Welcome to the Thunder Football Newsletter. #3
I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please forward this email to a friend.

What today’s email is all about:

• When are Europe’s Top 5 Leagues starting again? 🏟️

• Updates from the Women’s World Cup 🏆

• Transfer Talk: Going to Arabia 🇸🇦

• Standing Ovation: Bobby Moore 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

• Memes

When is the wait finally over?

If you’re into the 2. Bundesliga 🇩🇪, you’re in luck! It started last week Friday.

For everyone else, we’ve listed the start dates of Europe’s top 5 leagues for the 2023/24 season:

Highlights from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Heartbreak for the Hosts

New Zealand 🇳🇿 (co-hosts with Australia) has failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the World Cup.

A 0-0 draw against Switzerland on Sunday wasn’t enough as they finished 3rd in Group A, equal on points with Norway but with a smaller goal difference.

Nonetheless, it was New Zealand’s best performance ever at a FIFA Womens World Cup and we will never forget how they beat the 1995 Champions Norway in the tournament’s opening game.

Not so fast favourites

It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses so far for a couple of this year’s tournament favourites.

The defending champions, USA 🇺🇸, were held to a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands on Thursday.

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 has won their first 2 games but has also only scored 2 goals. The Lionesses need to find the back of the net more if they want to be considered a serious threat.

Germany 🇩🇪 brilliantly disposed of Morroco by beating them 6-0 but then fell short against Colombia by losing 2-1. Kudos to Colombia! 🇨🇴

It’s all to play for in the last round of group stage matches

Group A has been settled with Switzerland 🇨🇭 and Norway 🇳🇴 progressing to the Round of 16. The rest of the groups all still need to be finalised, here at the upcoming matches (UTC+2)

• 31 July 2023

  • 09:00 - Group C - Costa Rica 🇨🇷 vs Zambia 🇿🇲

  • 09:00 - Group C - Japan 🇯🇵 vs Spain 🇪🇸

  • 12:00 - Group B - Republic of Ireland 🇮🇪 vs Nigeria 🇳🇬

  • 12:00 - Group B - Canada 🇨🇦 vs Australia 🇦🇺

• 1 August 2023

  • 09:00 - Group E - Vietnam 🇻🇳 vs Netherlands 🇳🇱

  • 09:00 - Group E - Portugal 🇵🇹 vs USA 🇺🇸

  • 13:00 - Group D - Haiti 🇭🇹 vs Denmark 🇩🇰

  • 13:00 - Group D - China 🇨🇳 vs England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

• 2 August 2023

  • 09:00 - Group G - South Africa 🇿🇦 vs Italy 🇮🇹

  • 09:00 - Group G - Argentina 🇦🇷 vs Sweden 🇸🇪

  • 12:00 - Group F - Jamaica 🇯🇲 vs Brazil 🇧🇷

  • 12:00 - Group F - Panama 🇵🇦 vs France 🇫🇷

• 3 August 2023

  • 12:00 - Group H - South Korea 🇰🇷 vs Germany 🇩🇪

  • 12:00 - Group H - Morocco 🇲🇦 vs Colombia 🇨🇴

There goes another one 🇸🇦 

So far during this transfer window, we’ve seen an outflux of top footballers signing for clubs in Saudi Arabia:

• Karim Benzema

• Ngolo Kante

• Roberto Firmino

• Riyad Mahrez

• Jordan Henderson

• Edouard Mendy

• Kalidou Koulibaly

• Sergej Milinkovic-Savic

• Allan Saint-Maximin

• Ruben Neves

to name but a few…

So the question remains, who is next?

Rumour (Fabrizio Romano) has it, a former African Player of the Year might be joining CR7 at Al-Nassr.

Elsewhere:

• Wilfried Zaha has joined Galatasaray on a three-year deal as a free agent after leaving Crystal Palace

• Rasmus Højlund’s transfer to Manchester United is a done deal, we are just waiting for the club’s official confirmation

• Marcel Sabitzer joined Borussia Dortmund from Bayern Munich after also previously playing for RB Leipzig

⚡️ Join the Thunder Football Fantasy Premier League ⚡️

You still have until 11 August to pick your team for the first gameweek, so I’ll probably remind you again in a week. In the meantime, you can start thinking of a funny (punny) name for your team. It’s a non-negotiable.

We’ve all seen this iconic photograph of when England won their first and only World Cup, and this week our Standing Ovation goes to the person holding the trophy: Bobby Moore

Moore became the captain of the English national football team in 1964 at the age of 23. He captained the English team to glory at the 1966 FIFA World Cup and continued serving as captain until 1973. He still remains the most-capped captain of the English national football team to date.

Moore played for West Ham for 16 years and played over 600 games. He is widely regarded as West Ham's greatest-ever player. He was a brilliant centre defender and another football legend, Pelé, even stated that Moore was one of the best defenders he ever played against.

Bobby Moore died in 1993 from cancer. A bronze statue of Moore stands at the entrance to Wembley Stadium.

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