterwards to seek out his partner made a moment already loaded with emotion even more memorable. When Argentina went ahead for a third time in the 111th minute, it finally proved too much. Cape Verde’s World Cup ended there, but Lopes Cabral’s equaliser was named the goal of the tournament.
The goal that stole your hearts all the way to the top. 💙⚽️
Sidny Lopes Cabral is your Hyundai Goal of the Tournament winner at the FIFA World Cup 2026! 🌟#FIFAWorldCup #Hyundai #HGOTT #HyundaiGOTT2026 @Hyundai_Global pic.twitter.com/jeZ7kqI1CG— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 27, 2026
Lopes Cabral, who was born in the Netherlands, broke through in the lower tiers of German football before joining Estrela da Amadora in the Portuguese top flight last summer. He earned a January move to Benfica, where he made a promising start before falling out of favour, appearing only once in the final 11 games of the season.
In June, buoyed by his World Cup exploits, he moved to Turkish club Trabzonspor — where he has since been joined by former Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah.
Kylian Mbappe
There is a subset of fans very upset that Mbappe’s two goals in the third-place play-off against England secured him the Golden Boot ahead of Messi. That energy would be better spent reminiscing about his sumptuous long-range hit against Senegal, the ease with which he glided past Sweden’s Viktor Gyokeres and spun the ball into the far side of the net, or the precision of his curled shot around Issa Diop to hand France the lead over Morocco. With 22 goals in as many World Cup matches, he is the competition’s all-time leading scorer.
Kylian Mbappe earned the World Cup Golden Boot with goals against England in the World Cup third-place play-off (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
He will look to continue that form with Real Madrid, where he has been La Liga’s top scorer for the past two seasons since joining from Paris Saint-Germain. This season, their forward line — already boasting Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, and Vinicius Junior — is boosted again by the arrival of Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande. Under the returning Jose Mourinho, they are charged with returning Madrid to glory after two trophyless seasons.
Ousmane Dembele
Madrid and Mbappe’s biggest obstacle to reclaiming their Champions League crown is his former club PSG, spearheaded by France team-mate and Ballon d’Or holder Dembele.
Though World Cup viewers will have seen Dembele at work elsewhere in the forward line this summer, making way for Mbappe up top, he will lead the line as Luis Enrique’s side attempt to win a third consecutive Champions League title. Only Real Madrid have ever done so in the competition’s current guise (though Ajax and Bayern Munich achieved it before the European Cup was rebranded).
Dembele’s quality with both feet makes him a versatile player who can be deployed across the attack, but his reinvention as a ‘false nine’ under Enrique at PSG has seen his output explode. PSG have an embarrassment of riches in attack — now expanded by adding the sole goalscorer in the World Cup final.
Ferran Torres
Torres was not the first-choice striker for Spain at the World Cup, but that did not stop him from landing the decisive blow after his team-mates had spent 106 minutes dominating Argentina without a breakthrough.
Ferran Torres scored Spain’s World Cup-winning goal (David Ramos/Getty Images)
He returned to Spain a World Cup hero, but left Barcelona less than one month later in a €50m move to PSG.
The Athletic had reported in July that Barcelona were open to selling Torres, as extending his contract would obligate them to make a further payment to his former club, Manchester City. It’s also worth remembering that while Torres is now known globally as the striker who won the World Cup, he was in and out of Barcelona’s starting lineup last season.
Milan have signed Goncalo Ramos, the centre-forward who PSG often turned to as an impact substitute last season. That role is open for Torres — and he has set the bar high for himself by performing it on the biggest stage.
Vinicius Junior
Look away, Arsenal fans. For a heady two weeks, after The Athletic revealed Arsenal’s interest in the Brazilian, it looked as though one of the biggest transfers in Premier League history could be brewing.
Vinicius Jr started each of Brazil’s five matches at the World Cup and played a starring role in the group stage, lashing in an excellent goal against Morocco, scoring and assisting against Haiti, and adding a brace against Scotland. After his country’s round-of-16 exit against Norway, attention turned to his club future.
The forward’s contract was due to expire in 2027 after eight years at the Bernabeu, with renewal talks proving difficult. Arsenal were exploring a move in what would have been one of the biggest blockbuster signings the Premier League has seen. But on August 6, it was confirmed that he had signed a new deal until 2032 and would continue as part of Mourinho’s Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo
The 41-year-old had confirmed ahead of time that this summer’s World Cup would be his last. It was not the curtain call he would have hoped for.
Ronaldo, unsurprisingly, looked far from his prime: he scored twice against Uzbekistan and from the spot against Croatia, but struggled for impact throughout the tournament and was largely a passenger in their round-of-16 defeat to Spain. Roberto Martinez, who has since stepped down as head coach, put his faith in Ronaldo throughout and it was not repaid. He was not a footballing star of this World Cup, though he was still a big draw for many spectators.
Cristiano Ronaldo could be in his final season as a player (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Last week, Ronaldo said in an interview with Vogue that this season was “probably my last year of football”. His contract with Al Nassr expires next summer — but he has one more milestone to reach. He is on 976 senior career goals and scored 28 in the Saudi Pro League last season. The 1,000-goal mark is in his sights.
