League Two hub goes quiet: Panini card listings and puzzles crowd out football news

A quiet spell on The Athletic's League Two desk

Visitors to The Athletic's dedicated EFL League Two hub were in for a surprise on the latest refresh of the page: instead of the usual diet of results, fixtures, stats, and transfer rumors from England's fourth tier, the landing page was dominated by advertising, a word puzzle, and a handful of sports trading card listings.

The page, which typically serves as a one-stop shop for League Two coverage, currently surfaces promotional material including Connections: Soccer Edition, a daily puzzle in which players are invited to “group soccer terms that share a common thread.” A new puzzle is made available each day, per the site's own blurb.

Trading cards take center stage

Perhaps most notably, the hub is currently headlined by several Panini collectible listings, headlined by an ungraded 2025 Panini Three and Two – Downtown Albert Pujols #13 card priced at $500.00. Further down the page sit a Josue De Paula 2024 Panini Three and Two PDJ-JDP Laundry Tag Memorabilia 1/1 listed at $375.00, a 2026 Topps Jalen Coker Golden Image card at $435.00, and a graded Panini 2024 Three and Two Downtown #16 Jackson Chourio RC PSA 9 at $411.52.

The listings appear amid a series of display advertisements, with the page's main editorial feed effectively empty of new football reporting. For now, anyone hoping for fresh League Two news will have to look beyond the card aisle — and make a good showing on the day's puzzle while they wait.