This is the first international break of the season with focus off European football leagues with 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament taken the centre stage across the globe.
Despite that the FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament is the focus this weekend, there is the need to wet our appetite as to what happened on the last day of the transfer window, Monday September 1, 2025.
It was on this day that Liverpool, after inflicting the first defeat of the season on Arsenal the previous day with a lone goal win, broke their British transfer record twice this window with a British-record £125m move to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle that took their total spend to £446.5m, surpassing the £434.5m spent by Chelsea in the summer of 2023. In this window they’ve already signed Florian Wirtz for £116.5m from Bayer Leverkusen and also added Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Hugo Etkike and Giovanni Leoni.
Premier League clubs spending a combined £3.19bn on signings this summer, was fueled not only by Liverpool but by Chelsea with an outlay of £296.5m; Arsenal £267m; Newcastle £256.3m; Manchester United £232.4m; Manchester City £185.8m; Sunderland £183.4m; Nottingham Forest £182.5m; Tottenham £171.2m with other clubs spending the remaining amount.
The biggest story in the Premier league in the week is Daniel Levy, on Thursday September 4, 2025 stepping down as Tottenham executive chairman after nearly 25 years at the helm of the north London club. He leaves the club as the longest-serving chairman in the Premier League.
In a statement, Levy said: “I am incredibly proud of the work I have done together with the executive team and all our employees.
“We have built this club into a global heavyweight competing at the highest level. More than that, we have built a community.
“I was lucky enough to work with some of the greatest people in this sport, from the team at Lilywhite House and Hotspur Way to all the players and managers over the years.
“I wish to thank all the fans who have supported me over the years. It hasn’t always been an easy journey but significant progress has been made. I will continue to support this club passionately.”
Mixed reaction greeted his exit. While some saw it as good riddance to bad rubbish, others rued his exit.
Josh a club supporter stated, “Absolutely delighted. Levy has hamstrung us for far too long with his penny pinching, self-imposed wage caps, false promises and blaming passing approach to running the club. Yes he has built us into a financially self-sufficient club but he lost sight the football side year ago.”
Connor toed same path stating, “Glad he’s gone to be honest so many lies over the years, we need to be competitive at the top end of the league and not keep sacking managers like we always do. Hopefully new executive chairman will push the club forward and not worry too much about business all the time.”
But Johnny Cakes, has this to say of him, “End of an era. Good luck and thank you, Daniel. There’s been a few positives and many disappointments during your tenure not that is all on your shoulders, ENIC have been a lot to blame.”
Kevin, another supporter noted, “Finally! Should have happened once the stadium opened. People say the only reason Villa and Newcastle can’t compete is because of PSR. The only reason Spurs couldn’t compete was Levy. Spurs have hundreds of millions of PSR Headroom. Tottenham are coming for the Premier League.”
But Stephen thanked him for a good job, stating, “I wish to thank him for all he’s done. He gets a lot of stick from fans with regards to his dealings but just look at where we are now and where we were 25 years ago. A lot of it is because of Daniel Levy. I hope that this is because he wants to leave and not anything other.
Al Spurs, sounded a note of warning, “People have called for him to step down for a long time, how many people will now regret that… Tottenham had a very good transfer window and won a trophy.”
Hey I was almost carried away with happening in the English League. Honestly, I almost forgot that this column is about Super Eagles and the 2026 World Cup.
Super Eagles hope of qualifying for the World Cup in USA, Canada and Mexico next year is very slim. In fact, it is almost non-existent.
When the World Cup draw was held, having missed the last edition of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, the Nigeria Football Federation should have put in place a programme that will ensure that the Super Eagles win their home games. This is because a proactive football federation will realize that grouping Nigeria alongside South Africa, considering the football rivalry between these two countries, their instinct for danger should have sounded the alarming bell. To worsen the situation, whether by omission or commission, four of the six countries in-group C are from the same region. Rwanda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa. This will make travelling between these countries in Southern Africa less stressful, while on the other hand Nigeria will have to travel long journey on every match-day. For example, after playing Rwanda today, Nigeria will travel to South Africa for their game on Tuesday. But South Africa on the other hand, though playing away to Lesotho today, will play that away game at home in Bloemfontein. This is because Lesotho does not have any stadium that meets CAF standard hence they have to play their home games away in South Africa. Did anybody in the Nigeria Football Federation put this into consideration when planning for the qualifying tournament? Your guess is as good as mine.
Aside the above, the football house dilly dallying on naming a substance coach for the Super Eagles before the World Cup qualifying tournament kicked off also showed it as a body lacking in strategic preparation.
To prove that the NFF was lacking in strategic thinking, a defensive minded coach in the person of Portuguese Jose Peseiro, was chosen, not giving due consideration to an attacking minded coach, which would have been the best for the Super Eagles. There was no reason for Nigeria not winning the last AFCON if the coach was an attacking minded one. Even Peseiro dumped Nigeria; it took the NFF months of dilly-dallying before Finidi George was named as Super Eagles substantive. What of the shenanigans that went on in the team that eventually consumed Finidi? All these are indication of a football house that took things for granted, because there were insinuations in the media that the football house was hell-bent on employing a foreigner for the Super Eagles.
After Finidi’s resignation, before Eric Chelle was named was another rigmarole. Who did NFF employ for the Super Eagles, a coach that lack what it takes to manage one of the biggest football brands in Africa.
Now sitting fourth in Group C with seven points behind South Africa (13 points), Benin Republic (8 points) and Rwanda (8 points), Nigeria now prays FIFA deducts three points from South Africa’s 13 points because they fielded an ineligible player against Lesotho, for Super Eagles to stand a chance of qualifying for the World.
We, who prides ourselves as the ‘Giant of Africa’, are now hoping to profit from South Africa’s error before standing a chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. What a country, what a football house. What a shame.
Imagine if we had won all our home games so far, we will top the group with 13 points while South Africa will place second on 12 points. At this point, our qualification is dependent on us. Let’s even agree that FIFA deducts three points from South Africa, we won’t profit from it. Lesotho will get the three points and place second with nine points. Should Lesotho beat South Africa or draw the game, we will not only have South Africa to contend with but also Lesotho.
But can the Super Eagles beat South Africa in Bloemfontein on Tuesday? This is the big question that is troubling Nigerians. Even before considering this question, Super Eagles must first get the three points off Rwanda today in Uyo, before thinking of the Tuesday’s all important game. In today’s game, has the NFF inform the coaches about important players who are on yellow to be very cautious so as not to get a second yellow and be ruled out of the Tuesday’s game? Wilfred Ndidi, Calvin Bassey, Tolu Arokodare, Bright Osayi-Samuel and Sadiq Umar are believed to be on one yellow card already. Qualifying for the World Cup will be Herculean task for the Super Eagles. Blame the football house for not putting their house in order and not the players or coaches employed as a stop gap measure.
By Peter Edema @Independent
