The Champions League Final Is Here 🏆

Hail GFOP! 

I type with fingers filled with Champions League anthem-level anticipation to come. Paris Saint-Germain and Football Club Internazionale Milano – the apex of football, arriving after a bloat of a 188-game tournament. A matchup that gives me Chalamet-courtside-at-MSG level hype. Two teams enter the field in Munich, one team leaves. I cannot wait to watch. I was speaking to Rory Smith yesterday and he told me that no matter how many games he covers, it still thrills him to cover a Champions League final. Listening to his sense of gratitude, and unwillingness to take it for granted, filled my heart with a true lightness. Gent is a Yorkshireman, yet even he still feels how lucky we are to watch and experience this together. We have a Linkin Park Halftime Show to savor, people! Rory and I will go live on our YouTube at full time to tape a Do It Live! So come join us and ask us your hardest and best questions, no matter who wins. 🏆

This is some weekend of opposites. We have the Final Dos Finales, we have a USWNT friendly, then we’re all kind of left to scrape around for some Turkish Super Lig matches wherever they can be found Friday and Sunday. The first post-Premier League season weekend always leaves me feeling like the Sad Pablo Escobar meme from “Narcos.” Thank God for the Pacers and Knicks—a game fielding two of the NBA’s greatest football fans, T.J. McConnell and Josh Hart. A clash which has been humanly mesmerizing. I always find it emotionally challenging to watch the Knicks. I moved to Chicago and Michael Jordan retired (first time) the very next day. I lived through the Toni Kukoc-Bulls epic playoff rumble against the John Starks-era Knicks and they felt like battles between good and evil. But even I have been forced to admire the spirit of this Knicks team so very much—its collective ferocity and tenacity. Above all, the generational sense of effervescence and joy they have provided for the people of this city at the very time we need it. Sports feel more crucial in our day and age than ever before.🗽

ii. Our Ryan Reynolds interview is up. I want to thank so many of you for your letters in the wake. So much of what we want to do here is bring you a sense of uplift in an all too dark world. I will admit, I was pretty shattered just before we filmed with Ryan. By the end of it, I was so energized, I felt like I could run a marathon, albeit at Humphrey Ker pace. We don’t take any of this for granted, and are looking forward to spending time this summer traveling this nation for the Gold Cup and Club World Cup and hopefully meeting so many of you in person. Details on a couple of shows in LA, NYC and DC below. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

iii. I am headed to Philadelphia tomorrow to spend some time with my friend Tyler Adams. This is a strange Best of Times, Worst of Times, for football in the U.S. The game has never felt more popular, yet our U.S. Men have rarely felt more under the radar. So much of it seems to be because of our own making and self-sabotage. I will report back in the wake after our conversation, and a couple of cheesesteaks. P.S. We have a new voice joining us next week to lead our coverage of the USMNT charging into the World Cup. Save the date of June 7 for USMNT vs. Turkey when I will livestream the game with our new signing, plus Chris Paul and Cam Jordan. 🇺🇸

iv. This Memorial Day, I re-watched the entirety of “Band Of Brothers”. I love that series so much. A symbol of the America I believed in as a kid. JW and I were honored to make the official “Band of Brothers” podcast series for HBO in which we interviewed all of the stars of the series, including Tom Hanks, Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston. It is available on Apple and also here. It is one of my favorite things we have ever done. 🎧

v. One moment that was a career highlight: Rory Smith has joined The Raven. In case you missed it yesterday, we sent out the one and only Rory Smith's first proper newsletter via The Raven. I am so thrilled and proud to have him with us, and now, after three years of discussing the Premier League, Champions League, and Terry's Chocolate Oranges on the Men in Blazers podcast, Rory will bring that same curiosity, insight, and heart to this newsletter. I have admired his writing for over a decade. To have him bring his byline to MiB means more to me than I can say. In his first edition, he previewed tomorrow's Champions League final, while looking at the curious disrespect of Lautaro Martínez and even providing some recommendations for the finest brezels in Munich, should you find yourself in the Bavarian capital anytime soon. Read the full newsletter here and expect to see Rory's writing over the next few months on this very feed as we navigate the Club World Cup, plenty of international tournaments, and whatever fascinating transfers come our way this summer. 🙌

P.S. Just wanted to go on the record and say, I will not be participating in this new trend: bald men getting full skull tattoos.

