TAB WEEKEND SOCCER HIGHLIGHTS: 29 – 31 MAY 2026

Soccer

UCL FINAL BRINGS DOWN THE CURTAIN ON 2025-26

The final act of the 2025-26 soccer season will play out in Budapest in Hungary this Saturday night with English Premier League champions Arsenal seeking to land the UEFA Champions League trophy for the first time in their history at the expense of French giants PSG, who will be bidding to win Europe’s premier club tournament for the second year running. The game is M1 in both Saturday’s second Soccer 10, which will be boosted by a R250,000 cash injection from TAB, and Soccer 13, which offers a guaranteed R17.5-million jackpot if there’s a single all-13-correct winner.

STAND BY FOR MEGA R2-MILLION SOCCER 10 POOL

TAB’s bonus add-in to the Soccer 10 should result in a month-end pool of some R2 million and it’s a bet that should return to handsome payout, given that it comprises a mix of attractive and challenging matches including four Serie A clashes in Brazil and a last-16 cup contest in Argentina.

The PSG-Arsenal duel is tough to call. Coach Luis Enrique took over the reins of the French club at the start of 2023-24 season and has transformed a disjointed superstar-laden outfit into a proper and well-drilled team that has flowed from showing poster signings like Messi, Neymar and Mbappe the exit door.

PSG surprised many pundits with how well they defended against Bayern Munich in the away leg of their Champions League semi-final clash, but it remains to be seen whether they can cope with Arsenal’s set-piece mastery, which delivered 12 goals for the London club during the 2025-26 season.

The challenge for Arsenal will be to ward off PSG’s lightning and venomous counter-attacks, which destroyed Inter Milan in last year’s final. Sure to be a closely-contested game with PSG fancied to edge out their rivals. They are 7-5 favourites with Arsenal at 9-4 and the draw after 90 minutes at 12-5.

Best bankers for the pool look to be home wins for Athletico PR and Flamengo in M3 and M4 respectively.

The best punt of the weekend has to be tonight’s Soccer 10, which starts with a R250,000 add-in from TAB and is set to return a huge dividend.

Here you can expect Monza to beat Catanzaro again in the second leg of a promotion playoff (they won the first leg 2-0) and Nice to beat St Etienne in a relegation playoff after a scoreless draw in the first leg.

In Sunday’s second Soccer 10 rely on away wins by Malaga and Las Palmas.

MATCH PREVIEWS FOR R250,000-ADDED SOCCER 10 POOLS

Friday 29 May – S10 V1

M1 Fredrikstad vs Start: Norwegian Eliteserien clash kicks off this R250,000-boosted pool. Fredrikstad have lost six of their last 10 games, while Start are winless in 10 games. Fredrikstad are 12th with 11 points, four ahead of 16th-placed Start who have seven points after 11 games.

M2 Rosenborg vs Bodo/Glimt: Rosenborg have lost five of their last 10 Eliteserien matches, while Bodo are on a four-game winning streak in all competitions. Bodo are third in the table with 22 points, 14 ahead of 15th-placed Rosenborg after 10 games.

M3 Mamelodi Sundowns vs RB Leipzig: Friendly. Sundowns have avoided defeat in nine of their last 10 games and clinched the African Champions League trophy last Sunday for the second time in their history. Leipzig won seven of their last 10 Bundesliga fixtures and finished third in the table in the 2025-26 season. They have not played each other before.

M4 AC Monza vs Catanzaro: Promotion playoff final second leg in Italy’s Serie B. Monza are unbeaten in four games, while Catanzaro are on a two-game losing streak. Monza won the first leg 2-0 away from home recently and finished third in Serie B with 76 points, 17 ahead of fifth-placed Catanzaro.

M5 Nice vs Saint-Etienne: Nice, winless in their last five games, finished third last in France’s Ligue 1 and are now in a relegation playoff clash against Saint-Etienne, who have avoided defeat in seven of their last 10. Plenty at stake.

