How many games does a soccer team actually play a year?
Plus: It's Champions League semi-final time, the two USMNT players who really (really) can't get injured before the World Cup, and the tragic story of the Torino plane crash in 1949
Welcome to The Tap-Inn. Where you can tap in to the world of soccer with me, your Irish Tap-Inn bartender, Joe. 🍻
Just five more Mondays until the World Cup, people. Things are starting to get serious. On tap today:
🏃♂️ Why some teams play 40 games and some play 60
✋ The USMNT’s best defenders
💔 Torino’s tragic plane-crash 77 years ago today
Let’s tap in.
🥃 TOP SHELF
Arsenal are fighting on several different fronts this season
How many games does a soccer team actually play a year?
My buddy Karl has got it easy.
He works behind a dive bar in Queens — one shift a week, Saturdays only, same six regulars, same Springsteen album on repeat.
Then there’s my buddy Alan — more “mixologist” than “bartender”. He’s top notch to be fair — but he’s found himself slinging spirits across four different bars at once as a result. He’s barely has time to iron his shirt in between shifts.
Soccer works the same way.
“The price of being good is you play more games?”
Exactly. And it’s the reason why Arsenal are playing nearly 20 more games than Manchester United this season.
The math, made simple
Every league has a fixed number of games. Take the number of teams in the league, subtract one (you can't play yourself) and multiply by two (playing each team home and away):
🏴 Premier League (20 teams): (20 − 1) x 2 = 38 games
🇪🇸 La Liga (20 teams) = 38 games
🇮🇹 Serie A (20 teams) = 38 games
🇩🇪 Bundesliga (18 teams) = 34 games
🇫🇷 Ligue 1 (18 teams) = 34 games
A team in just a league plays roughly once a week. But add domestic cups and European competition and that turns into a game every 3 or 4 days for months at a time — Saturday league game, Tuesday or Wednesday domestic cup or Champions League, back into a league game on Saturday.
What are these other competitions then?
In England, every Premier League team also enters two separate knockout tournaments — the FA Cup and the EFL Cup (also known as the League Cup or Carabao Cup). Lose your first game, you’re out of the competition. Get the whole way to the final and that’s an additional six or seven games.
Then comes Europe. If you finish in the top places in your league the previous season to qualify for a European competition, your diary goes feral. Depending on just how high you finished, you might qualify for either:
Champions League — the top tournament. 8 league-phase games minimum, plus knockouts. Reach the final and you've added up to 17 games.
Europa League / Conference League — same idea, slightly less prestigious, similar volume.
What that actually looks like in practise this season
Manchester United: No European competition and knocked out of both domestic cups in the first round. Total: 40 games. Fewest in 111 years. One shift a week, basically.
Arsenal: Title race, EFL Cup final, FA Cup quarter-finals and a Champions League semi-final second leg tomorrow night. Already past 60 games. That's a 50% bigger workload. Same season, completely different calendar.
This is why managers obsess over "squad depth" and "rotation." Arsenal can't play the same eleven every game without breaking somebody. United, meanwhile, get whole weeks off to train.
⏰ TLDR: League season + cups + European competition = workload. The best teams play 60+ games at one every 3 or 4 days for months on end. The bad ones play about 40 and put their feet up.
If that all sounds like a lot of soccer, it really is — as summed up perfectly (and hilariously) in this iconic YouTube clip here.
Also on tap:
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🗞️ THIS WEEK IN SOCCER
Richarlison heading Spurs out of the relegation zone
Premier League roundup
The Premier League season is in its final stretch. Here's how the weekend played out.
Arsenal 3–0 Fulham(Sat, May 2) — Gyökeres bagged a brace, Saka chipped in, all wrapped up by half-time. Arsenal are now six points clear at the top.
Aston Villa 1–2 Tottenham(Sun, May 3) — Gallagher and a Richarlison header put Spurs 2-0 up before half-time. Buendia pulled one back in stoppage time but it wasn't enough. Tottenham climb out of the relegation zone for the first time in weeks.
Manchester United 3–2 Liverpool(Sun, May 3) — United flew out of the blocks through Cunha and Sesko, Liverpool fought back to 2-2, then Kobbie Mainoo broke hearts at the Stretford End with a late winner. United are back in the Champions League next season.
Chelsea 1–3 Nottingham Forest(Mon, May 4) — Sixth straight Premier League defeat for Chelsea, who haven't scored in the league in over nine hours of soccer (until a bicycle kick goal-of-the-season contender from Joao Pedro in stoppage time).
