#u23-division

#u23-division

World Cup 2026 will be the first to feature 48 teams, leading to a total of 104 matches. The tournament format reflects past competitions with 24 teams, but introduces a new complexity with the advancement of the eight best third-placed teams.

England Women Under-23s secured a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sweden in the European Competition friendly finals, with goals from Isobel Goodwin, Hannah Silcock, and Olivia McLoughlin.

Union Berlin has made history after appointing Marie-Louise Eta as their new head coach, becoming the first club in Europe's top five leagues to have a female head coach. Eta takes the job on an interim basis until the end of the season, having previously served as the club's assistant and U19 manager.

Aissatou Fall was a key player as Senegal made it through to the quarter-finals for just the second time in their history. Despite being just 17 years old, she played every single minute of Senegal's tournament in Morocco, helping the Lionesses to keep two clean sheets in four games.

In a week where young Irish players were in the headlines, from Shamrock Rovers' Michael Noonan to former Galway United man Alex Murphy, here are the teenage talents who have been capturing attention and will hope to follow in the footsteps of Mason Melia (€1.7m move to Spurs) and Victor Ozhianvuna (initial €2m pre-contract deal with Arsenal) in the future.

Being outside the game for a few years now, I have noticed a real trend of doubt and even negativity about any British managerial appointments by a top-flight club in this country. With Liam, who I have known since he was a young player watching my training sessions at Bristol City more than 25 years ago, everything from his experience to his dress sense has been questioned, but his start to life at Chelsea has been exceptional with five wins in seven games.