Season 6 Kicks Off: Matchday 1 Preview and Transfer Mayhem

Published: July 1, 2025

Excitement Builds with Matchday 1 Around the Corner

Monday 30th June 2025 marks the beginning of the games in Season 6 of FFO, with sides vying to get off to a strong start. Premiership champions Chelsea face a difficult assignment away at the youthful Arsenal side who still have plenty of talent to work with, while runners-up Manchester City have a somewhat easier game at home to beaten FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace.

Aston Villa and Manchester United both have home games as they seek to narrow the gap to the top of the table this campaign - they face Blackburn Rovers and Wolves respectively. Millwall start top flight life in a tasty looking clash with Leeds United, with the other two promoted clubs Coventry City and Portsmouth going head to head.

Real Madrid are one of the sides aiming to dethrone Paris St. Germain this season, and they have a fine opportunity to make an early statement when the two sides meet at Santiago Bernabeu on Monday. Champions League winners Atletico Madrid visit EFL2 champions Shakhtar Donetsk, while Jason Fortune's first game in the Fiorentina dugout is away at Bayer Leverkusen. It's an all-Portuguese affair for Benfica in their opening EFL1 game since promotion - they clash with Sporting Lisbon, while Union Berlin have a trip to Camp Nou at Barcelona.

Fax Machines in Overload as Bonanza Slams Shut

The regular FFO pre-season bonanza kicked off Season 6's festivities, with sporting directors and agents in overdrive as a total of 625 transactions (including permanent transfers, loans, free list acquisitions, releases and non-FFO auction purchases) were finalised over a 12-month period.

Defender Destiny Udogie commanded the highest cash-only sale in his £130m move from Juventus to Leeds United - and such is the way of the bonanza is that he was later swapped to Tottenham Hotspur! Vinicius Jr was another big money move from Wolfsburg to Real Madrid (£110m), whilst Jhon Duran signed twice for Borussia Dortmund in the same window.

Dortmund were one of the most active sides and involved in some big swap deals, including Joao Felix and Ansu Fati with Chelsea, whilst Real Madrid and Manchester United exchanged Serginho Dest and Matthias de Ligt. Declan Rice left EFL1 champs PSG for Chelsea, only to be swapped again for Reece James at Liverpool. Hot prospect striker Samu traded newly-promoted Portsmouth for Arsenal, who made a number of moves to reduce the average age of the team and build a side with exciting potential.

With the window slammed shut until after the first week of the season, clubs will be hoping their final squads are strong enough to start with a bang.

Non-FFO Auction Sales Top £1.5 Billion!

The early season non-FFO auction remains a hugely popular part of the pre-season process, and clubs went big to add elite talent to their rosters. Over £1.5 billion left club accounts, topped by Liverpool's £107.1m purchase of Belgian attacking midfielder Leandro Trossard.

Blackburn and Crystal Palace both broke the £100m mark with successful bids for Mateus Fernandes and Jean-Philippe Mateta respectively. Young defender Lenny Yoro drew attention from five clubs, with Feyenoord edging Marseille with an £84.8m offer.

Mohammed Salah went to Celtic for £45.1m — a potentially shrewd move for a side aiming for a return to EFL1 — while Arsenal sealed the bargain of the auction with the acquisition of Luis Guilherme just over the minimum bid price.

Matchday 1 is here — and after a flurry of deals and big moves, fans and managers alike can’t wait to see how it all unfolds.