Venezia will return to the Italian top flight following their 2-2 draw away to La Spezia on Friday in the penultimate round of Serie B. After squandering a two-goal lead in the final moments of their match on the Ligurian coast, the Venetians thought they would have to wait another week to confirm promotion to Serie A. That was until Mantova scored a 96th-minute winner to beat third-placed Monza 3-2, and ensure promotion for Venezia before the final matchday. With 79 points, the Lagunari are guaranteed to finish in one of the top two places in the league. Venezia, owned by American investors since 2015, will begin their 15th season in the top flight in August aiming to avoid returning to Serie B after just one season, as happened after their three previous promotions.
Meanwhile, Brighton have decided that if you can't beat 'em, you might as well have an MMA fighter teach you how to grapple with 'em. Christian Eckerlin, a pal of manager Fabian Hurzeler, has been brought in to help the Seagulls deal with set-piece strong-arm tactics. "It was a couple of months ago. We brought him in because we spoke a lot about set-pieces, blocking, new trends in the Premier League," said Hurzeler. "I don't always want to be known as a club that is nice. In certain moments you need to be quite resilient in personal duels." Eckerlin's techniques for winning one-v-one duels at set-pieces may come in handy against Newcastle on Saturday.
Over at Chelsea, the club has partnered with hospitality brand Bagatelle to create a new exclusive 80-seat hospitality venue at Stamford Bridge. No price mentioned yet, but tickets for Monday's game with Nottingham Forest range from £270 to £2,475 for the tunnel club - because nothing says "working man's game" like a £2,475 seat with seasonal Mediterranean cuisine and live music.
In other news, five members of a gang who were sent to prison for illegally streaming Premier League games have been ordered by the court to return their profits, worth £3.75m. Gould, originally sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2023, was this week ordered by Derby Crown Court to forfeit the proceeds of his criminal activities and return £2.35m within three months or face a further prison sentence of 10 years. Illegal streamers, consider this your official warning: the Premier League will get its money, one way or another.
And finally, Iranian soccer federation president Mehdi Taj said Canadian officials cleared him to enter the country for the Fifa Congress, but Iran's delegation chose to turn back after being held for three hours and questioned at a Toronto airport. Taj, a former member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said he was questioned about his ties to the group but was ultimately allowed in. "We told them that there are 90m IRGC members in Iran," Taj told Iran's news agency Tasnim. "They said that we don't allow people from this organisation in." The Iranian delegation eventually returned to Turkey, reportedly refusing Fifa president Gianni Infantino's offer to send a jet to take them to Canada.