M6 Drogheda United vs Waterford FC: Drogheda are winless in their last three games, while Waterford have been unable to win in nine of their last 10. Waterford won the last meeting between them 2-1 recently, but Drogheda are eighth in the Irish Premier Division table, 10 points ahead of 10th-placed Waterford.

M7 Dundalk vs Derry City: Dundalk have avoided defeat in seven of their last 10 games in all competitions, while Derry are winless in their last five Premier Division fixtures. The last meeting between them ended 2-2 in April. Dundalk are fourth on the log, four points ahead of sixth-placed Derry who have played a game more.

M8 Shelbourne vs Galway United: Shelbourne are unbeaten in five games, while Galway have won just one of their last seven. The teams drew 1-1 in February in their last clash. Shelbourne are fifth on 25 points, five ahead of seventh-placed Galway who have played a game less.

M9 Sligo Rovers vs Bohemians: Rovers have avoided defeat in seven of their last nine Premier Division matches, while Bohemians are unbeaten in five. Rovers won the last meeting between them 2-1 away, but Bohemians are third with 31 points, 12 ahead of ninth-placed Rovers.

M10 Shamrock Rovers vs St Patrick’s Athletic: Top-of-the-table clash. Shamrock head the Premier Division with 37 points, five ahead of St Pats who have played a game less. Shamrock have won six of their last nine league games, while St Pats have avoided defeat in seven of their last eight. Shamrock won the last meeting between them 1-0 away in April.

Saturday 30 May – S10 V3

M1 Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal: The 2025-2026 Champions League final gets this R250,000-added bet under way. Stand by for a big pool and a likely bumper payout. Defending champions and French Ligue 1 winners PSG have won six of their last 10 games, while EPL champions Arsenal are on a five-game winning streak. PSG won the last meeting between them 2-1.

M2 Granada CF vs Sporting Gijon: Granada are on a three-game losing streak, while Gijon have won their last two. Gijon won the last meeting between them 1-0 in December and are 12th in LaLiga2 with 58 points, 10 ahead of 14th-placed Granada.

M3 Athletico PR vs Mirassol: Athletico are unbeaten in three games, while Mirassol have won six of their last eight. Athletico are fourth in Brazil’s Serie A with 27 points, 11 ahead of 18th-placed Mirassol.

M4 Flamengo vs Coritiba: Flamengo have avoided defeat in eight of their last 10 games in all competitions, while Coritiba are on a two-game winning streak in Serie A. Flamengo are second in the table with 31 points and Coritiba sixth with 26 points.

M5 FUS Rabat vs FAR Rabat: FUS are unbeaten in five games, while FAR have avoided defeat in seven of their last eight. FAR won the last meeting between them 1-0 and are third in Morocco’s top league with 40 points, while FUS are ninth with 26 points.

M6 Belenenses vs Farense: Portuguese second-division relegation playoff second leg. Belenenses have avoided defeat in eight of their last 10 fixtures and Farense have won four of their last seven in all competitions. Farense won the first leg 1-0 recently at home.

M7 Bahia vs Botafogo: Bahia are winless in their last eight games, while Botafogo are unbeaten in three. Bahia are eighth in Brazil’s Serie A on 23 points, one point ahead of 10th-placed Botafogo.

M8 Gremio vs Corinthians: Gremio are unbeaten in four games, while Corinthians have won six of their last 10. Corinthians won the last meeting 2-0 in November. Gremio and Corinthians are 14th and 15th respectively in Serie A, both on 21 points.

M9 Instituto vs CA Lanus: Cup clash in Argentina. Instituto have won five of their last eight games in all competitions, while Lanus have lost three in a row. They last met in February and drew 2-2.

M10 Sport Recife vs Nautico Capibaribe: Recife have won seven of their last 10 games in all competitions and Nautico are unbeaten in their last five league fixtures. Nautico are second on the Serie B table in Brazil with 19 points and are ahead of third-placed Recife on goal difference.