News from MiB World HQ 📡

We are so proud to partner with New Balance. It is a brand I have long admired since I was a kid in England. Along with Clarks, New Balance have always been on my feet. To begin with, my brother Nige got a kick out of the NB logo because it looked like his personal monogrammed initials had been placed on every shoe. But watching them bring their joyous creativity into the football world has been mesmerizing. It is impossible to experience their Bukayo Saka and Raz Sterling commercial without feeling better about life. We are about to shoot with a raft of their talent. Their taste filter—Bukayo! Eberechi! Frimpong! Tim Weah!— is electric. This is a magical moment to charge into the Men’s and Women’s World Cups with them on our feet. To more, together. 👟

ii. What a week over at The Women’s Game! Sam and Becky Sauerbrun got together on Good Vibes to preview the upcoming USWNT camp, celebrate Arsenal's surprising Champions League victory, and share just how much they both LOVED watching the World Sevens tournament in Portugal. Then on Friendlies, Sam was joined by Washington Spirit and USWNT defender Tara McKeown. They discussed Tara's transition from forward to defender, how she got the news that she’d been called up by the USWNT squad for the first time, and what it was like to make her debut. Watch both of those great convos here. 🌞 Also: If you missed out on the exclusive Good Vibes FC hat and tote bag at the Seattle live show, YOU’RE IN LUCK. They are available right now for your summer trip needs. 🧢

iii. Speaking of TWG, Sam and The Women’s Game are coming to The Green Mountain State ahead of Vermont Green’s women’s week for The Women’s Game Live! in Vermont. Hosted by Sam, who is proud to call Vermont home, the show will bring together some very special Vermont guests for a lively, heartfelt look at the state’s unique soccer culture and DIY spirit. Get your tickets here. 🎟️

iv. Absolutely loved this interview with LAFC’s Timothy Tillman from our friends at The Give N Go. Doner kebabs or taco trucks: one of life’s great dilemmas. WATCH IT HERE 🩵

LA - WE COMING TO YOU ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11 🌴

We are closing in on 365 days until the first World Cup match in the United States, held in none other than Los Angeles. To celebrate, we are joining the LA World Cup team for a "One Year to Glory" show in Los Angeles—the city where the U.S. countdown to World Cup 2026 officially begins. With its deep roots in soccer culture, from the '84 Olympics to the '94 and ‘99 World Cups, LA has long played host to the game’s biggest moments. Now it sets the stage once again. This is an extremely limited-seating, invite-only Men in Blazers Live Show to mark the moment, and more on how you can attend below.

Here are the details: Kick-off is 5:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, June 11.

BUT… this is an extremely limited-capacity, invite-only event… we would love you to come, but ask that if you commit to attending, you honor that commitment, so that another GFOP isn’t deprived of the chance to attend.

💌 HERE IS HOW YOU CAN SECURE YOUR SPOT AT THE LOS ANGELES SHOW:

1️⃣ Hit the “I Can 100% Make It” button below (please only do so if you’re absolutely, positively sure you’ll be there as you will be taking the spot of another GFOP).

2️⃣ Put the best contact email address for you in the “Additional Feedback” section so we know where to reach out.

3️⃣ Await our official RSVP confirmation with further details on the event.

We can’t wait to share an evening of joy, laughter and connection with some of our favorite humans on Earth.

Let’s kick off one year until a World Cup match on home soil together right.

🗽 NEW YORKERS – SAVE THE DATE: June 14. We are kicking off our new New Balance partnership with a NYC pop-up experience on June 14 to celebrate FC Porto's journey and host a live show packed with conversation, culture and community. Stay tuned for exact details, but we'd love to see the Porto faithful out in full force.

AND FINALLY… 🏛️ Washington, DC (and Maryland and Virginia) GFOPs: June 30 is a date you’ll want to circle on your calendar. We are coming with The Women's Game to your city. More details to come, but SAVE THE DATE and for more details as soon as they drop, make sure to subscribe to The Women's Game newsletter to be in the know as soon as possible.

Champions League Copa Das Copas (Saturday, 3 p.m. ET, CBS) 🏆

For the first time in 21 years, not an English, Spanish or German side in the final. First time in five years there isn’t a single English player on the field. This is a clash of styles, philosophies and club builds. Victory will send either team, and football, which is a trend-conscious follow-the-leader copycat culture, in radically different trajectories.

Can PSG Drink Your Milkshake? 🇫🇷

PSG look to become the first French side to win the Champions League since Marseille in 1993, yet their triumph would mean so much more in the Kingdom of Qatar, where after 11 years of investing over $2 billion into the club, the nation state owners have craved ownership of the Champions League bauble with the obsessive yearning Miles Teller banged his jazz drums in in “Whiplash.”

It has been a remarkable season of transformation for them. Four months ago, PSG were still floundering even to emerge from the Big Gulp Opening Round Group Stage. Fast forward to today, and they have slayed a bloody gauntlet of three Premier League teams: Liverpool, Aston Villa and poor, doomed Arsenal, to reach their moment as favorites.  