Everton vs Manchester City(Mon, May 4 — LIVE right now) — City need a win to stay within touching distance of Arsenal.
Champions League semi-finals preview
Two semi-final second legs. Two completely different setups. Here's what's coming.
Arsenal vs Atlético Madrid ( 1-1 on aggregate) — Tuesday, May 5, Emirates Stadium. Arsenal are the only unbeaten team left in this Champions League. But Atlético under Diego Simeone are the most stubborn defensive side in Europe. Expect a slow boil that could go all the way to extra time and penalties.
Bayern Munich vs PSG (4-5 on aggregate) — Wednesday, May 6, Allianz Arena. PSG lead after one of the wildest games in Champions League history. PSG's manager Luis Enrique will want to control the game. Bayern's coach Vincent Kompany will want chaos. PSG only need a draw to advance. Bayern need a win.
The final is in Budapest on May 30. Two more nights until we know who's there.
Wrexham
Phil Parkinson's side went into Saturday needing a win to hold off Hull City and Derby County for the final Championship playoff spot. They led through Sam Smith's powerful header only for Middlesbrough to claw it back to 2-2, and Hull to hold their nerve against Norwich. Wrexham finished seventh and their playoff dream is over.
For Ryan Reynolds, the adult diaper joke he cracked pre-match turned out to be entirely justified. They'll be back next season — but this one will sting.
📝 TRIVIA ON TAP
Played out
What is the most games that a team in Europe has played in a single season?
A) 48
B) 66
C) 69
D) 77
Answer at the bottom 👇
🌎 WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN: 38 DAYS
In Poch we trust
Three's company
Pochettino's USMNT now plays a 3-4-3 — three center backs, two wing-backs flying down the flanks. He switched after a rough September and hasn't looked back.
Two of those three center back spots already have names on them: Tim Ream and Chris Richards. Think of them like the two bouncers on the door of a busy bar — the seasoned pro who's seen every kind of trouble walk through the door, and the young gun who actually has to deal with it — you need both.
Tim Ream (38, Charlotte FC): The captain. He's only the fourth USMNT outfield player to play after his 38th birthday. Started all four games at the 2022 World Cup. Came back to MLS last year after a long stint in the Premier League with Fulham.
Chris Richards (26, Crystal Palace): The vice-captain. The 2025 US Soccer Male Player of the Year. Born in Alabama, cut from FC Dallas's academy as a kid, somehow ended up at Bayern Munich. Won the FA Cup with Crystal Palace last year — the club's first major trophy in 119 years. Richards was the only player to play every single minute of the run.
The third spot: Wide open. Miles Robinson started three of the four games where both Ream and Richards were available. Tristan Blackmon, Mark McKenzie, Auston Trusty and Joe Scally have all had cracks at it too.
The lesson from March: When Richards missed both friendly games through injury, the US conceded seven goals in two matches. The whole back line relies on him.
Roster reveal is May 26. 22 days. Stay healthy, lads.
🔥 QUICKFIRE
Sound like a pro
Phrase: Thunderb*stard
Origin: Born on the standing sections of British soccer grounds, where fans needed a single word worthy of a shot so powerful it defied description.
Definition: A ferocious, unstoppable long-range strike — usually hit with such venom the goalkeeper barely has time to react.
Usage: "Best thunderb*stard of all time? Gotta be Riise against United. What a strike.”
On this day
. A plane carrying the entire Grande Torino squad crashed into the Superga hillside near Turin, killing all 31 people on board.
Torino were the dominant force in Italian soccer at the time — five consecutive league champions and widely considered the best team on the continent. The disaster wiped out a generation of players, including ten members of the Italian national team.
Dive into the full story here.
Last call
June 16, 2014, the USMNT’s Brazil 2014 World Cup opener vs Ghana.
Clint Dempsey scored after 30 seconds. Ghana equalized in the 82nd minute. Then with just five to go, a 21-year-old, 6'4" sub named John Brooks rose above the defense and headed home. He'd literally dreamed about it two nights before the match. And it shows.
Here's hoping Ream, Richards and whoever wins that third center back spot can serve up a few more rounds like that this summer.
📝 TRIVIA ANSWER
C) 69
In the 2012–13 season, Chelsea played a massive 69 matches across all competitions. That included the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, and an unusually long European run — they started in the UEFA Champions League, dropped into the UEFA Europa League, and went on to win it. Nice.