The Guardian

The relatable, endearing authenticity of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the defending NBA champions is a wonder to behold Winter is over, though perhaps most NBA fans feel as if it’s just beginning. After a midseason slump, the Oklahoma City Thunder have won 12 of their last 13 games They’re clinging to a slim but steady three-game lead over the San Antonio Spurs atop the otherwise chaotic Western C…

Mauricio Pochettino will use friendlies against Belgium and Portugal to answer the final World Cup roster questions When the US men’s national team booked Belgium and Portugal for the final pair of friendlies before the 2026 World Cup roster is named, it looked like a couple solid tests against European teams who will expect to reach this World Cup’s business end. They should be worthy tests of t…

The Netherlands striker opens up on the condition that temporarily derailed her Everton career and the symptoms to look out for When the sharp, stabbing pain in her abdomen became so severe that she had to be substituted at half-time during an Everton match, Katja Snoeijs knew what she was experiencing was not merely “normal period pains”. And she was right. The 29-year-old Netherlands striker ha…

Every men’s and women’s player to be tested twice per year Players prevented from playing to be listed as ‘unavailable’ The AFL is preparing for an increase in players testing positive to drugs such as cocaine and MDMA due to more effective testing under a new illicit substances policy, even if the public will never find out. The players union is adamant, however, the “revised” approach will redu…

The World Series champions have somehow become even stronger. But there are a few teams who could stop them from retaining their title A welcome introduction. Recent years have seen a tactical flattening of the game with the introduction of the universal DH, the banning of the shift and the three-batter minimum rule, but this adds an interesting wrinkle to game management. The league table of cat…

As well as being one of the team’s best performers, midfielder has become a talisman who is aware of the club’s spirit and traditions The video of Bruno Fernandes kicking in the door is very good, if you haven’t already seen it. In a way, it explains a lot. His Sporting team are drawing 1‑1 at Boavista in 2019 and Fernandes has just been sent off for a fully deserved second yellow. As he stalks d…

Forty-one-year-old opens up about private life on radio show GayFL He played one game for the Lions before becoming a SANFL star The former Brisbane Lions player and SANFL champion Leigh Ryswyk has become the first past or present male AFL player to come out as gay. Ryswyk, who played one game for the Lions in 2005, opened up about his sexuality on the GayFL radio program. Continue reading...

Teen sensation has finished school and now trains as full-time athlete 18-year-old to renew rivalry with Lachlan Kennedy at Maurie Plant Dazzling in his sponsor’s tracksuit, and sparkling with an earring and two glimmering chains, sprint sensation Gout Gout told his first press conference in Melbourne his confidence is growing. The teenager spoke to a swarm of cameras on Thursday, ahead of the Ma…

UK participation levels more than doubled in 2025 860,000 Britons played padel at least once last year It was once seen as a quirky upstart or continental fad. But padel now has nearly a million players across the UK after participation levels more than doubled in 2025. According to LTA figures seen by the Guardian, 860,000 Britons played padel at least once last year – up from 400,000 in 2024 an…

Centre-back opens up on his renaissance at Old Trafford and his burning World Cup desire for England Harry Maguire was injured again and Manchester United were stuck in a loop under Ruben Amorim, offering their own take on the definition of insanity. As Albert Einstein almost said, it is playing 3-4-2-1 with Bruno Fernandes deep and Casemiro exposed over and over again – but expecting different r…

Rybakina completes 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win American slumps to fifth straight defeat to Kazakhstani Jessica Pegula had her chances. Midway through the second set of yet another enormous match with Elena Rybakina, the American had engineered a flawless start. After bulldozing through the opening set, Pegula’s level at the beginning of set two put her in with a fair shot of snatching a win agains…

Gli Azzurri start favourites in the World Cup playoff on Thursday but Michael O’Neill says his young team will show no fear The shorter wait is the one worthy of considerably more attention. Four decades have passed since Northern Ireland appeared at a World Cup, then for the second time in succession. Any disappointment at finishing third in a group also involving Brazil and Spain was offset by …

The team have led a nomadic existence since Russia invaded and face a playoff against Sweden in Valencia on Thursday Around the pitch of the latest stadium Ukraine will call home, a set of banners reels off the venues that have accommodated them in the past four years. The list goes on: Lodz, Prague, Leverkusen, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Krakow, Murcia, Poznan and Trnava, some of those in multiple. If tha…

Merseyside club to demand formal explanation from Premier League Chelsea docked no points for rule breaches, unlike Everton and Forest Everton are exploring a possible legal challenge against the Premier League for their handling of Chelsea’s undisclosed payments sanction. The club are understood to be preparing to write to the Premier League requesting a formal explanation for its failure to tak…

Before meeting with Bosnia and Herzegovina, head coach has urged his players to step up and embrace the occasion “Have you ever seen Usain Bolt in the 100m?” Craig Bellamy asks a crowd of journalists in the Wynnstay auditorium at Wales’s hub in Hensol, on the eve of the World Cup playoff semi-final against Bosnia and Herzegovina . “He’s smiling, waving – all right, it does help he knows he can ru…