Iran v New Zealand is the World Cup’s only group-stage match where both countries are the sole wild home of a globally recognisable animal.
Iran has the last Asiatic cheetahs. New Zealand has the kiwi.
Stay tuned for more cutting-edge, geography-based World Cup analysis.
More good news for Sheffield Wednesday fans...this has now disappeared from the EFL website in the last few minutes! Time to party once again.
Embargo is now EmbarGONE.
The EFL has sanctioned Sheffield Wednesday consistently since 2018.
Over that period, the club has been hit with multiple transfer embargoes spanning nearly a decade. By October 2025, Wednesday were under six simultaneous embargoes — the most any club has ever faced.
On top of that, the club has suffered repeated points deductions. A -12 deduction in 2020/21 severely damaged recruitment and momentum going into that season. Although it was later reduced to -6 on appeal, the damage had already been done — those points ultimately proved the difference between survival and relegation to League One.
In 2025, the situation worsened further. The club received:
•-12 points for entering administration, after the former owner failed to meet basic financial obligations such as paying wages and bills on time
•A further -6 point deduction, again due to the owner’s failure to uphold his responsibilities
This is not a case of a club gaining an unfair advantage — quite the opposite. The club has been placed at a significant competitive disadvantage for years due to sustained mismanagement.
Sheffield Wednesday has endured one of the most damaging ownership periods a club of its size is likely to experience. The former owner’s approach has not only harmed the club financially but also created a toxic environment for staff and supporters alike.
And yet, despite this, there is now an expectation that the same owner should be repaid — while the club continues to face further punishment.
How can that be justified?
The new ownership group should not be penalised for the failures of the previous regime. They should be given the opportunity to restore stability to a club that has lacked it for nearly 26 years.
Imposing further sanctions — such as another -15 point deduction, spending caps, business plan restrictions, and transfer limitations — would only deepen the damage. It risks condemning the club to yet another relegation and prolonging the cycle of instability.
At some point, there has to be recognition that continued punishment is no longer corrective — it is excessive.
The club, its staff, and its supporters deserve the chance to move forward.
#FairDealForWednesday
@storchyowl
Meanwhile Sheffield Wednesday will be docked another FIFTEEN points by the EFL next season for **checks notes** not paying £15m to the mental man who ran the club into administration and nearly extinction
Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest football clubs in the world, their famous name woven into the tapestry of the game. Formed in 1867, elected to the Football League in 1892, founder members of the Premier League, four times champions of England, three times winners of the FA Cup, and the League Cup once. Such honours may be far back in history but Wednesday remain a powerful force in many lives, in families, communities, in Sheffield and beyond.
It would be devastating to Wednesday supporters and deeply damaging to the reputation of English football if Wednesday lost their membership of the EFL because of the behaviour of an owner in Dejphon Chansiri who passed initial EFL ownership tests, was welcomed (let’s not forget), but turned out to be shamelessly irresponsible. Wednesday fans fear the club's existence might be at risk if the EFL imposes further punishments and restrictions that deter potential buyers.
Stronger oversight of owners is clearly required and the EFL and PL did tighten their rules in 2023. The new Independent Football Regulator will introduce a proper licensing system for clubs and better oversight of owners. Unfortunately, the IFR did not come into force early enough to prevent Wednesday's downward slide under Chansiri.
Wednesday are currently in administration and threatened with further EFL sanctions – a 15-point deduction for next season. This season's 18-point deduction all but guaranteed relegation from the Championship (confirmed on Feb 22). The League applies sanctions as punishment for debts and also as a deterrent to other clubs/owners.
The EFL emphasises it is working with all parties to “try and find a solution that can see Sheffield Wednesday continue as a member of the League....but ultimately we have to also apply the terms of the League’s insolvency policy…which seeks to balance the interests, not only of Sheffield Wednesday, but also of the other 71 clubs”.
Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust, fighting hard for their club’s survival, has now released a copy of the EFL’s insolvency policy and argues that it gives the League, in the Trust’s words, “absolute discretion when determining how to deal with clubs experiencing an insolvency event”.
The Trust argues that “…further punitive sanctions risk undermining the very factors the EFL states it must consider - including the effect on supporters, the impact on the local community and the wider credibility of the league itself.
“Sheffield Wednesday supporters are not seeking advantage over other clubs. It is entirely right that all EFL clubs should be treated fairly and consistently. That principle must include Sheffield Wednesday that has already suffered enormously during a decade in which the EFL’s own regulatory oversight failed to prevent the damage that unfolded.
“We urge the EFL to apply its own guidance responsibly and ensure that the focus now is on allowing the club to recover, stabilise and move forward under new ownership. Sheffield Wednesday supporters have suffered enough.” #SWFC #EFL @SWFCTrust
Since seeding began in 1975, a No. 1 seed has won the Super Bowl 27 times.
Only one of those No. 1 seeds had to beat three 12-win teams during that playoff run: the 2025 @Seahawks.