Emiliano Martinez
It has been more than a year since Argentina’s goalkeeper appeared to bid a tearful farewell to Aston Villa supporters after his team’s final home game of the 2024-25 season. Since then, Martinez has qualified for the Champions League once again, won the Europa League, and reached another World Cup final with Argentina. Oh — and he is still at Aston Villa.
Martinez was, depending on your view, either the hero of Argentina’s penalty shootout victory in the 2022 World Cup final or the pantomime villain. He remained a key part of his country’s run to the final this summer, starting all eight matches. After his return from the U.S., Martinez’s future was again uncertain. The Athletic reported on August 15 that he was in talks to leave the club, and the next day that Villa had received a new bid from Juventus and the gap in the clubs’ valuations was narrowing.
However, the move did not proceed, with Juventus instead signing Tottenham Hotspur’s Guglielmo Vicario on loan. Villa, meanwhile, have signed Zion Suzuki from Parma and he is now in line to be the club’s first-choice goalkeeper this season — leaving a question mark over Martinez’s future. Villa are looking to help him find another move.
Harry Kane
Kane was England’s clutch player at the World Cup, scoring a late double to avoid a disastrous early exit against DR Congo and netting what turned out to be the decisive goal from the penalty spot in England’s epic 3-2 win over Mexico. His post-match interview at the Azteca Stadium, attempted with a mostly lost voice, was equally memorable.
Harry Kane became England’s leading World Cup goalscorer (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
The striker left his home country in 2023, after spending nearly 20 years with Tottenham Hotspur, to join German giants Bayern Munich. He has enjoyed his most prolific years at Bayern and scored 61 goals in 51 appearances across all competitions last season.
Kane’s deal at Bayern runs out next summer — but The Athletic reported in June that despite an enquiry from Barcelona, Kane was likely to sign a new contract at the Allianz Arena.
Vozinha
Another player who did not arrive at the World Cup with any real name recognition. The goalkeeper turned 40 shortly before the start of the tournament and was catapulted to cult hero status when he kept a clean sheet on Cape Verde’s World Cup debut against Spain.
It was all the more surprising given he had considered retiring from the national team after being left out of the team in their most recent, and unsuccessful, Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign. Vozinha was convinced by team-mates to stay on for the World Cup.
His heroics could not have come at a better time, as his contract with Portuguese second-tier side Chaves had ended. He now joins Chilean club Colo-Colo as a World Cup sensation.
Erling Haaland
Given Haaland’s ludicrous goalscoring ability combined with his off-pitch eccentricity (see: walking around Manchester dressed as The Joker for Halloween, a penchant for raw milk, sarcastically responding to spelling police on his social media), it is little surprise that he has left this World Cup as even more of a superstar.
The Norwegian forward has already taken Europe by storm, breaking goal records for fun with Manchester City in the Premier League, but his exploits on and off the pitch have given him newfound popularity in the U.S. as well. He scored consecutive doubles in the group stage against Iraq and Senegal, and dragged Norway past Ivory Coast and Brazil with decisive goals in both games.
He has now rejoined his team-mates at Manchester City — including Anderson, who laughed off Haaland teasing him for being a ‘diver’ on social media. Norway saw a goal disallowed for a push on the England international in the quarter-finals.
Morgan Rogers
A brave dribbler and a scorer of superb goals, Rogers had already established himself as a Premier League star at Aston Villa, but this summer was his first major tournament with England.
He only started one of England’s first six World Cup games before being named in the XI against Argentina in England’s semi-final, when he made his mark with a perfect cross for Anthony Gordon to tap home.
Rogers might not have featured as heavily as he had hoped for England, but he has given himself a strong platform to build from. Days after England’s World Cup exit, Rogers took the widely anticipated step of leaving Villa for a Premier League rival, but not the one most thought. Instead of Premier League champions Arsenal, the forward joined London rivals Chelsea for a club-record £117m as the marquee signing of a summer rebuild under new manager Xabi Alonso.
Johan Manzambi
Even though the 20-year-old was cruelly ruled out of Switzerland’s last two matches at the World Cup, the talent he showed in his four appearances helps explain why he was the subject of a tug-of-war between two Premier League clubs this summer.
Manzambi scored a late double from the bench against Bosnia and Herzegovina before scoring and assisting as Switzerland beat hosts Canada to top Group B. The knee injury he picked up at the World Cup has kept him out of action as Switzerland progressed past Algeria and Colombia, only to be knocked out by Argentina — but it did not deter clubs from seeking his signature.
Johan Manzambi was a breakout star of the World Cup (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
Newcastle and Villa had been tracking Manzambi since before the World Cup. Newcastle struck a club-to-club agreement with Freiburg, where Manzambi has come up from the reserves, but the player opted to join Villa. He becomes their new club-record signing and is likely to be crucial to their Premier League and Champions League efforts after the departure of key players, such as Rogers.
