☕️☃️🧦 It’s Friday, bring us soccer! ICYMI, Atletico Madrid knocked Real Madrid out of Copa Del Rey after a thrilling extra time 4-2 clash. French international Antoine Griezmann received his flowers and tribute as Atletico Madrid’s all time top goal scorer. La Liga has been good to us this past week with 19 goals in 3 games; Real Madrid 5-3 Atletico, Real Madrid 4-1 Barcelona, and Atletico 4-2 Real Madrid. Fun Fact of the week: Barcelona and Atletico Madrid has won Spain’s domestic league, La Liga, five times between 2015 and 2021, while Griezmann has played for both clubs, he has yet to win the title. We’re sure he’s very ok with his World Cup though.

Giveaway: Wake up and smell the coffee. Just in time for the Holidays, our next giveaway will be a $30 gift card for our favorite coffee brand- Kickoff Coffee. As always, each friend that you refer to subscribe to the newsletter is an entry to our raffle. Best of luck!

Thursday Recap

Asia Cup

Copa del Rey- Round of 16

Italian Super Cup- Semi Final

African Cup of Nations

Saudi Pro League
Trouble in Paradise

🛬🛅🧳 Take em down to the Paradise City! In the last summer transfer window over 30 new faces from Europe joined Saudi Arabia’s Pro League (SPL). Notable signees include 1x World Cup winner, N’Golo Kante, 5x UCL winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, 1x La Liga and UCL winner Neymar, 1x EPL and UCL winners Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firming, Jordan Henderson and N’Golo Kante, and many more. Not only players, but the SPL brought in many coaches including Steven Gerrard, Nuno Espírito Santo, and Roberto Mancini. These notable departures were reported to have shaken up the European transfer market, enticing many talent with their promising large sum contracts to both players and coaches. However, many of these stars have express their difficulty to adapt to the Saudi Pro League and indicated their readiness to return to Europe.

1️⃣8️⃣3️⃣ days after joining Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ettifaq, Liverpool legend Jordan Henderson is on his way out. His abrupt exit comes after the Englishman has reached an agreement with the Al-Ettifaq to terminate his contract and has agreed to a two-and-a-half year deal with Ajax.

• In the summer of 2023, at 33 years old, Henderson joined Al-Ettifaq from Liverpool on a three-year contract

• Henderson move to SPL reunited him with former longtime Liverpool teammate, Steven Gerrard who manages Al-Ettifaq

• Henderson had 17 appearances with 4 assists

🛫👑🥇 Return of the King? 2022 Ballon D’Or Winner, Karim Benzema followed his former Real Madrid team-mate Ronaldo, leaving the Spanish capital after having won 5 Champions League titles during his 14-year tenure. At the age 35 years old, Benzema signed a three-year deal with Al Ittihad.

• Benz’s move to SPL linked him up with Portuguese Coach Nuno Espírito Santo. However shortly after joining, Benz expressed unhappiness with Nuno, leading to his sacking halfway thru the season

• Al Ittihad have struggled this season and are seventh in the table, 25 points behind leaders Al Hilal.

• Benzema, who has 2.5 years remaining on his contract, has been criticized by Saudi media for his performance with 9 goals in 15 games since joining

• Benzema has been exploring his options this January transfer window however Al Ittihad are said to be reluctant to let their prized summer acquisition leave

• Premier League teams, including Chelsea and Arsenal have shown interest in the veteran forward

🇪🇺💶🔜 Mass Exodus soon to come? The exits of big names will only propel the departures of many more. Reports indicate that another former Liverpool star has struggled to settle into SPL, Roberto Firmino has made no secret of his eagerness to return to Europe. After suffering a season ending injury, Al-Hilal have deregistered Neymar with the hopes of the Brazilian lad to return for the 2024 season, unless he also chooses to make like a baby and head out.

• In 17 appearances, Firmino noticed 3 goals and 2 assists while Neymar in his short 3 appearances notched 3 assists

• Many games have seen less than 1,000 fans in the stadiums, with the average match spectator attendance this season being 8,520

• Matches have seen temperatures rise to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees F)

This might be the start of bad news for Saudi Araibia a year into their mission to convince some of the world’s best talent to swap top-tier European competition for big paychecks.

Quick Bites 🍕

Xavi to the Rescue or Rescue Xavi?

Agent Perez launches Operation Haaland

“I don’t feel so good Mr. Stark”

Everything’s Bigger in Texas, so will be the World Cup Final

Matches to Catch

Italia Super Cup- Semi Final

Africa Cup of Nations

Premier League

La Liga

Bundesliga

Football, by the fans for the fans

In search of a pub? Ever find yourself in a new city and are desperately searching for a local soccer pub? Who would have thought that the premier league took time out of their day to create a bar finder. There really is nothing better than catching an early premier league game on the weekends with fellow fans of the game, and finding that bar that will actually have the game sound on just got that much easier.

USA Bar Finder. Bar finder, aka Intern Jose’s nickname in college. Easy to use search platform on the premier leagues website. It has most major cities included, and they’re even accepting updates to their list if you email them at [email protected]

Find your local soccer pub here.

Tweet of the day: @brfootball