In a landmark moment for the Betfred Super League and British rugby as a whole, Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves will be facing off against each other in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Yes, for the first time in history, an official Super League game will be taking place in the US as last month’s Challenge Cup finalists will see their rematch moved to the Allegiant Stadium, where NFL side Las Vegas Raiders and Rebels college-level American football teams play.
With the two local teams set to meet over the other side of the Atlantic next year, this comes as part of a fresh bid to grow a National Rugby League (NRL) audience over in the States – a drum they’ve been beating for several decades now.
The all-North West face-off will be one of four fixtures scheduled to take place in March 2025.
Boasting a 65,000 capacity, the Allegiant Stadium is roughly four times the capacity of the Wolves Halliwell Jones Stadium and more than two-and-a-half times the size of the Warriors’ home ground.
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It was also where this year’s Super Bowl was hosted.
Safe to say, if they sell well, these latest international NRL games could be huge for growing the rugby audience in the US.
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Wigan and Warrington are the first UK teams to play in America but follow in the footsteps of Aussie clubs Brisbane Broncos, Manly Sea Eagles, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters who kicked off the Las Vegas promotion earlier this year, attracting over 40,000 fans.
The New Zealand Warriors will also play against Canberra Raiders along with three-time NRL champions Penrith Panthers taking on Cronulla Sharks in the other games booked in for 2025 thus far.
That means eight NRL clubs will have played in the first two years in Vegas, following matches between Brisbane Broncos, Manly Sea Eagles, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters earlier this year.
But the historic fixtures don’t stop there as England Women will also play against the world champions, Australia Jillaroos, in another landmark moment for international rugby.
As for Wigan – who hold the record for the most competition wins, lifting their 21st Challenge Cup on 8 June with an 18-8 win at Wembley – they’re clearly relishing the challenge of playing abroad.
These games will be broadcast on Sky Sports and are obviously geared towards the American sporting audience, but would you fly as far as Las Vegas to watch a Super League game?
Manchester’s National Football Museum to screen England’s Euro 2025 matches for free this summer
Emily Sergeant
England’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 matches are to be shown on big screens for free in Manchester this summer.
As England women’s national football team look to retain their title and continue to build on their ever-growing success as one of the best national football teams in the world, Manchester‘s National Football Museum is set to host a series of family-friendly watch parties after hours for the UEFA Women’s Euros this summer.
Visitors of all ages are welcome to support and celebrate England as they kick-off their campaign against France in the group stages on 5 July, followed by matches against the Netherlands on 9 July, and Wales on 13 July.
As Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses head to Switzerland with the hopes of being crowned European champions, you can head to the National Football Museum for some safe and inclusive fun.
Not only will the matches be shown in all their glory for free on a big screen, but you can also expect an on-site bar, and even the option to pre-order pizza ahead of time to feast on while you’re watching the action.
Watch parties will be taking place at the National Football Museum on the following dates:
France v England – 5 July at 8pm
England v Netherlands – 9 July at 5pm
England v Wales – 13 July at 8pm
To mark the beginning of the tournament, the museum will also be hosting a vibrant weekend of events on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July, so get ready to strike a pose in Lionesses’ kits, create your own dazzling banner, and drum-up support with your very own chant.
Manchester’s National Football Museum is screening England’s Euro 2025 matches for free this summer / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“This promises to be an exciting summer for football,” said Tim Desmond, who is the CEO of the National Football Museum.
“We want to bring the powerful sense of community that tournament football delivers to our museum, helping both new and returning visitors understand why football matters, and witness the impact our pioneering Lionesses can have in inspiring generations of budding young footballers.
“That’s why we are so delighted to be able to offer watch parties for this year’s tournament, providing a safe, inclusive, and exciting place for all fans to cheer on England.”
Featured Image – Molly Darlington / The FA (via England on Facebook)
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Manchester City confirm fourth signing of the summer as spending spree continues
Danny Jones
Manchester City have officially revealed their fourth signing of the summer window after confirming the transfer of top target Tijjani Reijnders.
The highly sought-after Serie A midfielder joins the club from AC Milan on a five-year contract for an initial fee of approximately £46.5 million, after having been tracked by a number of clubs across Europe over the past season or so.
Reijnders, 26, registered 15 goals and five assists from central midfielder last season (more than any other player in the league) with Italian football journalist Mina Rzouki stating that he models his game on Kevin De Bruyne, making him the perfect replacement for the Belgian – on paper, at least.
Finally unveiled on Wednesday, 11 June, he is arguably the statement signing of what looks to be a continued spending spree which began back in January.
With Man City splashing roughly £200m to kick off the 2025 calendar year as they brought the likes of Omar Marmoush and a trio of defensively geared players in Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and CDM Nico Gonzalez, it seems like they started as they mean to go on.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak assured fans that the club would be picking up “several players” in a recent interview after he argued they hadn’t been aggressive enough last summer, and given that the current main window hasn’t even been open for a fortnight yet, we’d say he’s sticking to that promise.
This year actually marks a rare instance of the transfer window being broken up into two parts due to the FIFA Club World Cup (which City are among the favourites to win) and will then re-open on 16 June.
Nevertheless, the Blues look to have got plenty of their business done already, not only with the arrival of Reijnders but the acquisition of left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri earlier this week, plus another attack-minded midfielder, Rayan Cherki.
The second player of Algerian descent and the second signing of the summer window was quickly announced by the Man City social media team just before the Dutchman.
Along with the signing of a new shotstopper, Marcus Betinelli from Chelsea – set to replace former reserve goalkeeper Scott Carson, who left the club after six seasons on Monday – that makes it four new incoming already.
Once again, not only do these latest additions to Pep Guardiola’s squad take their transfer total to over £300m on new talent in 2025, but there is still plenty of time for City to sign even more players with the summer window not closing until 7pm BST on 1 September.
Although the club have now acquired all of the players they have been most publicly linked with so far, it’s unclear whether their spending will continue or if the focus now turns to the Club World Cup getting underway this month and preparing the current squad for next season.
What do you make of Man City‘s latest recruits? Don’t forget, there have been some new arrivals in the backroom as well.
Danny Jones -
10th July 2024 
