Grace Robertson 🏳️⚧️
@graceonfootball.com
Football writer, from the newsletter with the same name and occasionally elsewhere. She/her. Non-football stuff @gemofamara.com.
https://www.graceonfootball.com/
https://www.graceonfootball.com/
fbref have been extremely classy about this whole thing, unlike some companies.
January 24, 2026 at 10:07 AM
fbref have been extremely classy about this whole thing, unlike some companies.
*3 days without fbref advanced*
football is actually about cultural values of different religions after all
football is actually about cultural values of different religions after all
there is probably a great book to be written (not by me lol, i'm just bullshitting here) about how barcelona took the football ideas of ajax, a club long associated with a jewish identity in a predominantly protestant country, and repurposed them into a deeply culturally catholic institution.
i don't know what this "means" per se, but it's kind of interesting that germany and england are the only protestant countries ever to win the world cup. every other country to win it has been predominantly catholic.
January 23, 2026 at 1:06 PM
*3 days without fbref advanced*
football is actually about cultural values of different religions after all
football is actually about cultural values of different religions after all
Reposted by Grace Robertson 🏳️⚧️
Five wins for Protestant countries, two of which were against other Protestant countries. Which means Germany is the only nation to have beaten a Catholic nation in the final.
January 23, 2026 at 12:31 PM
Five wins for Protestant countries, two of which were against other Protestant countries. Which means Germany is the only nation to have beaten a Catholic nation in the final.
there is probably a great book to be written (not by me lol, i'm just bullshitting here) about how barcelona took the football ideas of ajax, a club long associated with a jewish identity in a predominantly protestant country, and repurposed them into a deeply culturally catholic institution.
i don't know what this "means" per se, but it's kind of interesting that germany and england are the only protestant countries ever to win the world cup. every other country to win it has been predominantly catholic.
January 23, 2026 at 12:32 PM
there is probably a great book to be written (not by me lol, i'm just bullshitting here) about how barcelona took the football ideas of ajax, a club long associated with a jewish identity in a predominantly protestant country, and repurposed them into a deeply culturally catholic institution.
i don't know what this "means" per se, but it's kind of interesting that germany and england are the only protestant countries ever to win the world cup. every other country to win it has been predominantly catholic.
January 23, 2026 at 12:23 PM
i don't know what this "means" per se, but it's kind of interesting that germany and england are the only protestant countries ever to win the world cup. every other country to win it has been predominantly catholic.
Reposted by Grace Robertson 🏳️⚧️
Diacritics function differently in French and Spanish. In French, it changes the pronunciation of a letter, in Spanish only the emphasis inside a word. French speakers sometimes add accents as a pronunciation aid, especially when transliterating from other languages, eg in this case Arabic
January 23, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Diacritics function differently in French and Spanish. In French, it changes the pronunciation of a letter, in Spanish only the emphasis inside a word. French speakers sometimes add accents as a pronunciation aid, especially when transliterating from other languages, eg in this case Arabic
random thought of the day: why is zidane's first name spelled "Zinédine" in french with the é, but not in english or, more perplexingly, spanish, where that é is commonly used.
January 23, 2026 at 12:07 PM
random thought of the day: why is zidane's first name spelled "Zinédine" in french with the é, but not in english or, more perplexingly, spanish, where that é is commonly used.
liverpool seem to be acting like CL qualification is a lock so it's fine to let robertson leave and not sign a centre back, and err i'm not so sure you should be doing that!
🚨 EXCL: Tottenham Hotspur working on deal to sign Andy Robertson from Liverpool. #THFC brought forward plan to vie for 31yo #LFC left-back as free agent this summer; not done but talks between all sides advancing in bid to strike agreement 🚨 @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/699...
www.nytimes.com
January 23, 2026 at 11:55 AM
liverpool seem to be acting like CL qualification is a lock so it's fine to let robertson leave and not sign a centre back, and err i'm not so sure you should be doing that!
Reposted by Grace Robertson 🏳️⚧️
If Maldini has to make a tackle Napoleon is already in Italy
broke: arsenal 2026 vs man utd 2008
woke: maldini vs napoleon
woke: maldini vs napoleon
January 22, 2026 at 8:22 PM
If Maldini has to make a tackle Napoleon is already in Italy
broke: arsenal 2026 vs man utd 2008
woke: maldini vs napoleon
woke: maldini vs napoleon
January 22, 2026 at 8:06 PM
broke: arsenal 2026 vs man utd 2008
woke: maldini vs napoleon
woke: maldini vs napoleon
random thought i had: french managers and players have done so much to shape and redefine the identity of the premier league, much more so than their own actual domestic league, which seems pretty dull compared to english football's famous frenchmen.
January 21, 2026 at 9:13 PM
random thought i had: french managers and players have done so much to shape and redefine the identity of the premier league, much more so than their own actual domestic league, which seems pretty dull compared to english football's famous frenchmen.
this liverpool shape is, like, slot turning the slot-ness all the way up to 11.
