Welcome to the Thunder Football Newsletter. #24
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It’s been 9 months since the last Thunder Football weekly email newsletter. But the wait is over, we’re back!

Here are the Top 9 things that happened in our absence

9. Ronaldo the YouTuber

On the 21st of August, Cristiano Ronaldo launched his YouTube channel: UR · Cristiano.

Within 90 minutes he broke the YouTube Record when his channel reached 1 million subscribers. Within a week it reached 50 million subscribers. Next-level numbers for a next-level football icon.

He now stands at 66 million subscribers and is the 32nd most followed channel on the platform.

8. Legends retiring

This year saw the farewell of some legendary footballers. Among them are two of the greatest midfielders in history: Andrés Iniesta from Spain and Toni Kroos from Germany. They’re joined by fellow stars Pepe (Portugal), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy), Thiago Alcântara (Spain), Joe Hart (England), and Raphaël Varane (France), all of whom have hung up their boots.

7. Medals in Paris

It was the Summer Olympics in Paris, France, and although no one really pays any attention to it we still want to mention the nations that took home the medals.

Women: 🥇 United States | 🥈 Brazil | 🥉 Germany

Men: 🥇 Spain | 🥈 France | 🥉 Morocco

6. End of the most annoying transfer saga

Kylian Mbappe is officially a Real Madrid player. This transfer saga has been going on for years but the outcome was always inevitable. Kylian Mbappe cost Paris Saint-Germain £166m in 2018 but left on a free transfer after his contract expired; the France captain signed a five-year contract at Real Madrid.

So far his performances in the Madrid shirt have been below par, at least he can still score from the penalty spot.

5. Invincible Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen are the first team to complete an entire Bundesliga season without defeat after a remarkable 2023/24 campaign that also saw Germany's new champions set a European record of 51 games in a row without loss across all competitions.

In doing so they have now become Germany's 'Invincibles' as the first team ever to go undefeated in a Bundesliga season.

Click here to watch an incredibly catchy song about Leverkusen’s Invincible season

4. Managers Moving Around

If you were in a coma since January and just woke up you might be surprised to see who now manages which teams:

• Jürgen Klopp said goodbye to Liverpool and is now the Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull. Arne Slot (formerly at Feyenoord) is now the new boss at Liverpool.

• Thomas Tuchel lost his job at Bayern Munich but has since signed on to be the new England manager from January 2025 onward.

• Vincent Kompany was at the helm when Burnley got relegated back to the Championship but somehow landed the role of Bayern Munich's new manager. Strange times we live in…

• Hansi Flick reunited with Lewandowski when he became the new manager of Barcelona in June 2024. Let’s not forget he was leading Bayern when they historically beat Barcelona 8-2 in 2020. He has since redeemed himself when his new Barcelona team beat Bayern 4-1 in the Champions League a few weeks ago.

• Enzo Maresca has replaced Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea. Poch has since landed the job of becoming manager of the USMNT.

• The special one, José Mourinho, has left Roma and is now in Turkey with Fenerbahçe.

• Fresh news: Erik ten Hag was sacked by Manchester United. Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim has been confirmed as their new coach.

3. 2024 EUROS and COPA AMERICA

The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship was one for the books. Spain made it out of a tough group by beating Italy, Croatia and Albania. They needed extra time to beat hosts Germany 2-1 in the Quarter-Finals and also defeated France 2-1 in the Semi-Finals. In the Final they faced off against England and put on another show to beat them and win the EUROS.

Argentina won their 3rd major international tournament in a row when they claimed the 2024 Copa América Trophy. They successfully defended their title from 2021 when they beat Colombia in the Final. The tournament took place in the United States.

2. The CHAAAAAMPIOONS

Real Madrid won the 2023/2024 UEFA Champions League! This marked the 15th time that they’ve lifted the coveted trophy. They have managed to win the UCL 6 out of the last 11 times. INSANE Achievement!

1. 2024 Ballon d’Or Awards

Spain made a clean sweep of the most prestigious individual award in world football when Rodri won the Men’s Ballon d’Or and Aitana Bonmatí the Women’s Ballon d’Or.

Aitana Bonmatí successfully defended her title and now stands equal with Alexia Putellas on 2 wins each. It also means someone from Barcelona’s women’s team has won the award each of the last 4 years.

Rodri beat out competition from Real Madrid’s stars Vinícius Júnior (2nd), Jude Bellingham (3rd) and Dani Carvajal (4th).

Memes 😂

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Thunder Football Newsletter!

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