The Guardian

Former captain says losses can benefit team next year Johnson refuses to comment on Henry Pollock hype Martin Johnson believes England’s most painful defeats under Steve Borthwick can benefit them at the Rugby World Cup in Australia next year. England endured some disastrous moments during the Six Nations this year, most notably the 42-21 defeat by Ireland at Twickenham , and finished the tournam…

Teenager scores twice in 4-1 win to boost Ballon d’Or case Slovenia beat North Macedonia; Faroe Islands hold Moldova Lamine Yamal scored two goals and set up another as Spain hammered Croatia 4-1 on Tuesday in the Nations League in their first home game since lifting the World Cup. The 19-year-old was joined on the scoresheet by Marc Pubill and Nico Williams as they extended their unbeaten run to…

Dott, 49, receives seven-year sentence after abusing a boy and a girl in what judge says was ‘gross violation of trust’ The former snooker world champion Graeme Dott has been jailed for seven years at the high court in Edinburgh after being convicted of sexually abusing two young children. In August, Dott was found guilty of sexually abusing a boy and a girl after a five-day trial at Glasgow high…

Anybody can lose to Spain. But when England did so at Wembley on Saturday, it served to turn up the temperature for this trip to Czechia. England have form for finding it difficult at this compact stadium. Remember the European Championship qualifier here in 2019 when they lost 2-1 ? It was not easy at first. Thomas Tuchel shuffled his pack, making the surprise decision to start Jude Bellingham a…

Switzerland have responded exceptionally well from allegations of capers involving vaccination certificates that threatened to overshadow this international window. Make that six points out of six for Murat Yakin’s stylish team. Switzerland look comfortably capable of breezing out of Group B1 in the Nations League. They have not even played at home yet. Granit who? Sébastien Pocognoli, conversely…

How can Manchester City be trusted under these owners after they were found to have devised £900m of ‘sham’ contracts? How bad could it be, really? How serious can a breach of arcane financial regulations be, really? Just how damning can accountancy be? Even after Friday’s revelation that Manchester City had been found guilty of all but one of the charges brought against them by the Premier Leagu…

Aleksander Ceferin condemns FFE and Balogun affair Tells club chiefs it is ‘time to say enough’ to Fifa The Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has attacked his embattled Fifa counterpart Gianni Infantino in a scathing takedown of the failed Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) project and other recent scandals, saying “the emperor is naked” and declaring “it is time to say ‘enough’”. In a pointed addre…

New red-ball coach Stephen Fleming and captain Joe Root can capitalise on side’s recent form and create a new identity Just a few weeks ago I was so demoralised. The England team was a mess, a shambles. The management was terrible. One red-ball coach had just been sacked and the other wasn’t going to turn up for ages . The Test captain, whose skillset as a high-class batter who bowls at an elite …

Marque reaffirms commitment to Fred Vasseur Horner had expressed interest in joining Ferrari Ferrari have reaffirmed their backing for team principal Fred Vasseur in an effort to end speculation that Christian Horner was being considered as a potential replacement for the Frenchman. Horner gave an interview in the Times last week in which he stated that leading Ferrari would be his “dream” job an…

‘Sham’ contracts helped inflate revenues by £900m Commission finds club guilty over nine-season period Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, the league has announced. The league also said an independent commission had found City guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failur…

Tyson Frizell waited 15 years to make a grand final while Fletcher Sharpe grew up watching Knights legends but wasn’t even alive for their last premiership Tyson Frizell has played 305 NRL games but has found he can no longer bear to watch the end of grand finals. “It usually gets switched off or I stop watching it as soon as that siren goes because – while you’re happy for everyone – it burns, t…

When transnational alliances have scarcely been weaker, the way the club was allegedly run offers a bleak vision of a world driven by brute power and wealth The cache of leaked emails and documents that would eventually lead to the crisis in which Manchester City are now embroiled was published by Der Spiegel in 2018 , and often it was the tone of the club’s communications that was as startling a…

Manchester City have kicked off the campaign with five victories in a row but the title race is a marathon not a sprint By Opta Analyst The first international window gives us time to take stock and make sense of what has happened in the early weeks of the Premier League season. Manchester City are the only team to have won all five of their matches. They have started life after Pep Guardiola in …

One of the best strikers in the world, the Scot talks about her career in blind football and the Euros Helga has spotted a pigeon just outside the changing rooms at Poltonhall Sports Complex in Bonnyrigg and it suddenly becomes clear from her ears, tongue and tail that she would very much like to chase it. But not today. She is a good girl, she resists the exciting temptation, and stays true to h…

Debutants will face Australia and All Blacks and full-back Paul Altier admits he and his teammates are more used to ‘watching it as fans’ This time next year the Rugby World Cup will be looming large. Australia’s big party kicks off on 1 October 2027 when the host nation will be intent on replicating the feelgood factor generated by their eventful 42-38 win against the world champion Springboks o…