The Guardian

⚽ Updates from final round of the stage, 8pm GMT kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Table | Follow us on Bluesky | Email Luke Celtic are one of five teams that could drop into the elimination places tonight. Young Boys, Brann, Lille and GNK Dinamo are the other four. In other words, fewer than 10 points in the table, and you’re at risk. It’s half an hour after attempting to watch 18 football matches at the…

Full-back wants one-handed ‘flapping’ outlawed Steward says it is now much harder to collect high balls Freddie Steward believes rugby union’s rulers should review the laws around contestable kicks that are making it “more difficult than ever” for those under aerial fire. With the Six Nations championship commencing next week, England’s full-back wants one-handed “flapping” by chasing players to …

International sporting events don’t often see teams refuse to participate for a cause – but when it’s happened, it hasn’t been effective It was probably fitting that the first call from someone with genuine power should emanate from Germany, long one of soccer’s moral centers. “The time has definitely come,” German soccer federation vice-president Oke Göttlich told the Hamburger Morgenpost , “to …

Dana White has promised boxers a new deal. But the deal he’s offering looks worse than the old one. Will Congress give Zuffa the power to dominate boxing? Even Turki al-Sheikh ’s most severe critics acknowledge that, under his guidance, the Saudi interests that have dominated professional boxing in recent years have paid generous purses to fighters. Now the Saudis have turned to TKO Group Holding…

A country where safety is under threat from federal violence on the streets is not fit to stage soccer’s showpiece event Removing the United States as co-host of the 2026 World Cup would hurt for pretty much everyone. Fans would miss out on seeing the sport’s pinnacle in their home towns (or somewhere nearby). Cities and businesses small and large would lose the financial benefits they had banked…

Former Wasps forward Kearnan Myall is now performance director of GB Snowsport and using F1 tech and brain science to prepare for Milano Cortina 2026 It is not every day that a former rugby player is pivotal to Great Britain’s Winter Olympic prospects. Until recently Kearnan Myall, who spent 15 seasons playing professionally for Leeds, Sale and Wasps, had never skied so it has been a steep learni…

British No 1 has had nine different coaches in 18 months ‘I will cherish the times we spent together,’ says Raducanu Emma Raducanu will begin a fresh search for a coach after the British No 1 confirmed she has split with Francisco Roig in the wake of her early loss at the Australian Open last week. Raducanu, who had worked with Roig for six months, said in a statement on social media: “Francis, T…

44-year-old last played professionally at 2022 US Open American refuses to be drawn on future in TV interview Serena Williams has refused to rule out making a shock return to tennis. The 44-year-old has not played professional tennis since losing to Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 US Open, although she branded her departure as “evolving away” from the sport rather than a retirement. Williams brushed…

Licence fee payers’ money will not be used this summer Micah Richards will be on The Rest is Football podcast The BBC has made clear it will not use licence fee payers’ money to help leading pundits such as Micah Richards to work for rival podcasts during this summer’s World Cup. Cost constraints and environmental considerations mean the BBC’s World Cup presentation will come from its Salford stu…

Fast bowler was not in initial squad for Sri Lanka tour Boost for England before T20 World Cup starts next week Jofra Archer is the surprise inclusion in England’s team for their T20 series opener against Sri Lanka on Friday, having initially been excluded from the touring squad. The quick bowler was not named in the two white-ball groups to tour Sri Lanka after sustaining a side strain during th…

After the American’s venting went viral, players’ privacy has become a serious issue and deserves to be respected regardless of their income The court access corridor at Melbourne Park is buried inconspicuously underneath the tournament grounds. A long, spacious walkway, it connects the east and west points of the vast Australian Open venue, allowing competitors to move unaccosted between the cou…

Giggs was invited to be inaugural member in 2020 Talks ongoing to include Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs was invited to become an inaugural member of the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2020, only for the offer to be withdrawn. Manchester United’s record appearance-maker was chosen alongside Alan Shearer to become the first inductees to the Hall of Fame in 2020, only for the event to be postp…

The future Hall of Famer was given a warm welcome against the team where he began his career. But Wednesday’s game felt particularly poignant A 60-second tribute video honoring LeBron James has become routine over the past eight years whenever he returns to Cleveland, the city where his NBA journey began. But Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse was different – and it felt that way long …

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Remember that golden summer of strikers? Alexander Isak, the former hottest property in football. Get well soon, Alex. That all boiled down to a crazy last day of deal sheets, add-ons, release clauses, buy-backs, loans with options to buy, medicals and AI-generated InstaChat memes. Such halcyon days are unlikely to be repeated in this bleak midw…

Despite an estimated outlay of $6bn since 2022, LIV appears to be far away from establishing itself in the the manner of PIF projects in other sports In one sense, it is difficult to detect anything warm and cuddly in all of this. Elite golfers, who were already obscenely rich, take the bounty on offer from a Saudi Arabian-backed disruption model before shuffling back whence they came – essential…