Under immensely likable, brilliant and sympathetic management of the uber-charismatic Luis Enrique, and propelled by a young, very French, soulful, buccaneering football team, they finally have the egoless collective ability to swarm their way to glory. Ousmane Dembélé is the talisman. Enrique has unlocked his full potential by moving him from the flank to the center, and by ensuring he thinks about the collective, has made Dembélé the shining individual he always promised to be. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is one of my favorite footballers in the world. A maverick rogue assassin who plays with a clinical mirth, constantly capable of wizard filth.

However the ultimate victory would belong to club president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, who has so many roles—the gent is also president of BeIn Sports, a leading minister in the Qatari government, chair of the European Club Association (ECA), the dominant UEFA executive committee member, and overseeing the new group UC3 which runs the Champions League with UEFA—that he makes just wearing a hat on a hat seem quaint. Barney Ronay brilliantly wrote, “Some people are said to have a finger or two in the pie. Khelaifi has both fists jammed in there so deep it’s hard to know where the pie starts and finishes. He is the pie.”

More: PSG’s Al-Khelaifi completes football. This behind the scenes smoke-filled room intrigue is the opposite of why we watch and love football. But we have to know what is going on and why. 

Are Inter Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea in Football Boots? 🇮🇹

Inter Milan are the least commercialized and developed of Italy’s Big Three teams. The squad has also been pieced together on a YOOX budget. Yet, there is the touch of destiny about this team. A superstar-less, experienced unit composed of Dirty Dozen-style elements. They can persevere, but they can also outshoot Barcelona, blasting seven goals in that unhinged semi-final. They littered 114 goals across the season. There is a powder keg potency in this Inzhagi system, with its fluid canny intelligence. They will attempt to smother PSG’s rhythm and hope that the psychological heft of history crushes down upon them.  

However, Inter have their own vulnerable demons. They let the Serie A title slip to Napoli and were shocked in the Coppa Italia by a generationally mediocre AC Milan side. They also have the scars of reaching the final in 2023 only to roll over impotently against Manchester City. That loss may serve as experience for as many as nine starters on Saturday: Francesco Acerbi is 37 years and 110 days old, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is 36, and Matteo Darmian 35. Mature veterans aged like fine wines or talents that are passed their sell-by dates? Saturday will be the truth. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: This is a clash between a Scrappy Doo-young PSG and Scooby Doo-old Inter. A team who will swarm their opponents against one who lives to unlock the press. There has not been an Italian winner since 2010—which is a dent to a proud team and an even prouder nation. This Inter project may lack romance. It feels very missionary-position Italian football club, but I do believe Inter has the canniness to understand the moment and deliver victory 2-1. 

📧 Enjoying The Raven? Check out our other Men in Blazers newsletters here.

Incredible Games to Watch Around the World 🌎

USWNT Double Header vs. China (Saturday, 5:30 p.m. ET, TBS) and vs. Jamaica (Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET, TNT) 🇺🇸

The USWNT host China and Bunny Shaw-less Jamaica in the midwest after ending their last trickle of matches with a defeat to Brazil. Two years out from World Cup 2027, coach Emma Hayes continues to experiment with her young roster which for this camp includes a first-time call up for the iconic Lo Labonta, as well as debuts for Orlando Pride’s 25-year-old defender Kerry Abello, and Seattle Reign's 25-year-old goalkeeper Claudia Dickey. Up top, Angel City’s in-form striker Alyssa Thompson will likely lead the line due to the ongoing absence of “Triple Espresso”. She will not be joined by younger sister Gisele, after (G)Thompson announced Thursday she is leaving camp with a hip injury. WSL champion Naomi Girma and Champions League winner Emily Fox also return to the team after the former was unavailable for the national team this year due to injury.

More: The USWNT won the Olympic Gold with Triple Espresso. Now all are unavailable. What next?

Women's Nations League: England vs. Portugal (Today, 2:45 p.m. ET, fuboTV) 🇪🇺

Five weeks before the Women’s Euros, Mary Earps’ mic drop announcement that she’ll retire from international football has sobered the vibe of defending champions, England, and their coach, Sarina Wiegman, who said she was “disappointed and sad” with the goalkeeper’s decision. Chelsea’s Hannah Hampton will likely take the No 1 jersey as the Lionesses face Portugal today at Wembley in League A, Group 3 of the Women’s Nations League, where England are second and the away side are third.   

National League Play-Off Final: Southend vs. Oldham (Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, DAZN) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Southend and Oldham will war at Wembley on Sunday to try and tread the path of Wrexham and Salford before them by escaping the underground of the National League to try and find lucrative light in the fourth tier of the English football pyramid, League Two. Greater Manchester’s Oldham is just a 30-minute drive north of Old Trafford, and they’ve been away from EFL football for three years, while coastal club Southend, which is 42 miles east of London, have missed the TV money and exposure of League Two since 2021. Ahead of this seminal fixture, there’s been heartbreak for thousands of fans of both clubs, who will miss out on the generational opportunity of watching the teams they doggedly follow play at the national stadium, because of planned engineering work at Wembley Park station. While we have no favorites here, it’s definitely worth pointing out that Oldham’s manager is named Micky Mellon, which is a wonderfully poetic comic book character of a name. 

