The Guardian

Cordeiro quits as senior adviser to Fifa president Lamour: sell-off plan ‘defies belief and imagination’ The walls started closing in on Gianni Infantino after another dramatic day that saw one of his senior advisers resign and brought a scathing rebuke from Fifa’s own chief operating officer. Infantino is under huge pressure after his plan to sell chunks of the World Cup to private investors met…

Plan for sale of commercial rights to World Cup causes chaos with Uefa, AFC and Concacaf leading the opposition It has been a week that has rocked football. The news caught everyone by surprise. When reports first emerged on Tuesday afternoon that Fifa, world football’s governing body, was to launch a vehicle to control the commercial rights to the World Cup , and would sell a stake of this compa…

Italian champions willing to raise offer for midfielder Jones only has one year remaining on contract at Anfield Inter have made another approach for Curtis Jones and are willing to raise their offer for the Liverpool midfielder to €35m. The Italian champions had a €25m bid for the 25-year-old rejected in June by Liverpool, who value their homegrown player at closer to €40m. Continue reading...

Authorities want stage altered if risk is ‘extreme’ 2025 champion Ferrand-Prévot faces sterner challenge The Tour de France Femmes is facing pressure to re-route part of its key stage to the summit of Mont Ventoux next Friday because of the wildfires threat in Provence. The women’s Tour, which begins in Lausanne on Saturday, is expected to keep the famous climb to the top of the “Giant of Provenc…

Australian runner may attempt repeat York win Shayem pulls off shock defeat of Talk Of New York This was expected to be the day when Asfoora, one of the most popular sprinters of recent seasons, ran her last race before heading home to Australia and the breeding paddocks. But the seven-year-old mare could yet have a final outing at Group One level after being ridden by Oisin Murphy to a close fou…

CBS sidelines Romo indefinitely after arrest JJ Watt promoted to lead booth in absence Arrest followed Wisconsin OWI traffic stop Tony Romo has been placed on leave from his role as the lead analyst on CBS’ NFL coverage following his arrest last week on suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence. CBS Sports announced Friday that the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback was on leave “…

The Hundred has always been an experiment in manufactured identity – you can’t hurry history, but perhaps you can fake it The Lucknow Super Giants kit says a lot about their team. Specifically, it draws from the “cultural fabric” of the city and the surrounding state of Uttar Pradesh, “where colour, craft and ritual shape everyday life”. According to the team website, the shirt-and-trousers combo…

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! You have to hand it to Gianni Infantino, his timing was impeccable. After the relative on-field success of the Geopolitics World Cup, Fifa’s omnipresent overlord knew he had to strike while the iron was hot. There would be a small gap in the news cycle. Domestic seasons around the world would be starting soon and there is always transfer news to…

Roger Bannister’s ‘Miracle Mile’ race 72 years ago is set to gain a worthy successor as Scottish pair take on the prodigious Australian They call it the Miracle Mile: the race still regarded as the greatest in Commonwealth Games history. And 72 years later in Glasgow, it finally has a worthy successor. Rewind to 1954. In May Sir Roger Bannister had become the first man to run a mile in under four…

CJ Miller from West Lothian has delighted global audiences with ‘sheer stupidity’ of his half-time dances The 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have already provided plenty of highlights. But fans across the world have been dazzled by one particular breakout star: the “mop man”. When a cleaner came out at half-time during a netball match to wipe down the court before the restart, everything appe…

English player’s actions called ‘extremely cruel’ Shiho Kuwaki sets early halfway lead at six-under News that Charley Hull had slept for only three hours before her second round at the Women’s Open fuelled an obvious conclusion. With noisy fallout continuing from the 30-year-old’s prank on her caddie , it was assumed to be impacting her off the course. Not so, as it transpired. In typically empha…

She Plays to Win face losing one of their female players after being told team must include a male The UK’s only all-female chess team have been promoted to the game’s top tier – only to be told they will have to add a man to their squad. She Plays to Win Lionesses A Team have fallen foul of a rule designed to boost female participation in the sport. Continue reading...

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A six-time world champion and three-time World Cup MVP, Japan’s Ayami Sato joins the new Women’s Professional Baseball League hoping to help build the sport’s future When Ayami Sato takes the mound as the starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Queens on Saturday, it will be the culmination of a professional career that has spanned 16 years and three countries. The right-handed hurler is largely con…

The former tennis No 1 on the current dearth of top Australian players, the excitement surrounding Cruz Hewitt, and a newfound love of padel Pat Rafter is Australian sporting royalty. A man whose genuine friendliness still radiates into mid-life and whose looks once made him an underwear model, with a tennis career that took him to No 1 in the world. He is the kind of person anyone would want on …