The Guardian

All eyes will be on Team Melli amid the ongoing conflict with the US and Israel, making their campaign one of the most unusual and unpredictable of recent times This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network , a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in …

The former Seahawks quarterback won a championship with Seattle and was a 10-time Pro Bowler. That doesn’t mean he’s seen as an all-time great When a quarterback makes 10 Pro Bowls, wins the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and leads his team to one Super Bowl win and (almost) another, you’d expect his Hall of Fame discussion would be fairly uncomplicated. But in the case of one Russell Carri…

England could face knockout ties against DR Congo, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina before facing Spain in the final By Opta Analyst Who will England have to beat to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966? We can’t predict the future but, with the help of the Opta supercomputer, we can give a probabilistic estimate of what could happen. Let’s establish the “what if” scenarios and map out Eng…

Supporters groups condemn ‘immoral’ u-turn Fifa says policy a safety measure to prevent injury Fifa has been accused of putting revenue ahead of fans’ health after banning reusable water bottles from being taken into World Cup stadiums. In a late U-turn, the governing body rowed back on its advice that empty, transparent, reusable plastic bottles would be permitted inside venues, instead prohibit…

Updates from Paris with Shnaider v Chwalinska to follow Mail Katy | Sabalenka ‘wants to quit tennis’ after exit Salut! At the start of the tournament we were wondering how we’d cope without ‘just’ Carlos Alcaraz. But then Jannik Sinner departed and Novak Djokovic too, and then Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff along with nearly all of the men’s and women’s top ten, and it’s still been joyeux and amusant…

Chair compares Guardiola with The Boy Who Cried Wolf ‘He never thought he would stay more than four years’ Khaldoon al-Mubarak has revealed Pep Guardiola “quit 100 times” as Manchester City manager, with the chair comparing the empty threats to The Boy Who Cried Wolf, one of Aesop’s Fables. Guardiola left City last month after 10 successful years during which he led the club to 17 major honours. …

The New York Knicks are fighting history as well as the Spurs. On Wednesday night in San Antonio, they took a crucial step towards defeating both It is uncommon to begin counting down after the opening game of an NBA finals, but these are uncommon times in New York, and the Knicks have been counting since Richard Nixon was president, their coach, Mike Brown, was three years old, and their opponen…

Plenty of women watch the men’s tournament but are yet to translate fandom to the women’s game – will that change this summer? The NWSL’s 14th regular season wrapped up match week 10 of 27 over the weekend, officially commencing a month-long break to honor the terms of their collective bargaining agreement (which stipulates a week-long intermission during the season) and a pause from play for the…

Opinions, the game loves them, and after Arsenal’s hugely divisive final, here’s my truth – feel free to yell back What the world needs now is one last hot take on Arsenal and the Champions League final before we are all brought together in beautiful symbiotic harmony by the World Cup. Key questions such as: was it a good game? Was this the perfect way to take on the best midfield and attack in w…

Updates from the first day of the series at Lord’s Sign up for The Spin | Follow us on TikTok | Mail Tim New Zealand have opted for the extra seamer, so the promising Nathan Smith squeezes out the venerable Mitch Santner. England have taken the opposite tack, preferring Shoaib Bashir’s mercurial off-breaks to Sonny Baker’s untried pace. The toss makes both decisions look better, as the team bowli…

Everything you need to know (and more) about every squad member. Click on the player pictures for more information Continue reading...

Drawing on his own family’s experience, the Real Madrid and Germany defender is advocating for refugees and challenging stereotypes As a child, Antonio Rüdiger would look out of his bedroom window to see whether anyone was playing on the field it overlooked. It was not a big pitch, but it had two goals, enough room for six-a-side and was where a young Rüdiger honed the skills that would take him …

While small pool of talent and elite clubs in women’s game makes switches between rivals inevitable, this move is contentious. But some reaction has gone too far The red neon lights flicker in the dark for a moment, then the room is blue, and there is Katie McCabe, a grin on her face and a Chelsea shirt on, her controversial switch across London complete after 11 years with Arsenal. The reaction …

A first win at a World Cup is the floor-level target for a team that still relies heavily on the ability of Mohamed Salah This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network , a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking of…