As of April, we’re currently 80% done with the entire European soccer season and 87 days away from the Club World Cup. Being so close to the end of the season means many teams have dropped from their leagues’ title races, and many teams have been eliminated from their league cups and European trophies. Additionally, there’s more news surrounding the Club World Cup and a new possible promotion and relegation system in the US. All this and more in this second column of Full-Time Highlights.

We’ll start off by seeing title races of two different leagues, starting with the Premier League. Currently Liverpool stands 11 points ahead of second place Arsenal, yet the race to get the fourth place spot for Champions Leagues seems very tight with 4 teams competing to reach the teams: Chelsea FC, Newcastle United FC, Manchester City FC, and Aston Villa FC. The biggest point difference between the highest placed team (Chelsea) and the lowest of these four teams (Aston Villa FC) is only 2 points. This shows how close the fight for 4th place has been and will be, especially now that we’re approaching the end of the season.

The next title race we’ll be looking at is La Liga, and as of April 10th, there are three main teams in the race: FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico de Madrid. Currently FC Barcelona is in first place beating second place Real Madrid by 4 points and beating 3rd place Atletico de Madrid by 7 points. These three teams have been in the main title race since the start of the season, making it still a difficult race between the three teams. Overall, this table could change in an instant, which makes the title race even more exciting.

Next up is the Champions League. The quarter finals are held the second week of April, and we’ve already had some major upsets. Arsenal beat Real Madrid in the first leg 3-0, raising eyebrows about the Madrid defense and Carlo Ancelotti’s decisions from playing David Alaba in a midfield role to the clear imbalance of the squad. While on the other side of Europe, Bayern lost 2-1 at home to Inter Milan, with Vincent Kompany’s side needing a promising result in Milan for the second leg to continue Bayern’s Champions league dream alive. As for Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, they easily defeated Borussia Dortmund 4-0, with Raphinha still in great form being in the race for most Goals/Assists in the Champion League history this season. At the same time, Aston Villa matched with PSG as well, being a high scoring game with 4 total goals, as Aston Villa put up on the scoreboard first just for PSG to quickly respond with a goal from Douré. PSG’s attack and quick movement caught Aston Villa off guard, making the final score 3-1 in favor of PSG. They’ve had four great match games and all of them were great, but there’s still more to come from the 2nd leg, semifinals, and final.

Now to change focus to the other side of the world, shifting from Europe to the Americas. In American soccer, the United Soccer League (USL), North America’s largest soccer organization, voted to officially implement a promotion and relegation policy across its leagues. USL is the first professional U.S. soccer league to do so, which will possibly challenge the MLS in the near future. While MLS has yet to adopt a promotion and relegation style, USL’s news is a step in the right direction for more leagues in America to welcome the European standard. We’ve also seen MLS talk about adopting a calendar year schedule like Europe, but that wouldn’t happen until at least 2027, if at all. Promotion relegation and new changes in scheduling is great to grow out not just the US men’s national team but also CONCACAF as a whole.

Finally, news with the Club World Cup: one of the biggest announcements coming from FIFA regarding this June tournament is that Club León has been officially disqualified just under three months before it begins. The reasoning is supposedly due to FIFA’s strict one owner policy, in which two clubs competing in the competition can’t have the same owner, as it can lead to match fixing and advantages. (In this case, Club Leon and C.F. Pachuca are under the same ownership.) While the Club Leon president tried and is still trying to fix and prove that the club shouldn’t be disqualified, it meanwhile leaves a spot available for a new club to fill. A possible LA FC vs Club America one game playoff for the spot is rumored, but nothing is certain yet. The World Cup Club is essentially international, so it will matter who’s representing what continents come June.

Who will actually win the Premier league and get that champions league spot, and who will win La Liga? Will Real Madrid be able to come back once again? Who’s going to make it to the final of the Champions League? Will the new USL league structure work? Who will replace Club Leon? All this and more will be covered in the next addition of Full-Time Highlights!

(Photos courtesy Getty Images)