Prize Picks: Best PP Since Peter Pan ✅ 

Charlie Kipp writes: Here we are. One last match before club football goes away for… well, only about two weeks (shoutout to the Club World Cup). The Champions League final has arrived, featuring no English teams despite the Premier League sending a record nine teams to European competition next year, go figure. No matter who the teams involved are, we know PrizePicks has us covered with an almost unimaginable amount of stat categories to choose from, like this one: LESS than 0.5 Goals Scored in the first 30 minutes of the match.

When you look at PSG and Inter, there are understandably a number of things that jump out: world class players, attacking prowess, tactical excellence, and more. However, I ask you to juxtapose that with this (very anecdotal) belief: finals are cagy affairs. The last time a Champions League final had a goal scored within the opening 30 minutes was Mo Salah’s penalty vs. Spurs in 2019. That was so long ago that Spurs have won a trophy since then! So go with your gut, trust Yann Sommer and Gianluigi Donnarumma to deliver us LESS than 0.5 Goals Scored in the first 30 minutes of the match.

If you haven’t joined PrizePicks, CLICK HERE and use code ‘MiB’ for a first deposit match up to $100.

More Football Did Ya Say? 📖

• Ronaldo. Goals a plenty. But no trophies. What now? 

• Fascinating: Manchester United fans in Asia are moving on from the club. “Why support a team that loses?” The same is happening here in the United States. Fans with no geographic or multi-generational family ties have the ability to drift.

• Is this the most Everton statistic of the season?

MiB Mad Libs 📝

This week’s phrase is:

“Manchester United without Bruno Fernandes is like ___ without _____”

Email me your submissions to be in contention to win a coveted MiB patch.

Last week’s winner was GFOP Justin Giovagnoli, who brilliantly wrote: 

“Inter will win the Champions League final because unjustifiably, somehow current-day Robert Redford is still sexier than Timothée Chalamet.”

Thank you, Justin. This made me spit out my coffee. You genius, you.

Not Football and All the Better for It 📖

• The Made-for-TV Movie Never Died. It Just Evolved and Migrated. “The Pitt” mentioned. 👀

• Great diss track title. ‘A Billion Streams and No Fans’: Inside a $10 Million AI Music Fraud Case.

• The Greatest Sports Photo Ever Made Turns 60. Didn't even make the cover!

• Nathan Fielder's “The Rehearsal” Argues That Cringe Comedy Can Save Lives. I mean he did save 150 lives in the "Miracle over the Mojave"....

• Unsanctioned but unstoppable: The Gloucestershire cheese-rolling race.

• This Song Helped Me Through the Week: Kean Kavanagh - “A Cowboy Song”. Song and video are incredible. A symbol of the wonder and pathos of Ireland’s love of Americana. 

• I read this book and it made me sad: “Lublin” by Manya Wilkinson. A magical yet dark doom quest, replete with humor and destruction. It made me feel very sad in the best of ways.

Dear Rog... GFOPs Write ✍️

Susie Strom from Erie, PA writes: “I am a Chelsea fan. I watched us win the Conference League with a sense of joy on Wednesday afternoon. It clearly meant a lot to the young players. But when I saw the Real Betis players cry, I also felt a little guilty about it. Like I had just watched my dad fight a bunch of six-year-olds and beat them up like John Mulaney. Should we have been in that tournament at all with all our millions? How should I feel about it?”

Rog writes: Susie, I felt for Betis too. Their fans are magnificent. With their club motto, “Viva el Betis manquepierda” (Long live Betis, even if they lose), I have long believed they are the Everton of Spain. In terms of Chelsea, the joy was real and should be reveled in without guilt. I am particularly elated for Reece James, who has suffered with so many injuries and deserved his joyful trophy lift. Yet, two things come to mind. The real win this season was Champions League qualification – the money and status, and the Rory Delap-esque incoming signings it brings. Also this: I don’t think a nation that has five teams in the Champions League should be dumping a team in the Conference League. It is meant to be a different weight class and give joy to teams that should win the big one. But for your Chelsea, who became the first team to win every single UEFA trophy—Champions League, Europa League, now the Conference League—this was a completionist’s dream. The theory is now that the “winner mentality” has entered the blood stream like a habit, and glory will ensue. More probable outcome is this via @SmnLlyd5: “Hearing Chelsea have just agreed to sell the Conference League trophy and all medals to their parent company for £319.7m”.

Keep sending your stories and questions to [email protected].

To Better Days Ahead for All.

Let’s not take a moment watching football together for granted and make great memories. Big Love.

Courage,

ROG

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