January 21, 2026 at 8:28 PM
this liverpool shape is, like, slot turning the slot-ness all the way up to 11.
you do not, under any circumstances, have to say a certain marseille player has "got that swagger about him" on a live tv broadcast.
January 21, 2026 at 8:12 PM
you do not, under any circumstances, have to say a certain marseille player has "got that swagger about him" on a live tv broadcast.
i reserve the right to think someone is not a particularly good person regardless of whether criminal charges were dropped or not
January 21, 2026 at 8:09 PM
i reserve the right to think someone is not a particularly good person regardless of whether criminal charges were dropped or not
will i ever get used to champions league games after christmas that aren't the knockouts yet
January 21, 2026 at 8:02 PM
will i ever get used to champions league games after christmas that aren't the knockouts yet
so many of the analytics people i used to read online either work directly for football clubs now or, more often, for consultancies doing analytics for clubs. i am happy they all have jobs. but it has negatively impacted the enjoyment, in an industry ultimately funded by entertainment.
i genuinely don't give a shit if football clubs get "smart" or not, and i don't know why anyone would care unless they thought they could get a job out of it. i just want to understand and talk about football better.
January 21, 2026 at 3:05 PM
so many of the analytics people i used to read online either work directly for football clubs now or, more often, for consultancies doing analytics for clubs. i am happy they all have jobs. but it has negatively impacted the enjoyment, in an industry ultimately funded by entertainment.
this one's free www.graceonfootball.com/p/mikel-arte...
Mikel Arteta is the great British manager of his generation
Fabio Capello had a problem.
www.graceonfootball.com
January 21, 2026 at 12:31 PM
this one's free www.graceonfootball.com/p/mikel-arte...
ok i'm writing the conclusion as we speak
wait, everyone, i've figured it out. this can be a loose sequel to the newsletter that should come out tonight or tomorrow.
January 21, 2026 at 4:56 AM
ok i'm writing the conclusion as we speak
going to be honest, i flat out don't know how i'd pay the bills if this happened
The heads of European FAs are talking about what the hell to do if Trump actually does go after Greenland. A World Cup boycott is a last resort - but it's possible.
Via @nickames82.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Via @nickames82.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Concerned European football chiefs discuss response to Trump over Greenland
European football’s leaders are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s wish to annex Greenland and have held initial discussions about how the sport could respond
www.theguardian.com
January 21, 2026 at 3:01 AM
going to be honest, i flat out don't know how i'd pay the bills if this happened
it's the classic problem: you want your club to get smart, but it's better for football as a whole to stay somewhat dumb.
i genuinely don't give a shit if football clubs get "smart" or not, and i don't know why anyone would care unless they thought they could get a job out of it. i just want to understand and talk about football better.
January 21, 2026 at 12:45 AM
it's the classic problem: you want your club to get smart, but it's better for football as a whole to stay somewhat dumb.
dumb mainstream football punditry has been very good for the bookies. they would've gone out of business decades ago if mark lawrenson could accurately predict premier league results.
Realizing that the FBRef thing is happening because bookies don't want their clients to have access to tools that help them beat the lines is pretty fucking grim
January 21, 2026 at 12:36 AM
dumb mainstream football punditry has been very good for the bookies. they would've gone out of business decades ago if mark lawrenson could accurately predict premier league results.
Reposted by Grace Robertson 🏳️⚧️
Realizing that the FBRef thing is happening because bookies don't want their clients to have access to tools that help them beat the lines is pretty fucking grim
January 20, 2026 at 11:58 PM
Realizing that the FBRef thing is happening because bookies don't want their clients to have access to tools that help them beat the lines is pretty fucking grim
Reposted by Grace Robertson 🏳️⚧️
The people in the industry that helped develop, introduce, and popularise this stuff are now being priced out of it.
Losing FBref is going to only further hamper independent soccer media (and industry media too!) because no one can afford a Wyscout or StatsBomb account on a newsletter/blog/podcast salary.
January 20, 2026 at 11:17 PM
The people in the industry that helped develop, introduce, and popularise this stuff are now being priced out of it.
Opta's position seems to be "FBRef bad, FIFA and gambling companies good". Interesting.
interesting timing. (h/t @afhstewart.bsky.social) inside.fifa.com/tournament-o...
FIFA select Stats Perform as first official worldwide betting data and betting streaming rights distributor, including exclusive World Cup 2026™ rights
FIFA today announced that it has selected sports AI and data pioneer Stats Perform as its first-ever official betting data and streaming rights distributor.
inside.fifa.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:05 PM
Opta's position seems to be "FBRef bad, FIFA and gambling companies good". Interesting.
the least interesting possible world is where clubs know everything and optimise for data us plebs can never see.
Feels like public access to interesting and useful soccer football data is getting worse rather than better. It probably peaked when FBref had Statsbomb data, other sites had Opta data, Soccerway existed in its original form, and WyScout was more accessible.
January 20, 2026 at 10:36 PM
the least interesting possible world is where clubs know everything and optimise for data us plebs can never see.